SEAHAWKS STORM PAST BROTHERS
MILTON MOSSMAN, YARRABAH CAPTAIN
THE comeback of the season has kept the premiership dream alive for Yarrabah in one of the craziest CDRL semifinals imaginable.
Brothers looked ready to run away with the game when they led 24-6 after 34 minutes and it only looked more likely when Hezron Murgha and Andrew Garrett went to the sin bin before halftime.
Murgha’s first-half double at Barlow Park yesterday kept his side in the game and it proved vital as Brothers came up with yet another secondhalf fadeout under Yarrabah’s intense pressure.
The crowd favourites had a running battle with the referee in the first, on top of some poor errors.
It started from the kick-off, which Yarrabah allowed to bounce and go dead, although they did defend it and a few minutes later went up the other end to score.
A high shot on Hezron Murgha when in the act of putting the ball down knocked him out cold and the referee awarded a potential eight-point try – the only time they seemed to be on the good side of whistleblower Peter McKinnon.
Coleridge Dabah made a mess of the try conversion but added the two points from the penalty goal directly in front.
The momentum ended abruptly when Yarrabah again had kick-off jitters, handing the ball back to Brothers and allowing speedster Jonico Hardwick to race away to score.
A different Seahawks unit ran onto the field in the second half, they completed their sets and drew penalties from Brothers, scoring three tries between the 53rd and 65th minutes to take the lead.
Charles Murgha seemingly sealed the game when he crossed in the 71st minute but Cody Clark kept Brothers in the hunt.
They almost stole it in the final minute but retiring club legend Ben Fitzpatrick dropped a pass from Corey Child with the line in sight.
Yarrabah captain Milton Mossman said knowing Broth- ers’ difficulties scoring in the second half inspired his players the keep their head in the game.
“Halftime, we went to the sheds not disappointed, frustrated with the boys,” Mossman said.
“We actually played against the ref instead of playing against Brothers. All we wanted to do was argue with the ref and I told the boys: ‘Look, they have their pink clothes on, we have our maroon and white, all we’re doing is just playing rugby league.
“I told them that we keep going forward and that’s the only way we’ll win the game.
“I told them if we don’t pick our game up, that’s going to be it.
“At the end of the day, I said ‘boys, we’ve just got to play with heart’.”
That meant playing on the back of the vocal crowd.
“Without Yarrabah, we’re nothing,” Mossman said. “Our fans, our home, they’re all passionate people about rugby league and that’s our heart right there.”
Brothers forward Roget Tait, who scored two tries in the space of 10 minutes in the first half, was gutted, mostly for Ben Fitzpatrick, who was playing his last game.
“We had the game in the bag, but we just couldn’t defend against that many penalties,” he said.
“All in all, Yarrabah deserved the win.
“Silly mistakes and piggyback penalties, that’s all it was. We piggybacked them back into the game.”
Tait was hoping for a grand final finish so he could hang up the boots, but said he might have to mount a comeback to make amends for their finals elimination.
WITHOUT YARRABAH, WE’RE NOTHING. OUR FANS, OUR HOME, THEY’RE ALL PASSIONATE PEOPLE ABOUT RUGBY LEAGUE AND THAT’S OUR HEAT RIGHT THERE