Brothers, Lions face off in final decider
TOUR veteran Karrie Webb has made a strong recovery to keep pace with the leaders after the first round of the LPGA event in Ottawa.
Starting her round on the par- five 10th, Webb made a shaky start with a bogey before hitting back with a birdie on the par- three 13th. She collected a further three birdies on her back nine to finish with a oneunder par 70 to be the bestplaced Australian with Minjee Lee. The duo are five shots behind leader Marina Alxe. WESTERN Lions and Brothers are just a win away from entering the Townsville and Districts Rugby League grand final, but only one of them can get there.
The TDRL heavyweights clash in tonight’s A grade preliminary grand final at the Townsville Sports Reserve following a finals campaign that has gone to plan for Brothers, and not so much for Lions.
The Lions were the dominant force throughout the TDRL regular season and finished as minor premiers, only to lose last weekend’s qualifying final against defending premiers Herbert River 26- 22 after conceding a last- minute try.
Brothers were expected to have a tough hitout against Centrals in the elimination semi but instead ran off with a 58- 18 victory, with Gresham Ross and Zac Sillis scoring hattricks in the lopsided result.
Lions captain Nathaniel Bowman will be tasked with guiding around a relatively young team with limited finals experience, and he’s fully aware of how tough tonight’s showdown will be.
“It was a surprise because I watched the Centrals and Burdekin game the week before and Centrals played extremely well,” he said.
“I thought they were dark horses to beat Brothers, but that result showed just how strong Brothers are.”
The Lions went into last week’s eliminator on the back of a 10- game winning streak and beat Herbert River the week before in Ingham, only to be handed a lesson in finals’ footy by the battle- hardened Crushers.
But rather than viewing it as a confidence- sapping result, Bowman said last week’s defeat could have come as a tough but welcome introduction to finals.
“A lot of our guys are new to finals and you could tell Herbert River’s experience got them over the line,” he said.
“I know it sounds a bit strange but that experience probably did us a favour.
“It’s a bit similar to the University team I played with in 2012; most of them were new guys who were younger and only a handful of us had been to a grand final.
“But once we cleared those first hurdles we were all right.”
Brothers five- eighth Tennyson Elliott – like Bowman – will be among a group of experienced heads leading around a youthful outfit.
Elliott believes Brothers have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
“We don’t feel there’s too much pressure on us and the talk all year has been about Lions,” he said.
“Lions have good players all across the park and they have been very consistent, but we’re confident of winning it.
“Against Centrals, we went back to simplifying what we had to do because the week before I think we tried to do too many things.
“And we worried more about ourselves than the opposition.”
Elliott said an intriguing showdown between experienced playmakers Bowman and Brothers’ veteran Roy Baira would set the scene, along with a hard- hitting forwards battle.
“Roy and Nate ( have) known each other for a long time, so I’m sure they’ll be looking to get one up on each other,” he said.
“We also have really good forwards, so that’s where the game will probably be decided.”