Tigers blow Bears off park to make Q-Cup final

FROM doubtful finals qualfiers to grand final hopefuls, Easts has ridden a wave of momentum to be one win from a maiden Intrust Super Cup premiership.
The Tigers’ 36-26 preliminary final victory away from home against the Burleigh Bears on Saturday completes a remarkable three weeks of sudden-death footy where they have scored 118 points and conceded just 46.
Their breathtaking attacking form was too much for the Bears to handle, bowing out after finishing the season in second.
By comparison, Easts qualified fifth, only securing their finals spot in the last week of the regular season — yet they are now slated to face Redcliffe on Sunday (Sept, 23) in the game that decides it all.
For this match the Tigers had a heavily bolstered squad, with both Sam Kasiano and Billy Walters returning to the line-up, skipper Jake Foster overcoming concussion concerns, and strike weapon Scott Drinkwater free of Melbourne Storm duties.
The changes meant that the hero of the previous two weeks — playmaker Josh Ralph — was omitted, along with bench forward Jarred Tuite.
Burleigh skipper Luke Page also found himself out of the action early, pointed to the sin bin for a rest in just the ninth minute, following an intentional offside tackle on Tigers prop Albert Vete.
Tiger Patrick Kaufusi danced and surged through five would-be defenders to put the visitors up 6-0 after 13 minutes.
The Tigers went up 8-0 when Torpy added a further penalty, then Burleigh compounded the deficit by kicking out on the full.
With only 39 per cent of possession it was all going against the Bears until a controversial and heavy goal-line tackle by Dylan Phythian on Billy Walters.
That seemed to spark the Gold Coasters, with Phythian then pouncing on a Jamal Fogarty grubber inches before the deadball line.
Fogarty converted and a score of 8-6 made for a more involved crowd.
The Bears heat back when Page returned to roll through three Tigers defenders, to score.
At halftime the advantage was 12-8 to Burleigh.
From the second half kick-off, Easts winger Conor Carey dropped the ball and it looked an ominous sign of things to come.
In the wash-up though, Carey put the icing on the cake, scoring Easts’ final try after a frantic second half where they crossed the line five times.
In the final four minutes of the game alone, there were three tries, with retiring Burleigh forward and NRL veteran Matt White given the honours of booting the final conversion.
Next Sunday’s 3pm grand final will be Easts’ fifth since the modern State League began in 1996, with the Tigers unsuccessful in their four previous attempts.
Easts Tigers 36 (Patrick Kaufusi, Tino Faasuamaleaui, Jake Foster, Linc Port, Chris Ostwald, Conor Carey tries; Brayden Torpy 6 goals) Burleigh Bears 26 (Dylan Phythian, Luke Page, Kurtis Rowe, Josh Berkers, Jai Whitbread tries; Jamal Fogarty 2, Matt White goals) at Pizzey Park, Burleigh Heads. – QRL.com