Round 17 Saturday wrap: Magpies hold on after first half blitz

Souths Logan Magpies were back to their clinical best for enough of their clash with Sunshine Coast Falcons to secure a 34-22 win at Logan Metro Sports Complex on Saturday night.

The Magpies turned on a first half masterpiece for the home crowd, dominating through the middle to pave the way for their crafty playmakers to strike.

Radean Robinson opened in the scoring in the ninth minute, followed by an incredibly strong and determined effort by Cruise Ten in the 20th minute.

Logan Bayliss-Brow brought the house down when he crossed in the 25th minute after an outstanding effort leading the pack in the opening stanza.

Tristan Sailor, after a successful trap-and-scrap, ran 80 metres to add another and make it 26-0 at half time, and the trend looked set to continue when Jesse Arthars crossed three minutes after the resumption.

But the Falcons would not allow the one-way traffic to continue, finding their groove with Luke Polselli scoring in the 55th minute.

Three more tries followed over the next 20 minutes but it was too little, too late for the visitors, Souths Logan closing out a 12-point victory.

Souths Logan coach Karmichael Hunt said the execution in attack and defence was "outstanding" in the first half, but wished his side was more ruthless in the second.

"We really controlled the ruck attacking wise, we got to our spots and worked through the middle and used the ball when we needed to, but the second half total opposite.

"It's a bit of a trend with this team, we're not the best with leads."

Hunt said it was a learning curve for the players to see the consequences of being less than 100 per cent focused, and the difficulty of turning it around when momentum shifts.

"It's a hard one because I know this team when it's a contest, they are up, you know what I mean?" he said.

"If it's a close ball game, it's probably better for us."

Hunt praised prop Logan Bayliss-Brow for his "fantastic" opening stint to set the platform for his side.

"He was fantastic. He's been fantastic all year and he's led us from the front. His regular middle partner, young Ben Te Kura, wasn't there tonight, but (Bayliss-Brow) led us around the park, set the platform and scored a nice try.

"It was fantastic for his 50th game and hopefully there's not too many more. Hopefully he's playing more NRL games than Cup games.

"It's really good to see him score on a milestone game and the boys really got around him."

Bayliss-Brow said he knew he had to step up without Te Kura, as well as wanting to show his best in front of family members there to support him in his milestone game.

"I just want to put some good footy together and it was a milestone game, 50 Cup games and some family in the crowd, they usually don't get to come.

"And they've got some quality middles and I just wanted to test myself and with a few players out, I wanted to lead us a bit."

Bayliss-Brow said while the first half was satisfying after winning the early arm wrestle, the second half lapse was concerning, but fixable.

"I thought we got through that pretty well and then obviously we put one on the board and then we just got a sniff and all the boys were up for it and we just kept going, got on top and then had good signs early in that second, but we just gave them a sniff and just had a lapse there for a bit and sort of let them back in it," he said.

"Our goal is to finish with that minor premiership and we're taking it week-by-week and if we can keep getting these wins and any way we can get the two points, we're happy to do that."