Round 4 preview: Seagulls and Panthers look to build

Last round, the Panthers won the battle of the big cats over Brisbane Tigers 20-14 in a hard-fought match.

The visiting Panthers led 14-4 at half-time and iced the win in the second half after holding 52 per cent of the ball, coupled with big game performances all across the field.

Named on the wing, Lauren Dam impressed as she made 146 metres for her side, while young and powerful centre Sera Koroi made two-line breaks and scored two tries.

Hooker Ariaana Randall did plenty of work in defence and topped the tackle count with 24 tackles.

Panthers coach Craig Green said he thought his side were building nicely as the season progressed, but this weekend, he was wary of the star-studded Seagulls.

“We have been finding our way a little at the moment; the win against the Tigers certainly wasn’t our best, but it just shows we are moving forward,” Green said.

“We have a young team.... my backrow is all 18 and learning the game, but they are going to learn a lot this week against some great players.

“Tweed are a tremendous side and they are full of internationals and superstars, so this will be a great test.

“Tarryn Aiken is the best half in the competition and Georgia Hale is a great player, she works so hard.

“No excuses this week, we have our best team and we are four weeks in, so we all know what to expect.”

Tweed Seagulls were seeing stars in North Queensland last weekend, and fell to a 26-4 loss to the Gold Stars.

The Gold Stars started well and were leading 14-0 at half-time and from there, it was all over for the Seagulls.

The Seagulls could only find 42 per cent of the ball and also missed 40 tackles, a statistic that made it too hard for Tweed to stay in the game. 

Tweed coach Chris O’Connell was confident his side could bounce back this week against the Panthers.

“We only had 16 players against the Stars, so first thing we need is 17 players,” O’Connell said.

“Once we have that, it is about all 17 girls playing at their best.

"My message is that you can’t win football games if some weeks you are near your best, or below your best.

“We need 17 players at their best.

“We need to find that consistency in our performance."

While there were many players who have been putting in strong efforts for his team this season, O'Connell said the work of the team's captain was a model other players could follow.

“Georgia Hale has been great for us, she is not big, but defends in the middle and just does her job every week," O'Connell said.

West Brisbane Panthers will stream this game on their Facebook page. 

The Burleigh Bears did their job against Central Queensland Capras and will be looking to continue their top-of-the-table form against the Valkyries in a rare Friday night game.

Burleigh were at their dominating best winning 36-16 last weekend and had all the running with seven-line breaks and 62 tackle breaks. Their average set distance was over half the length of the field.

A strong performer for the Bears was Tazmin Gray, who might still be running after clocking up 221 metres on the speedometer.

Last weekend, the Valkyries suffered a 64-6 loss against a Valleys Diehards team that his warming into their season.

They starved the Valkyries of ball and they will be hoping to get that 41 per cent closer to 50 per cent this week. The Valkyries will also need to work hard on stiffening their defence this week against a powerful Bears side. 

Montanah Best tried her hardest to spark the Valkyries with 101 metres and Imogen Healy tackled herself to near exhaustion with 23.

Playing at home again this week, the North Queensland side will be hoping the stars align and results in a win over the Tigers to back up their 26-4 win over the Seagulls in Round 3. 

The Stars dined out on 58 per cent of the ball and had 20 more runs that resulted in 479 more metres as well as nine line breaks. Captain Romy Teitzel made 165 metres and was massive for her side, while Lauren Moss made three line breaks.

The Tigers were down at half-time 14-4 to the Panthers last round, but came back to score 10 second-half points to really test the Panthers.

By the end of the game, the Tigers hadn’t done too much wrong, but the start cost them in the end.

Kimberley Dore made 146 metres and Katherine Moore defended the Tigers to a near win with 24 tackles and both are expected to be strong performers again this week.

This game will be broadcast and is available on QRL.com.au, Intrust Super Cup app, QRL Facebook.

The Famous Royal Blue were on fire against the Valkyries, scoring 13 tries in their win, with three of those tries coming in the first 11 minutes of the match.

Meg Ward was at her best with 188 metres and Patrice Chambers made 24 tackles. With 75 tackle breaks and only13 missed tackles, it was a great performance from Valleys.

The Central Queensland Capras however will be looking to upset the Diehards this weekend after putting in a. The Capras didn’t do too much wrong against the Bears except win.

They had 52 per cent of the ball and completed at 73 per cent. They just missed too many tackles and that will be the first thing they need to fix this week against Valleys.

Mariah Storch will be looking to replicate her 173 metres.