Wynnum Manly and Burleigh advance to the BMD Premiership grand final
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The Wynnum Manly Seagulls and Burleigh Bears have advanced to the 2023 BMD Premiership grand final, after two thrilling semi-final clashes at Davies Park.
The Seagulls kicked off the action on semi-final Sunday, triumphing 30-28 over the competition leaders Souths Logan in an absolute nail-biter.
The ultimate underdogs - who finished the regular season in fourth place - handed the Magpies their first loss of the year, with a missed conversion the only difference between the two sides.
Wynnum Manly and Souths Logan scored five tries apiece, but it was the Seagulls who came bolting out of the gates early, with halfback Sienna Lofipo and centre Julia Robinson scoring within the first 13 minutes.
Souths Logan then hit back with a double to Georgia Wilson and an arm wrestle ensued, with the match going down to the wire.
Coach Ron Troutman said after the game the team had always been led by belief, even with a slow start that saw them lose their opening two matches.
"There’s been belief in the side all the year," Troutman said.
"It’s the little things like our controllables where we let ourselves down but I’m of the opinion that we’ve been in every game of football.
"I’m very happy with today's performance. I thought we started very well.
"We went through a period there where we sort of missed our mark a little bit on our completions … but I thought that we switched on and fought hard.
"It was very gritty. Both sides were very gritty.
"It’s our time now to enjoy this moment and then switch on to getting ready for next week."
Match: Magpies v WM Seagulls
Semi Final -
home Team
Magpies
1st Position
away Team
WM Seagulls
4th Position
Venue: Davies Park, Brisbane
The Seagulls will now prepare for the grand final showdown with the Burleigh Bears at Logan Metro Sports Complex at 1.15pm on Saturday, May 13.
The Bears also engaged in a seesawing affair with the Mackay Cutters on Sunday, with the northern side mounting an epic comeback.
Burleigh scored four first half tries to go into the break up 22-4 but Mackay hit back with plenty of fire, posting three tries in the second half.
It was again conversions that made the difference, with Burleigh holding on in the final five minutes to keep out a fast-finishing Mackay.
Coach Scott Cooke said it was a huge relief to advance to the grand final, but there was plenty of work to be done around consistency before they met Wynnum Manly.
"It’s a bit of relief at this point," Cooke said.
"It was the old game of two halves. Our first half was pretty sweet - we played really well, put a lot of pressure on the Cutters and got some points.
"In the second half, we just tried to lock it all down, didn’t come out to play footy and put ourselves under a bucket load of pressure. Credit to the Cutters, they came home strong.
"We have to be consistent next week. We’ve been talking about that all year. This team has struggled to find that at times.
"When we’ve played consistent footy and completed a lot of sets and played a bit of grindy footy, it’s been our best footy. That will be our focus point."
Match: Cutters v Bears
Semi Final -
home Team
Cutters
3rd Position
away Team
Bears
2nd Position
Venue: Davies Park, Brisbane
