PARTY LIKE IT’S 2016
Burdekin breaks seven-year hoodoo to beat Teachers
Burdekin players partied into the night and through the famous Growers Race Day after snapping Teachers West’s undefeated start to the Townsville District Rugby Union season on Friday evening.
The Canetoads last defeated the Bulldogs in 2016, having lost 24 matches in a row to that opposition as the regional club battled for numbers and relevance in first grade.
A red card to prop Lochlan Winston early in the second half should have seen Teachers West roar home but the Burdekin persevered with 14
men on the field for 30 dogged minutes.
Inspirational captain and Queensland Country representative Leonard ‘Tubby’ Heron scored inside the final five minutes to secure a 15-8 victory heralding the Burdekin’s return from the brink.
Just two years ago the Canetoads’ committee wrestled with the decision to drop back to third grade or bite the bullet and back the coaching of Jeff Sullivan to develop a nucleus of young players into a first grade force.
There has been pain along the way.
In 2021 and 2022 the Canetoads won just seven of 33 games.
Now those young players have come of age, the Burdekin has taken the scalps of North Ward, Western Suburbs and Teachers West in its past three games.
It is the club’s longest winning streak in four seasons and vindication for the difficult decision to tough it out in first grade.
“Two years ago we had people playing two full games every weekend just to keep us in first grade,” Sullivan said.
“As a club we all made the decision that to drop back to third grade wouldn’t do any good for the juniors coming through, who are now all part of our senior squad.
“You just try to keep positive and set your goals and continue to build, and that’s what we’ve done.
“When you get good consistency and good numbers, that belief just comes.”
There will no resting on laurels for the Burdekin team, Sullivan stressed.
“That’s not our grand final. Just because we’ve beaten a top-two team doesn’t mean we’re gifted a chance at finals. We’ve still got to work for it.”
Brothers halfback Jeremy Morton scored four tries in an 84-7 romp over Western Suburbs at Ignatius Park College on Saturday.
Flyhalf Matthew Rauch slotted a perfect 12-from-12 goals and scored a try for an impressive 29-point individual haul.