Another fine, warm day with a fresh northeasterly wind for the grand final at Brandon Park between Logan Bros and Redlands. Logan Bros won the toss and elected to run with the wind, but the game started disastrously for them with Redlands scoring from their first set when a Matt Smith mid-field bomb was retrieved and toed through for Geof Davey to open the scoring after less than 2 minutes. The conversion went wide however and Redlands led 4-0. The next 15 minutes saw Logan Brothers camped on Redlands line however despite numerous chances they just could not breach the Parakeets defence. This period proved critical, and in the end it was Redlands who scored when a rare venture to the other end of the field saw replacement Daniel score wide out just before halftime. Once again Vaughan's conversion attempt went wide, but Redlands went to the break with an 8 poit break as well as the prospect of running with the wind in the second half. Both teams would have got a tongue lashing from their coaches as the completion rate of both teams was atrocious in the first stanza - Redlands 9/17 only marginally better than Logan's 8/16.
Surprisingly Redlands continued to make mistakes in their own half in the early stages of the second half and eventually they paid with Esi Tonga crossing in the 8th minute and Junior's conversion bring the margin back to 2 points. A couple of crucial refereeing decisions including the sin-binning of Albert and a stripping call, helped the Redlands side and when Trent Iselin tiptoed through the defence with 12 minutes remaining they had reestablished an 8 point break. Logan Brothers refused to give in however, and a try to centre Marks saw them back within 4 with 8 to go, and with 4 minutes left on the clock they were over again, only to have Charles Palupe penalised for a double movement. Redlands went the length of the field from the next step and on the final tackle Deacon reached out in a three man Logan tackle to get the ball down and seal the match. Vaughan's conversion made the final score 20-10 to Redlands.
The game was a little disappointing as a spectacle with both sides struggling to hold the ball although both sides improved in the second half with Redlands managing 8/14 and Logan 9/12. The penalty count of 9-4 in favour of Redlands proved crucial in the end as they played the more controlled football required to win Grand Finals. Congratulations to Jay Aston who topped off a great season for him by being named the official man-of-the-match.
Scorers:
REDLANDS 20 (G.Davey, D.Porsbro-Pedersen, T.Iselin, D.Johnston tries; V.Eriksen 2/4 goals)
def
LOGAN BROS 10 (E.Tonga, R.Marks tries; J.Seumanutafa 1/2 goals)
Stats:
Penalties: Redlands 9-4
Srume: Logan Bros 7-4
Completions: Redlands: 17/31 (55%); Logan Bros: 17/28 (61%)
By the Minute:
3rd min: Davey try; Redlands 4-0
28th min: Porsbro-Pedersen try; Redlands 8-0 (ht)
38th min: Tonga try/ Seumanutafa conv; Redlands 8-6
48th min: Iselin try/Eriksen conv; Redlands 14-6
51st min: Marks try; Redlands 14-10
58th min: Johnston try/Eriksen conv; Redlands 20-10 (ft)
Congratulations to Redlands on their win. Hope to see you all round the fields next year!!
Brad T
21/9/2003
