Finals Week 3 Details
MATCH RESULTS: September 9 2006
Wynnum-Manly Seagulls 42 (Chris McQueen 3, Ryan Brown 2, Ben Cronin, Bruce Kolio, Shaun Cotter tries; Luke Menhinnitt 5/8 goals) def Redcliffe Dolphins 20 (Jordan Brown, Matt Gillett, Tim Yee, Asher Elemani tries; Asher Elemani 2/2, Phil Daisy 0/2 goals) at Dolphin Oval.
FULL MATCH REPORT (from the WEBMASTER):
Fine and warm conditions with a moderate northerly breeze greeted the Redcliffe and Wynnum Manly players at Dolphin Oval for the preliminary final. Redcliffe suffered a pre-natch scare with centre Matt Gillett standing on a piece of wire but he survived a fitness test to take his place in the side.
Wynnum ran with the win in the first half and were on fire early, scoring from their first set when after a break by Aaron Brown, the ball was quickly spun across to the other side of the field where winger Chris McQueen beat a number of tackles to score wide out. Luke Menhinnit's conversion gave the visitors a 6-0 advantage after 3 minutes. For the next 15 minutes the game went from end to end, with both sides having their chances, the closest being when Phil Daisy was penalised for offside when he bounced on an Asher Elemani grubber. Eventually it was the Dolphins who scored when a great offload from Foisa Peni, and quick hands from Michael Wilson allowed Jordan Brown to crash over in the corner and Redcliffe trailled by 2 after 20 minutes. Eight minutes later they hit the lead, when Tim Yee beat several players to score in the corner. Once again Phil Daisy's conversion swung just wide and Redcliffe led 8-6. This lead was to be short-lived as a dropped ball followed by a high tackle for which Jordan Brown was put on a report put Wynnum back on attack and a perfectly placed cross-field bomb allowed Chris McQueen to clinb high and crash down for a try. From the next set a Wynnum kick was charged down and recovered by Ben Cronin who put McQueen over for a first half hat-trick, and Wynnum led by a converted try. The Wynnum blitz continued and after a hold down penalty saw poor defending allowed Ben Cronin to step through and score under the posts and the Seagulls had extended their lead to 12 points, 2 mins before halftime. Redcliffe recovered the ball from the kickoff, but determined Wynnum defence held them out and they went to the break trailling 20-8.
Things didn't get any brighter for Redcliffe in the second half, when, after 3 minutes, Wynnum's Shaun Cotter swooped on a dropped ball and raced away for a 4-pointer to extend their lead to 16.Only 5 minutes later Redcliffe struck back when Matt Gillett followed his own grubber through to score, Asher Elemani's conversion closing the margin to 10.Three minutes later however the margin had grown to 16 when some poor Dolphin defending close to the line allowed a number of offloads, with representative 2nd-rower Bruce Kolio stretching out to score. Once again Wynnum were on a roll and in the next set they again broke through with Ryan Brown putting a kick through and winning the race to the ball in the in-goal area, Menhinnitt's easy conversion taking the lead to 36-14. Redcliffe continued to make error after error and never threatened the Wynnum line and with 10 minutes remaining Ryan Brown waltzed through from a scrum win to score his second try. The game fell away in the closing stages, the only excitement being a scuffle from which Logan Sullivan and Pat Noonan were binned. Redcliffe managed to cross in the last minute when Angus Cameron put Asher Elemani over under the posts, with the conversionmaking the final score 42-20. Incredibly Redcliffe completed only 5 of 16 sets in the second half, whilst Wynnum also failed to complete 5 of their last 6 sets although they completed 12 of their first 13 in the second stanza.
There was hardly a bad player for the Seagulls, with all the forwards doing their jobs, although Nathan Beckett and Jack Reis were prominent with Bruce Kolio dangerous off the bench. Matt Smith expertly led the team around the field, with Ryan Brown in particular having a great game in the centres. Redcliffe were disappointing across the park, although David Hala and Phil Daisy tried hard in a losing side.
Wynnum-Manly now will hope to continue their giant-killing run in the Grand FInal against Norths, whilst Redcliffe will lament a season that has slipped away after much early promise.
STATS: Pens: Wynnum 8 - 5; Scrums: Redcliffe 6 - 4; Comp.Rate: Redcliffe 14/30, Wynnum 26/38
MATCH PREVIEW: Sept 9 2006
Norths are into the Grand Final - Can Wynnum-Manly continue on their giant-killing run and join them?
Preliminary Final: Redcliffe Dolphins v Wynnum Manly-Seagulls Sat 10:30am Dolphin Oval
Previous Games: Round 7: Redcliffe 36 def Wynnum-Manly 14; Round 17: Redcliffe 28 def Wynnum-Manly 18
Redcliffe will need to pick themselves up from a second-half hammering from the Norths Devils last Sunday to confront a Wynnum-Manly side brimful of confidence after disposing of Aspley then Easts in the last 2 weeks. It's not all gloom for the Dolphins as earlier season results versus the Seagulls favour them 2-0, and they will have home ground advantage. At this stage, both coaches have named unchanged teams from last weekend, not unsurprisingly for Wynnum-Manly given their form, and Redcliffe in a similar vein to their Qld Cup side whose team for Saturday's Preliminary Final against Easts is unchanged from the one that went down to Tooowoomba by the same margin as the Colts lost to Norths last week. Wynnum will be relying on the speed and agility of their hard-working forward pack against the bigger Redcliffe six, whilst in the backs the centre battle between the Brown twins from the Seagulls and Matt Gillett and Michael Wilson could be critical. Wynnum have been using their bench to great advantage with Bruce Kolio and Shaun Cotter prominent, whilst Angus Cameron had been dangerous in a similar role for Redcliffe. This one could very well go down to the wire. "THE COMPUTER" tips Redcliffe by 10.
