Brothers into final
BROTHERS are the first team through to the TDRU grand final after holding out defending premiers Teachers West 15- 14 in a nailbiting major semi- final at Mike Carney Toyota Park on Saturday night.
Brothers were on song early as fullback Ayden Pyper scored the opening try before Teachers hit back thanks to a short- range effort from Gene Morgan to make it 7- 5.
Brothers were just inches away from a try on the halftime buzzer, but they didn’t have to wait long to reclaim the lead as winger Jacob Martinez crossed after the break to make it 12- 7.
A converted try from forward Kit Horwood put Teachers back in front before Brothers nailed a late penalty to go up 15- 14.
Teachers still had the chance to snatch the win with a penalty of their own in the dying stages, but the kick hit the post as Brothers held on by one point.
Brothers coach Shane Laskey admitted it wasn’t the prettiest performance from his side, but he was happy enough to claim a grand final berth against a physical Teachers outfit.
“We knew it was going to be hard and tough and that’s exactly what it was. We’ll both take a lot out of it,” Laskey said.
“It wasn’t our best display, but just the willingness to do the tough stuff was good. We probably just need to work on our execution.”
Teachers coach Terry Shiells said it was frustrating how close they came to winning with the final penalty kick, but he felt they might have left their run too late.
“We weren’t beaten until the last second. We hit the post and could have won, but the game probably needed to be won a little bit earlier,” Shiells said.
“We made a few too many mistakes and to Brothers’ credit they stuck at it. That’s footy, but you’ve got to take your opportunities and score tries.
“There was probably an opportunity there for Brothers to get away from us, but the experience and enthusiasm of the group probably holds us in good stead.”
Teachers will now take on Burdekin in this weekend’s preliminary final after the Canetoads knocked out North Ward 36- 31 in a thrilling extra- time contest yesterday.
It will be a rematch of last year’s grand final when Teachers beat Burdekin to claim their second- straight title and Shiells was confident his side was still on track for a “threepeat”.
“I have no doubt our blokes will be working hard this week,” he said.