Miners dare to dream of title

Records continued to tumble in A Grade as Charters Towers snapped an eight-year winless streak against Herbert River on Saturday, leaving the biggest hoodoo of all in its sights.

Charters Towers has not raised the RLTD trophy since 1995 but belief is growing that the club has what it takes to bring its fourth title home to Bill Lewis Oval.

Coach Shaun Casey said beating the defending champions 30-6 on Saturday was proof his club was building towards becoming a premiership contender.

“That’s what we spoke about after the game, before we moved off the field,” Casey revealed.

“It’s a young side and after playing finals footy last year it gave them a taste and let them believe that they’re good enough to be there. That is certainly our intention, to be there come September.”

It had been 3212 days since Charters Towers last beat Herbert River, with an Adam Shaw penalty goal after the siren to win 28-27 in August 2014.

There were no last-gasp heroics required on this rematch in front of a packed Ladies Day audience in the Towers.

The Miners leapt to a 10-nil lead through halfback Mitch Burton and centre Clay Smith and continued to add scoreboard pressure throughout a scrappy affair.

Casey said peak form was still at least a month away as players gel on the field, with half the squad based locally and the remainder training independently out of Townsville.

Souths Bulls arrested a three-game losing streak with a 30-12 victory over Western Lions on Friday night.

Winger Rayzarlin Pearson was influential while returning Blackhawks Jaelen Feeney and Joey Jensen were among the standouts as Souths returned to the form of round 1.

The Burdekin scored late to draw within six points of Centrals but fell short 22-16, in a match-up seemingly certain to be reprised during the finals.

Brothers extended their winning streak to five with a scrappy 24-14 win over Norths to consolidate their position atop the ladder.