Blackhawks prevail as Beasley returns
FOUNDATION Blackhawks captain Daniel Beasley has lauded the team’s depth this season after making his Queensland Cup return in Saturday night’s 20- 14 win over Ipswich at Jack Manski Oval.
Beasley has only been back in Townsville for a few weeks following a season with French rugby league club Albi, but he was a surprise late inclusion as the Blackhawks produced a gutsy second- half comeback to break their hoodoo against the Jets.
The hard- hitting forward always planned to play for the Blackhawks again once the French season wrapped up and he said it was exciting to come into such a strong squad.
“This place is home to me so it’s good to be back out there with the boys,” Beasley said. “It’s probably a week earlier than we originally planned, but I’m not complaining. I was just looking forward to getting out there so I took it with both hands.
“You want to be part of the whole journey, you don’t want to get anything handed to you, but it’s really exciting to come back into a squad that’s doing everything the Blackhawks are known for.”
The two sides traded penalty goals early before tries to winger Marmin Barba and hooker Jayden Connors saw the Jets take a 14- 2 lead as their unorthodox style frustrated the Blackhawks.
Townsville besieged Ipswich’s line in the minutes before halftime and the Jets eventually found themselves a man down when Huskie Teutau was sent to the sin bin after a run of penalties.
With no time left for another attacking set, five- eighth Zach DockarClay slotted the penalty goal as the Blackhawks went into halftime trailing 14- 4 but with a one- man advantage to start the second half.
And the home side was quick to make it count as backrower Levi Dodd crossed for their opening try before halfback Jaelen Feeney pounced on a loose ball to score and put the Blackhawks up 16- 14.
Both teams struggled to find the killer blow through a combination of ill- discipline and strong defence, before Dockar- Clay grabbed a late try to seal an impressive win for the Blackhawks.
Blackhawks coach Kristian Woolf said his players had let Ipswich frustrate them in the first half, but he praised their resilience as they notched their ninth consecutive home victory.
“I was really happy with how we responded in the second half. I thought we just got back to defending at our best and we had a real intent and aggression about us,” Woolf said.
The Blackhawks lost bench hooker Brent Woolf to a dislocated elbow in the second half, but the coach didn’t expect it to be a long- term injury. TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS 20 ( Levi Dodd, Jaelen Feeney, Zach Dockar- Clay tries; Dockar- Clay 5/ 5 goals) def IPSWICH JETS 14 ( Marmin Barba, Jayden Connors tries; Marmin Barba 3/ 5 goals) at Jack Manski Oval on Saturday night.