Bowen Junior Rugby League hosted their first home game on the weekend under spectacular conditions.
Club president, Brendan O’Grady was impressed with how the day was run. “All teams performed well. Parents and coaching staff were all positive and all contributed to the success of the day. There were no complaints, and no drama.” He wanted to thank everyone who volunteered to help out on the day, and the players for their incredible sportsmanship.
Coaches too were happy with their young charges.
Under 9s coach, Becky Otto was impressed with the efforts of her players.
“Overall it was a very good team effort.” A couple of players deserved special mention however.
“Brayden Horstman and Sam Hawes did superb jobs as first receivers, directing their team mates around on the field. Special mention also goes to Will Jones who really lifted for the game.”
Try scorers for the game were Ryan Donnelly, Rory Haworth and Sam Hawes. “The Under 9's are really looking forward to their next game in Townsville.” Otto said.
Brett Glazebrook, coach of the Under 10s said all his boys played well particularly when defending.
“Defence won them the game especially in the first half. In the second half, they had the breeze behind them and they ran in four or five tries.” Mace Kirk earned himself three points for his efforts.
“He followed the big fellows around, and his second phase play was outstanding.” Jack Laffey (2 points) and Fletcher Glazebrook (1 point) also played well. “Jack made plenty of breaks, while Fletcher earned his point with his cover defending efforts.” Dabad Dui also earned the coach’s praise.
“Everytime he got the ball, he was lightning quick.”
Under 11 coach Leki Tuhopou thought the school holiday training regime helped his charges. “The boys played well. The hard training during the holidays definitely paid off.” Oliver Freeman was the top tackler for the Under 11s, while Cassidy Pilcher was awarded the Player of the Match.
“Bronson surprised us all in the forwards with his massive runs, breaking through tackles. He earned himself the nickname Bronco. But everyone defended well, and there was a lot of talk on the field.”
Coach of the Under 12s, Bill Walpole was more reserved in his praise. “It was a good fair win, and they played alright. They had some good plays, and some not so good plays.” As far as stand out players, Walpole said that on a whole, the efforts were equally shared. “A few stepped up following the school holiday carnival but on a whole, they all put in.”
The Under 13s played the game of the day with the result dependent on the final conversion. The conversion missed handing the Seagulls a narrow two point win over the Central Tigers. Coach Brendan O’Grady said it was good to win a close one. “We started off well and held them out in defence.”
But it was the Seagulls errors that brought the Tigers back into the game. “We dropped the ball a lot and nearly lost the game by our own doing.” added O’Grady. Players worthy of mention were the Bowen halves.
“Jackson O’Grady and Bryce Power dominated pushing the forwards around the paddock. They ran good lines, finding holes, and their kicking game was good.” The forward pack of Tyrese Parter, Bryce Doyle, Declan Lynch and Nathan Wild also earned the praise of the coach. “They set the platform, running hard, and finding holes in the defensive line.”
Under 14s coach Isack Fatnowna was impressed with the players’ ability to come back after a poor start to their first game of the season. “We went into this game with the goal of employing the tactics we've been working on over the off season.
The first ten minutes we gave up cheap ball through handling errors and poor fifth tackle kicking options.” Brothers capitalised on the handling errors for the remainder of the first half and by midway of the second half, the home side were trailing 48 points to nil. “Our boys then took it upon themselves to turn things around starting with their defence.”
With Isaac Hawes moving to hooker, the Seagulls became more direct working their way up field to score some late points. Zac Wagstaff scored an impressive 50m run away try followed by Jesse McDonnell crashing over from close range. “I was impressed with our resilience in the second half and we will look to build on that in our next game.”
