Round 10 opened with the unfortunate news that Slacks Creek had been forced to forfeit their scheduled Sunday game against Redcliffe due to the unavailability of 9 players through injury and illness. Redcliffe were thus credited with a 20-0 victory, moving them to 14 points on the competition table, and level with Redlands and Souths in 2nd place.
Centenary soon joined the "14 point club" with a comprehensive win over the Tigers 30-12 after leading 16-6 at half-time. Easts were never really in the hunt against the physical Centenary side who are getting back to their early season form. Nonetheless was certainly an improved effort from the Tigers compared with their 48-0 loss in the first round to Centenary.
The second game on Friday night saw competition leaders Arana travel to Pinklands to take on the second place team, Redlands, both teams coming off losses in the previous round. All 4 previous games between these 2 sides had been won by the home team, and with Arana missing a number of key players, this was always going to be a difficult game for them. Arana got the start they wanted however, with a long distance try to Alex T giving them an early 6-0 lead. Redlands however were dominating territory and possession and struck back with 2 first half tries (while threatening more) to give the home side a 10-6 half time lead. A converted try and drop goal extended this lead to 17-6 early in the 2nd half and the Panthers looked to be in big trouble. Big trouble called for a big man, and when Phippsy (who was forced to play for the full 60 minutes due to the injury problems) barged over for a try, Arana glimpsed some hope at 17-12. Redlands looked to have shut the door however with another converted try to lead 23-12. This time it was left to the "little man" of the forwards Brendan to reignite the Panthers and his try, combined with Luke's third conversion of the evening saw the Panthers again trail by 5 23-18. With 5 minutes remaining Alex T repeated his long distance effort of the first half to give Luke a chance to put Arana in the lead. He made no mistake, and despite having to defend desperately in the closing moments, Arana held on to win 24-23, remarkably repeating their 1 point winning margin of the first round. This result pushed Arana to 18 points, 4 clear of Redlands on the competition table. Overall it was a great team effort from Arana, particularly Matt who had a great game in his birthday week!!
In the remaining game of the weekend, Souths had a chance to move into clear second spot with a win over Logan Brothers who they hosted at Brandon Park. The Brethren however, never gave the Magpies a sniff and in the end, only 3 late tries to the home team restored a margin of respectability to the 46-28 Logan Brothers victory. The big Logan forwards caused havoc out wide, and though they tired late, the Souths comeback was far too little too late. Logan are really starting to shake out the early season cobwebs and are proving they will be a very tough team to beat for the remainder of the season.
So at the completion of round 10, Arana are clear leaders on 18 points with Redlands, Souths, Centenary and Redcliffe all in equal second on 14. Logan Bros are snapping at their heels on 12, followed by Easts on 6 and Slacks Creek on 4
Brad T
27/5/2002
