Fogarty fires again

iSelect Titans’ contracted utility back Jamal Fogarty continued his great form in the Intrust Super Cup, with a superb performance at fullback and then halfback in Tweed Seagulls’ 32-16 win against Souths Logan Magpies, the Canberra Raiders feeder team.

Fogarty, 20, missed much of last season with an ACL injury but has regathered all his confidence, as evidenced by another fine running game that saw him score two tries. He played the first half at fullback the reverted to halfback with Titans newcomer James Roberts heading to the back in his second match since returning from a broken leg.

Roberts scored a first-half try after scrambling on a loose ball in the Magpies’ in-goal and beautifully set up a try for Fogarty in the second half with a good offload but general saw little of the ball.

Titans prop Ryan James had his second game for the Seagulls after being dropped from the NRL squad and was busy, although he admitted he was still feeling his way with the shoulder that had sidelined him early in the season. Fellow prop Caleb Binge involved himself well in the physical encounters.

The Seagulls were on the scoreboard early with a try to winger Tom Merritt, bringing his season tally to league-leading 11.

However, the Magpies were also able to score early, with forward Andrew Edwards putting his side on the board. The rest of the half though saw the Seagulls dominate, with Chris Piper, Roberts and Fogarty adding tries.

The points continued to come for the home side in the second half, with Blake Anderson benefitting from another Magpies error to score a try.

Featuring nine Raiders in the team, the Magpies were eventually able to hit back, with youngsters Patrick Mago (a Souths Logan junior) and Brenko Lee crossing to give the visitors back-to-back tries and to narrow the margin to 26-16.

However, the fightback was shortlived, with Fogarty getting a double to further increase the home team’s lead  on the way to their fifth win in a row.

The Titans’ other feeder team, Burleigh Bears, led 22-6 with 25 minutes remaining but went down 30-28 to Redcliffe at Pizzey Park, after conceding four late tries.

Redcliffe opened the scoring through winger Oliver Regan in the 13^th minute, but from there the Bears gained the ascendancy.

A length of the field try to Henare Wells got the Bears on the board while a try to Khan Ahwang shortly after gave them the lead. A try to Steve Michaels on half-time meant the Bears would lead by 10 but the Dolphins had a boost of seeing legendary Queensland and Australian legend Petero Civoniceva come off the bench.

While his game time was somewhat limited, Civoniceva was a presence in the middle of the field with some tough defence and plenty of trademark charges.

“Old Pet was pretty good,” said Redcliffe coach Troy Lindsay. “He got us forward and worked hard in the middle. His lungs blew out a little bit, he didn’t play a lot of minutes, but they were quality minutes all of them.”

The Burleigh momentum continued in the second half when Ahwang fended off a couple of defenders before Henare Wells eventually finished the movement with his second try.

At 22-6 the Bears looked like they would go on with the job and put Redcliffe to the sword, but that all changed in the 56^th minute when a huge spiral bomb was put down in the lead-up to Tom Geraghty’s try. After that momentum swung dramatically in favour of the Dolphins, as tries to Zack Strasser, James Ackerman and Sarafu Fatiaki followed to give them an eight-point lead with 10 to go.

The game’s drama didn’t end there though. A try to Siuatonga Likiliki in the 77^th minute delivered a grandstand finish and with less than two minutes left on the clock it looked like Burleigh had scored the match-winner. Zac Mackay was over in the corner but the cut-out pass by Ryley Jacks was ruled forward meaning Redcliffe hung on to win.

This weekend, Tweed Heads will host the Sunshine Coast on Sunday and the Bears are at home to Norths Devils, both games at 2pm Sunday.

TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 32 (Jamal Fogarty 2, Blake Anderson, Tom Merritt, James Roberts, Chris Piper tries; Blake Anderson 4 goals) def SOUTHS LOGAN MAGPIES 16 (Brenko Lee, Andrew Edwards, Patrick Mago tries; Jordan Rapana 2 goals) at Piggabeen Sports.

Tweed Heads Seagulls: 1. Jamal Fogarty 2. Tom Merritt 3. Luke Dumas 18. Ryan James 5. James Roberts 6. Sam Irwin 7. Michael Burgess 8. Damian Sironen 9. Matt King (c) 10. Pele Peletelese 11. Tom Kingston 12. Cory Blair 13. Chris Piper 14. Blake Anderson 15. Caleb Binge 16. Sam Saville 17. Reg Saunders

Souths Logan Magpies: 1. Luke Archer 2. Ramon Filipine 3. Josh Damen 4. Brenko Lee 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Jack Ahearn 7. Rhys Jacks 8. Luke Page 9. Kurt Baptiste 10. Sam Mataora 11. Andrew Edwards 12. Patrick Mago 13. Phil Dennis (c) 14. Mitch Cronin 15. Leon Panapa 16. Rez Phillips 17. Luke Bateman 

REDCLIFFE DOLPHINS 30 (Oliver Regan, Zach Strasser, James Ackerman, Sarafu Fatiaki, Tom Geraghty tries; Adrian Davis 5 goals) def BURLEIGH BEARS 28 (Henare Wells 2, Steve Michaels, Khan Ahwang, Siuatonga Likiliki tries; Khan Ahwang 4 goals) at Pizzey Park.

Final teams

Burleigh Bears: 1. Henare Wells 2. Steve Michaels 18. Khan Ahwang 4. Corbin Kiernan 5. Zac Mackay 6. Matt Beddow 7. Ryley Jacks 8. Chris Kitching 9. Matt Keating 10. Matt Bell 11. James Dunley 12. Kyle McConnell 13. Darren Griffiths (c) 14. Nafe Seluini 15. Siuatonga Likiliki 16. Jesse Malcolm 17. Nick Harrold 

Redcliffe Dolphins: 1. Paul Byrnes 2. Oliver Regan 3. Aaron Whitchurch 4. Stewart Mills 5. Liam Georgetown 6. Zach Strasser 7. Adrian Davis 8. James Ackerman 9. Cameron Cullen 10. Jon Green (C) 11. Sarafu Fatiaki 12. Joe Bradley 13. Tom Geraghty 14. Tom Rowles 15. Petero Civoniceva 16. Martin Cordwell 17. Caleb Hoffman

INSTRUST SUPER CUP TABLE

·         Northern Pride v Easts Tigers postponed to Sunday 6 July