Unfortunately Brisbane's strange weather continued to play havoc with the trials with the heat of 2 weeks ago replaced by a cyclonic Friday night, putting paid to games for that evening. Fortunately the wild weather dissipated as quickly as it arrived and games were able to be played in pleasant conditions on Saturday and oppresive conditions on Sunday
I travelled down to Kookaburra to see Centenary take on Mustangs and was very impressed with the "other" Panthers. New recruits half Jamie Williams, center Dylan Crisp and second rower Brian Paterson all put in eyecatching performances along with the established players, pointing to a return to 2002 form (when they made the Preliminary Final) after their "crash-and-burn" 2003. Admittedly Mustangs are most certainly not "A" standard but they tried hard and it was the crisp execution of Centenary that saw them run out 56-6 winners. The Logan Bros side split in two for Saturday night games against St.Brendans and Goodna and, by all reports, performed impressively.
The Easts v Arana game was moved from Friday night to midday Sunday and was played in oppressive conditions (just ask the referee!!). Easts performed well for the first 15 minutes, and led 4-0 but then the classy Arana backs clicked into gear running in 4 tries to lead 20-4 at the break. Both teams were really feeling the heat in the second half, and could only manage one try apiece, but there was certainly no lack of enthusiasm in defence from both sides and there was plenty of hard hitting. It was great to see Nash Rylands back on the field for the Panthers after his horrific injury last year.
MINUTE BY MINUTE:
5th Easts try; Easts 4-0
16th L.Corley try; 4-4
20th: A.Tallon try/conv; Arana 10-4
24th: A.Tallon try/conv; Arana 16-4
25th: R.Southwood try; Arana 20-4 (HT)
47th: Easts try (no kick); Arana 20-8
52nd: M.Carr try (no kick); Arana 24-8 (FT)
Also after a washout on Friday night, Redcliffe and Norths As "hijacked" half of their B team's game and had a solid 30 minute hitout which Redcliffe just won 10-8. Both sides certainly look stronger than last year and will be looking to finish further up the ladder. Souths played Wynnum in the other Sunday trial. Springwood did not play a game on the weekend.
The competition proper starts next weekend.
WEBMASTER
7/3/2004
