Round 1 Sunday wrap: Falcons shut out Tigers for opening win

The Sunshine Coast Falcons held off a fast-finishing Brisbane Tigers to claim the two points over the reigning premiers and kick off their 2024 season with a win.

In a nail-biting battle at Totally Workwear Stadium, the Melbourne Storm affiliated rivals put on a show, living up to the old saying, “a game of two halves”.

The Falcons came out firing, leaving the Tigers and punters alike stunned as they heaped on four tries to go into the break up 24-0.

But the tide changed in the second half, both through Sunshine Coast errors and Brisbane Tigers determination, with the home side hitting back with five tries to one.

Sunshine Coast five-eighth Luke Polselli admitted afterwards that he started to get nervous as the Tigers mounted their comeback, but he never doubted his teammates.

He said there plenty of promising signs as the Falcons dusted off the cobwebs.

“I have faith in this group so I’ll back them any day,” Polselli said of his side’s grit.

“I don’t know what (the second half lapse) was. I think our energy was good coming out in the second half but I think they just had more than us, which showed.

“It snowballed from there. They got one try and then two more tries and then we just couldn’t hold them out. Their footy was just too good in the second half.”

Falcons coach Brad Henderson said earlier this week that despite having a really strong pre-season, some of the team’s trial form had been “hit and miss”.

Polselli said he could see the improvements on Sunday in the Round 1 hit out and knows the win will only increase the side’s confidence moving forward.

“We worked really hard in the pre-season and we spoke about all the areas we needed to fix during those trials and we were a lot better today,” he said.

“Just that second half wasn’t good enough.

“For us, it’s just confidence at the moment.

“At the start of the year, footy’s always not going to be the best, there’s always going to be a lot of drop ball and stuff like that.

“It’s just important to get the two points every week. That’s what we speak about and we’ll just keep getting better and better at training as the year goes on.”

The Falcons will have their first home game of the season next week, playing host to the Mackay Cutters while the Tigers head north to Cairns to take on the Northern Pride, who are coming off a win over Tweed.

For the wrap of Saturday’s matches, click here.

To watch replays of Round 1, subscribe to Qplus.tv.