All on the line for Seagulls

The Tweed Head Seagulls walk onto Piggabeen Oval this afternoon knowing they have to cut out their errors and regain the vigorous on-line defence that was a feature of their 13-match winning run if they are to win the elimination semi-final against fifth placed Ipswich Jets.

Key player will be goalkicking utility back and iSelect Titans contracted player Jamal Fogarty, who will start at five-eighth.

Fogarty said that while the Seagulls go onto the match with the momentum of successive wins against Mackay Cutters and Sunshine Coast, there has to be a lot of improvement if their season is to continue past the sudden-death showdown.

“We really haven’t played anywhere like we can in the past few weeks and have to be more consistent, over a whole 40 minutes let along the 80 minutes,” said Fogarty. “We’ve been playing well in patches but, like last week against the Cutters, we have been lapsing and letting teams back into the game.

“We’ve been coughing up too much ball. We have to defend our errors better in our own half, which we were doing well when we won 13 straight. That’s important.”

Fogarty sees former Titans player, fullback Marmin Barba who is the younger brother of Ben, as a major threat for the Jets at fullback. He has been in hot form.

The Seagulls are without forward Cory Blair who was suspended for two matches for a dangerous throw in the 26-22 victory over the Cutters.

The bonus for the Seagulls is that Tom Kingston is eligible to drop back from the Titans the following week because he is eligible still for the Intrust Super Cup, having played more games for the Seagulls that in the NRL.

It was a last gasp try to Trent Richardson saw Tweed Heads snatch victory over the Mackay Cutters at Piggabeen, giving them fourth place and the right to host today’s semi-final against the Jets who have not beaten the Seagulls south of the border in the past 13 games.

That will mean nothing at kick-off though. Blair will be a loss, having made a game high 17 runs for 18 metres against the Cutters last wee and being a busy, physical part of the pack all season.

Tweed co-captain James Wood to play his 200th Queensland Cup game; making him the 12^th player to do so and the sixth to play 200 for a single club. Seagulls hooker and co-captain Matt King (190 games for Tweed; 231 overall including Souths Logan) has announced his retirement at season’s end so he will be fired up to make sure the Seagulls stay alive for at least another week.

Tweed Heads Seagulls: 1. Jahrome Hughes 2. Ricardo Parata 3. Luke Dumas 4. James Wood (c) 5. Blake Anderson 6. Jamal Fogarty 7. Michael Burgess 8. Oliver Percy 9. Matt King (c) 10. Damian Sironen 11. Ayden Lee 12. TBA 13. Sam Saville 14. Sam Irwin 15. Chris Piper 16. Trent Richardson 17. Pele Peletelese

Ipswich Jets: 1. Marmin Barba 2. Kurt Capewell 3. Nemani Valekapa 4. Brendon Marshall 5. Carlin Anderson 6. Josh Cleeland 7. Dane Phillips 8. Kurtis Lingwoodock 9. Troy O`Sullivan 10. Rod Griffin 11. Liam Capewell 12. Sam Martin 13. Keiron Lander (c) 14. Billy McConnachie 19. Wes Conlon 21. Rob Worsley 22. Matt Parcell

MEANWHILE the Burleigh Bears finished their season with an upset victory over minor premiers Northern Pride in a thriller at Pizzey Park.

The Bears came from 22-points down to win 29-28 at Pizzey Park. The Pride, who will finish as the comfortable minor premiers despite the loss, got away to a flyer scoring the opening four tries before the Bears threw away the rulebook and found a way back into the game.

“I think we just decided to play a little bit unconventional,” Bears coach Jim Lenihan said of the comeback. “We were getting it a bit wider and kicking it a bit earlier and it reaped some rewards for us today.”

The rewards were some of the most exciting tries the Bears have scored all season, with Titans under-20s contracted player Daniel Schwass and Bears success story of 2014 Kane Ahwang, signed by the Titans in 2015, picking up one each.

In the end it was Ahwang who managed to slot the game winning field goal in the 79th minute to cap what has been a big season for him that has seen him finish as the Intrust Super Cup's leading point scorer.

BURLEIGH BEARS 29 (Henare Wells, Francis Veukiso, Jared Te’o, Daniel Schwass, Khan Ahwang tries; Khan Ahwang 4 goals; Khan Ahwang field goal) def NORTHERN PRIDE 28 (Brett Anderson, Davin Crampton, Shaun Nona, Jason Roos, Jack Svendsen tries; Shaun Nona 4 goals) at Pizzey Park.

FINAL TABLE

FINALS WEEK 1 - INTRUST SUPER CUP

Sunday, September 7

Elimination Semi Final

Tweed Heads Seagulls v Ipswich Jets - 2:00pm @ Piggabeen Sports

Qualifying Semi Final

Wynnum Manly Seagulls v Easts Tigers - 2:00pm @ BMD Kougari Oval * (Channel 9)