Brolgas veteran captain leads team out for last time Vinson says farewell

TOWNSVILLE Brolgas captain Tom Vinson says he’s been soaking up every moment in the blue and gold jersey as he prepares to farewell the representative team after more than a decade.

Vinson will lead the Brolgas in today’s final match of the Queensland Country Rugby Championships against Gold Coast at Mike Carney Toyota Park.

The Charters Towers product has been in the Brolgas development system since his junior days, but this season will be his last – at least for the time being – as he moves to Toowoomba next month. Vinson has been one of the stars for the powerhouse Brolgas side to earn Queensland Country Heelers selection and he said it would be a special moment to take the field one last time.

“I’ve been involved for a fair while now. I started playing junior Brolgas in 2007 and then I’ve come up through the system,” he said.

“It was pretty interesting early on as a junior, sort of thrust into a team environment pretty quickly and you get on a bus to drive down to Brisbane, so you spend 16 hours together straightaway.

“I had a couple of years off when my knee was buggered, but otherwise I’ve participated with the Brolgas for the best part of 10 years or more.”

Vinson described this season as one of his favourites with the Brolgas as they’ve contested the revamped Queensland Country Rugby Championships, including playing at Ballymore last weekend.

“I think honestly this year having the pathway that we’ve had has been cool,” he said.

“Spending three or four weeks together has been good as opposed to previous years where it’s always just been play on a weekend and then it’s done.

“We get more time together and we play against some different opposition of different standards as well.

“They play a lot different to the style we’ve gotten used to against Cairns, Mackay, and Mt Isa.”

The Brolgas have been in sensational form to notch wins over Cairns (45-12) and Darling Downs (26-7), but they were left to rue the one that got away in a thrilling 14-12 defeat to Sunshine Coast.

Winger Nick Poole scored two impressive individual tries, but Vinson said the Brolgas had to capitalise better on their attacking chances to finish the season on a high on their home turf.

Townsville can still clinch the overall country rugby crown with a win over Gold Coast, but they also need to rely on Darling Downs to topple Sunshine Coast.

“We had it within our grasp, but then we sort of let it slip with a couple of errors on our part,” Vinson said.

“I think a bit of fatigue set in, so the lads here see it as a bit of an opportunity to try and make a few things right (against Gold Coast).”

• The senior Brolgas game against the Gold Coast kicks off today at 4pm at Mike Carney Toyota Park following the under-19s game at 2.30pm.