‘Cheap shot’ could sour Bears’ victory
BURLEIGH have maintained their dominance in the Intrust Super Cup local derby but they could be judiciarybound after Treymain Spry was knocked out in an incident described by Tweed coach Ben Woolf as “pretty cheap”.
Titans sensation Spry, who is gaining senior footy experience with Tweed, left the field at Pizzey Park in the 32nd minute of the Bears’ 32-4 win yesterday after dangerous contact from opposite centre Sami Sauiluma.
The incident was placed on report and Woolf was far from impressed.
“It was pretty ordinary to be honest,” he said.
When asked if he expected it to come under the judiciary spotlight, Woolf replied: “I would hope so. I thought it was pretty cheap.”
Bears coach Jimmy Lenihan felt there was not much in it.
“I thought he sort of just chest slammed him on the ground,” he said.
Bears prop Josh Ailaomai also was put on report. Those incidents aside, it was an impressive victory for Burleigh that was set up by a resolute defensive display.
“We handed over a lot of ball early, which put us under a lot of defensive pressure, but I think we defended quite a few sets on our line there. I thought we defended well,” Lenihan said.
“After last week against Ipswich, which was a bit of a mental game, this week was a very physical game.”
The scoreline does not quite represent what was for 60 minutes an intense derby contested by two quality outfits.
To that point the Bears were ahead 10-4 but the Seagulls melted late in the searing heat.
“I think Pat Politoni’s try broke us a little bit and we just probably fell away from our processes,” Woolf said.
“Having Treymain knocked out, that didn’t help, we had to reshuffle Kirk Murphy into the centres and that edge had already been reshuffled (with halfback Kurtis Dark in for Ryley Jacks), so they got a few results down there.
“We just lost our way a little bit as well.”
Tweed and Burleigh now each have two wins from the opening three rounds.