Gladiators’ berth sealed with a kick
LEAGUE A SIDELINE conversion from Sonny Kerr has guaranteed Mareeba a second chance in the CDRL finals after they fought back from a halftime deficit against Brothers.
The visitors heaped the pressure on the fumbling Gladiators, who lost Kienan Grogan-Hayes as a late call-up to the Northern Pride, in the first half on Saturday night in a sign they have stepped up their game.
Brothers took a 16-12 lead into the break and held a 22-18 lead with five minutes to go when Pride utility Connor Jones produced a grubber kick for Boche Satrick to score in the corner to set up Kerr’s matchwinning kick.
The man of the moment, who moved from Perth for his opportunity at Mareeba this season, shied away from taking any credit for the win, putting it down to his teammates for tidying up their game in the second half.
“It was a team effort that won that game,” Kerr said.
“I just kicked it and hoped for the best really.
“I only started goal kicking two years ago.
“I guess you just practice heaps. That’s really all the secret there is.”
The five-eighth said it was nice to know the club was now secure in the CDRL top four, but said there were still areas of improvement.
“It’s probably just ball security and that’s about it,” he said. “There’s too many errors, especially in the first half last night.
“I think we made about 13 errors or something.”
Gladiators coach Tye Ingebrigtsen, who brought up his 50th win as an A-grade coach with the victory, said it was the best game he’d seen all year.
“That game was quality and it gets us in the right frame of mind for what’s expected in the next couple of weeks,” he said.
Brothers coach Robbie Swain said it hurt to see the ball sailing between the posts, but he felt his side should never have been in that position.
“We should have tied it up earlier than that,” he said. “It was just some execution. “A few times we had them on the ropes and there’s just a few things we need to clean up when we’re hot on attack.”
Swain said it may be down to an inexperienced halves pairing but they had “come along in leaps and bounds” since the start of the year.
Brothers have a bye this weekend, which the coach hoped would give missing hooker Jayden Gil and Peter Tognolini, who re-injured his ankle against Mareeba, time to recover before their last-round match against Edmonton.
While disappointed with the loss, Swain said the way his side had responded to an enhanced training load in recent weeks was promising going into the finals.
Ivanhoes are on the brink of sealing their top-five position after a win over Mossman/Port Douglas, owing to Atherton’s 52-18 destruction of Tully.
Nigel Woodleigh had a personal haul of 26 points, including four tries for nine in his past four games.
IT WAS A TEAM EFFORT THAT WON THAT GAME. I JUST KICKED IT AND HOPED FOR THE BEST REALLY
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