Junior ‘battle of the Bayside’ still a big rivalry

Wynnum Manly Seagulls coach Michael Dobson said while obviously things went right for his side in their last game, his side won’t be resting on their laurels as they still had plenty to improve upon.

“We just focused on completing at a high percentage, and after the first few sets where we had a few errors, we completed 15 in a row and made it easy to attack,” Dobson said.

“We need to make sure we do it for the 80 minutes.

“In the first half, we played exactly as we wanted to, but in the second half, we didn’t hold onto the ball and it became a bit of a scrappy affair where we were under a bit of pressure defensively.”

Redcliffe Dolphins coach Scott Murray said his side were in a similar boat in regards to where they could improve from their Round 1 victory.

“There was lots of good things to come out of it, certainly some areas where we can get better and we will need to be,” Murray said.

“Towards the back end of the game, we had a few mistakes which put us under a bit of pressure which was good for us actually, in the fact that we were able to defend our goal line for a period of time.”

Being aware that his side wasn’t the only one to record a dominant opening round victory, Dobson said he was expecting a high scoring affair again this weekend.

“We know it’s going to be a tough game, they always been one of our biggest rivals and they’ve got some good quality players,” Dobson said.

“With the six-again rule, if you aren’t disciplined and don’t complete high, it doesn’t matter how good a side you are, you get found out it pretty quickly because fatigue sets in so hopefully, we put on plenty on points and keep them to not too many.

“On the flip side, we are playing our first game at home so it’s going to be a big occasion for us as a club and we are looking forward to it.”

Murray shared a similar sentiment.

“We are still getting used to the referees, the calls and the duration of the games (40-minute halves), I can only imagine it being a high-scoring game, but both teams match up pretty well, so I’ll doubt it will be a blowout and will be a pretty close game,” Murray said.

“We are pretty similar... they have a good pack of forwards and some good halves who get them around the paddock well, so it will a good indicator of where we are at.”

Dobson was tipping fullback Ben Farr to be one to watch after having had an impressive pre-season with the Intrust Super Cup squad.

Murray said he was fortunate his squad had retained a lot of players from the 2020 season, especially the halves combination of Toby Elliot (five-eighth) and Sam Thompson (halfback).

“They know each other’s games pretty well, they were good on the weekend and they are getting better all the time,” Murray said.

The Battle of the Bayside curtain-raiser will take place on Sunday at BMD Kougari Oval; the weekend's other games will see other strong rivalries on show.

The Tweed Seagulls will look to bounce back from their Round 1 loss to Souths Logan Magpies while Burleigh Bears will be keen to continue to their winning way after the dominant win over Brisbane Tigers last weekend.

Mackay Cutters will be high on confidence after a strong win over Western Mustangs last weekend. Central Queensland Capras, however, will aim to regroup and focus on this next challenge after suffering at 72-4 loss against Redcliffe Dolphins in Round 1.

Both Ipswich Jets and Brisbane Tigers will need to be on their game this weekend and will both be pushing hard to avoid consecutive losses to start the 2021 season.

The strong Sunshine Coast Falcons outfit will look to go back-to-back this weekend and will be aiming to secure another win when they travel to face Western Mustangs who came off second best against Mackay Cutters.

A traditional rivalry will be on show with Brisbane's north up against the south of the city. Both Norths Devils and Souths Logan Magpies will be eager to put on a strong overall performance and make a name for themselves in the 2021 season with a win.

Townsville Blackhawks, who had a strong victory over Norths Devils to start their 2021 campaign, will be looking to take add another to their tally when they take on the Northern Pride who will be pushing to turn around their heavy Round 1 loss.