Cockatoos avoid a Storm drenching
SOUTHERN Suburbs have weathered a late Storm surge to stay alive in 2017 ahead of two clashes which could define their season.
A comfortable 26-4 lead on Saturday night turned into a heart-stopping 32-26 win for the Cockatoos as Edmonton’s left side wreaked havoc in a show the cellar-dwellers have plenty of spirit up their sleeve.
It was a worry for Suburbs coach Jono Zangrande how drastically his side dropped off the pace, something that will almost certainly be more costly against Tully and Ivanhoes in the next fortnight.
“We did enough and just fell asleep, so we were just lucky we had done enough,” he said.
“Unfortunately the score doesn’t really show how the game was played.
“We were on top for most of that game and jumped out to probably a 26-4 lead with 15 minutes to go and then I don’t know what happened.
“I harp on it a lot. They’ve got to be enthusiastic for 80 minutes and when you think you’ve got the job done, not.
“To be honest, I was impressed with Edmonton.
“They kept coming, they were physical and I told the boys Edmonton would have been up for it.”
The still winless Storm are at home next round to Mossman/Port Douglas, who threw Innisfail Brothers a solid challenge at Callendar Park on Saturday night.
The Sharks went into halftime level but it was all the Leprechauns from there in a 30-4 second half to give them a it’s two-point gap at the top of ladder.
Mareeba have now emerged as the closest challenger after they too piled on early second-half points to skip away to a massive 42-20 win over Yarrabah.
Gladiators centre Joey Burchell said it was good payback for the similar punishment they copped away from home earlier in the season.
“It was a great effort from the boys,” he said.
“Our structure and everything worked well and it was nice to get back at them and do it in front of a home crowd.
“We weathered the storm a bit in the second part of that first half.
“We started getting momentum leading into halftime and we came out really strong in the second half and got a few early tries and kept going after that.”
Burchell said the boys were buzzing about being back in striking distance of the Leprechauns and planned on keeping the momentum going into a match-up with Kangaroos at Davies Park. nnisfail Brothers 42 (Edward Morrison-Sailor 2, Ben Reuter, Patrick Gallen, Lata Fakalelu, Matt Healey, Tim Savage tries; Matt Healey 7 goals) d Mossman/Port Douglas 16 (Khaele Bowen, Kalani Anu, Allen-Mark Thompson tries; Robbie Amber 2 goals) at Callendar Park. Mareeba 42 (Kienan GroganHayes 2, Birdsall Faapepele 2, Sonny Rea, Ben Cocciolone, Clint Posselt, Okomaka Talagi tries; Robert Kerr 5 goals) d Yarrabah 20 (Jayden Kynuna 2, Jimmito Harris, Andrew Garrett Jr tries; Coleridge Dabah 2 goals) at Davies Park. Southern Suburbs 32 (Aidan Lee, Richard Joinbee, Brett Power, Minjiluk McInnes, Jacob Steven tries; Rhys Hanlon 3, Ty Millard goals) d Edmonton 26 (Wade Smith 3, Michael Coghill, Aaron Coghill tries; Travis Harrison 3 goals) at Petersen Park. Brothers 44 (Calan Dunbar 2, Broski Emery-Hunia, Evan Child, Gabriel Tognolini, Jayden Gil, Dominic Power, Roger Tait tries; Gabriel Tognolini 6 goals) d Atherton 16 (Matty Baillie, Chris Campbell, Joel Turaga tries; Nigel Woodleigh 2 goals) at Roosters Stadium. Tully 36 (Mark Rosendale 2, Jad Mahmoud 2, Aaron Daniel, Maun Sifame tries; Johnathon Hughes 6 goals) d Kangaroos 28 (Steven Stafford, James Lui, Isaiah Pau, Josh Mene, Patrick Lewis tries; Patrick Lewis 4 goals) at Vico Oval. SATURDAY 6pm: Mareeba v Kangaroos, Davies Park 7pm: Southern Suburbs v Tully, Alley Park 7pm: Edmonton v Mossman/ Port Douglas, Petersen Park SUNDAY 3pm: Brothers v Innisfail Brothers, Stan Williams Park 3.30pm: Yarrabah v Ivanhoes, Barlow Park