ROUND 5 WRAP:
Selection Carnival day has come and gone, and all teams in the A comp must be congratulated for the spirit in which the games were played - it was a great showcase for junior footy.
Arana started the first game against Souths in the best way possible, recovering the ball from their own kickoff, and putting together a great set of 6 culminating in fullback Luke C scoring in the corner from a neatly placed chip kick from Alex T. Despite (or maybe because of) assistant coach Wayne's ball holding skills, Luke failed to convert his own try and Arana led 4-0. Souths struck back in the 7th minute with a converted try following some sustained pressure and grabbed the lead 6-4. Four minutes later Arana replied when a scramble in the in-goal area from a Nash cross-kick resulted in a desperate lunge from Alex F to ground the ball just inside the touch-in-goal line. Arana were in again five minutes later when Matt H burrowed over after good buildup. Luke's conversion saw the Panthers take a 14-6 lead which they held until the break. Arana had put together a great half of football with a competion rate of 75%, but knew Souths would come back hard in the second half. That they did, but the storm was weathered and in the 37th minute Arana extended their lead when a bomb was put down by the Souths fullback looking straight into the morning sun, and Alex T recovered his own kick to score. Luke converted, and when four minutes later Josey charged over under the posts from the back of a scrum packed after another dropped bomb, Arana looked comfortable at 26-6. Souths hung in there however and were rewarded with a try with 14 minutes remaining to give them a glimmer of hope, however this was snuffed out with 10 minutes remaining when Phippsy charged over for a great front-rowers try. Joshua Bruce scored a late try, once again converted by Luke to bring up the final score of 36-12. This was a great team effort by everyone involved as indicated by the tries being scored by seven different players (4 backs/3 forwards), seven players getting into double figures in tackles and seven having 9 hitups or more!! The compeltion rate of 20/26 was also excellent.
The next game saw Logan Brothers take on Easts (both fresh from their "relegation" battle). It turned out to be a very disappointing day for the Tigers who just didn't fire at all, and went down 30-12 after trailing 16-4 at halftime. Logan Brothers did show that their big forward pack will be dangerous to all sides as the year goes on. The third games saw undefeated Redcliffe up against the soon-to-be-relegated Hornets of Holy Spirit. Redclifee scored an early try, but Spirit fought back and seemed certain to score on a number of occasions but the Dolphins defences held them out. Once Redcliffe scored again the floodgates opened and despite some patches of resistance were untroubled in winning 60-0. The other relegation team Brighton met Slacks Creek then met with both teams looking for their first win of the season. Slacks Creek turned on some great football in this game, outclassing the Brighton side 62-12 - this will be a great morale-booster for the southside club and should give them a lift in confidence for the games ahead. The last game saw the undefeated Centenary side up against last year's Premiers Redlands. Redlands started better and jumped away to an early 8-0 lead, before Centenary got into gear to bring it back to 8-6. Two more tries by the defending premiers before the break however saw the "other" Panthers in trouble given they only had 13 players (including a couple carrying injuries into the 2nd half). To their credit they continued to compete, but rarely looked like breaking apart the Parakeet defence and the baysiders ended up winning 26-10.
The results above have left Redcliffe and Arana as the only 2 undefeated teams on 10 points; Redlands and Centenary on 8 and Souths making up the five on 6 points. Logan Bros are on 4, and Easts and Slacks Creek on 2. Holy Spirit and Brighton move down to the lower grades this week.
ROUND 6 PREVIEW:
With the relegation of Holy Spirit and Brighton, Easts and Slacks Creek have byes this week and will pick up 2 competition points (and 20-0 scorelines). The three games to be played should all be beauties, with a winner hard to pick in all of them.
Out at Dolphin will be the "replay" of last years 13A Grand Final between Redcliffe and Redlands - amazingly, despite the fact they played each other 6 times last year this will be Redlands first trip to Dolphin Oval!! If they can find their way there, I'm sure they will be "greeted" by a team desperate to prove that their position atop the table is not just the result of a fortuitous draw. Despite getting away with only a narrow victory against Easts, Redcliffe showed they will still be a tough team to beat by their great defence when defeating Logan Brothers, despite having a number of players out of the team. Redlands will be keen to continue the good form they showed against Centenary, and will be anxious not to drop a second game for the season, and keep their Chairman's Trophy hopes alive.
In the other Friday night game, Centenary host Souths. Both teams will be keen to get back on the winning side of the ledger following losses on Selection Carnival day. I'm sure both sides will have been disappointed with their form on the day, and Centenary will have also learned a lot about what is required playing in the 14A comp in their loss to Redlands. This should be an extremely entertaining game of football and it would not surprise me to see a big score racked up by both sides!!
The Sunday game sees joint competition leaders Arana take on Logan Brothers at Civic Park, in a "replay" of last year's 13A knockout semi, which saw Arana's year finished. This is a tough road trip for the Panthers, but playing day games for the last couple of weeks should have improved their readiness for this one. Logan Bros have a huge forward pack and will be keen to make it 3 wins in a row, after dropping their first 3 games of the season. Arana will want to continue the great from they displayed against Souths and need a win here given they finish the round with game against Centenary then Redcliffe. The Arana forwards will all have to perform well in this one, so the halves and backs can get some room to move - once again a great game in store.
Hope everyone has an enjoyable, injury free weekend.
Brad T
21/4/2002
