Apollo beat drought in finals stage
LET us play.
That’s the plea from this Tweed Heads trio who have been ruled out of tomorrow’s Coast 2 Coast Cup preliminary final due to red tape.
Seagulls youngsters Jacob Garland, Jarrod Morfett and David Sheridan have been ruled ineligible to face Tugun at Boyd St because they played more games in the under-20s FOGS Colts competition this season than the open-age Coast 2 Coast Cup.
The Queensland Rugby League has placed the FOGS Colts and local competition on the same level in their four-tier ranking system.
Tweed’s Intrust Super Cup coach Aaron Zimmerle said it was unfair for them to miss the grand final qualifier.
“We cannot dispute the presence of the rule, which says you have to play more games in A Grade (Coast 2 Coast Cup) than Colts, but we find the ruling misaligned, unjust and unfair,” he said.
“It has shattered three young men’s season and put the side at risk of not fielding a full compliment of players.”
Garland, a 20-year-old full- back, played three Coast 2 Coast Cup games and the rest of the season in Colts.
Morfett, a back-rower, has played nine Coast 2 Coast Cup games, eight in the Colts and three in the Intrust Super Cup.
Sheridan made his Intrust debut on the wing recently to go with 11 Colts games and nine in the Coast 2 Coast Cup.
The Colts season, which has 23 games, started six weeks before Tweed played its first of 15 Coast 2 Coast Cup games.
“All these kids that had just joined the club had already played six games of Colts before A-Grade became an option,” Zimmerle said.
“Our dispute is based on the inaccurate and unfair ruling that the FOGS Colts under-20s is deemed to be a level of competition equal to and higher than the A-Grade competition.
“Last weekend the boys were victorious in a match playing against Runaway Bay who boasted a side containing ex-NRL player and Dally M winner Preston Campbell and ex-NRL and Kiwi Test player Clinton Toopi.
“It would be disrespectful to even consider the Colts standard on par with a competition containing stars such as Campbell and Toopi.”
The trio were allowed to play last weekend because Tweed Heads was still alive in the FOGS Colts and Intrust Super Cup.
Rugby League Gold Coast manager Casey Bromilow said the eligibility rules would likely change in the off-season but it was too late to make an exception this season.
“There’s no doubt it will probably change in the off-season,” he said.
“(But) a week out from the final you can’t go back and change the rule book.”
The winner of the TugunTweed clash will face Burleigh in next Sunday’s grand final. COACH Dave Benigno and his Surfers Paradise Apollo have broken a long drought by making it to the finals stage of the Gold Coast Premier League.
Surfers host Murwillumbah in the knockout minor semifinal at Lex Bell Oval on the Isle of Capri tomorrow at 3pm. It is the first time both club and coach have made it this far in the top flight since 2002.
“This is my first time in Premier League finals as a coach and the last time Surfers played in a Premier League final was 13 years ago,” Benigno said.
It is an intriguing match-up between the 2013 champions Murwillumbah and the Apollo, in only the club’s second season back in the top flight. But Benigno has no fear. “It has been a win, a draw and a loss for both clubs but we have been going all right this year,” Benigno said.
“We have beaten Broadbeach and we have beaten Magic United and we’ve been freshened up by having last weekend off.”