The Mackay Cutters bounced back from a disheartening Round 3 drubbing to Townsville to take down the undefeated Wynnum Manly Seagulls in their Round 4 match on Saturday night.
The Cutters came into BMD Kougari oval as notable underdog in most eyes, after the Seagulls opened the season with three-straight in the win-column.
Much of the damage was done in the first half by the Cutters.
Young Cowboy Braden Uele and Jordan Pereira barged over within the first 20 minutes to lay the platform.
However, it was a scintillating 40th minute Yamba Bowie score off the back some skillful lead-up play by Cooper Bambling and Jack Joass that saw momentum squarely in favour of the visitors 16-4 as the teams headed into halftime.
The second half saw a lot more attacking action from Wynnum Manly, but despite a few repeat sets in the early minutes, it wouldn’t be until the 52nd minute that they would re-find the try line through Mitchell Buckett out wide.
Wynnum halfback Travis Burns stepped off his right foot and followed up with another try for the home side five-minutes later, bringing the score two-points shy of level.
When the run of play seemed to be going all red and green, prop-forward Uele got back into the action for Mackay, displaying his intelligence when anticipated and intercepted a Burns inside pass before running half the field for a tide-turning try.
The Seagulls aimed up on the ensuing set, earning themselves an attacking opportunity after tackling their way to a Mackay error.
This would be the first in series of drama-mounting handling errors however, with Wynnum interchange-dynamo Mitchell Cronin dropping a pass in attack only for Mackay winger Nathan Saumalu to return the favour off the subsequent scrum.
Cronin capitalised on his second attacking opportunity though, crashing through on the left edge, getting the Seagulls back within four points after Burns failed to turn around an unsuccessful night of conversions.
Inside the final five minutes, Wynnum winger Peter Gubb kept hope alive when he broke the line on a patented gutsy kick-return, finding support in Alex Barr who was chased down at the 10m line.
The Cutters defence would remain steady however, repelling the Seagull attack for the tense final minutes.
Coach Adam Brideson and the Wynnum Manly Seagulls will hit the road and look to return to the winners circle next week against the Sunshine Coast Falcons, whilst the Cutters head back home to defend BB Print Stadium against the PNG Hunters.
See the full scoring details and final team line-ups for this game via QRL Live
MACKAY CUTTERS 22 (Braden Uele 2, Jordan Pereira, Yamba Bowie tries; Nicholas Hynes 3 goals) def WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 18 (Jack Goodsell, Mitchell Buckett, Travis Burns, Mitchell Cronin tries; Travis Burns goal) at BMD Kougari Oval.
