Round 23 Saturday wrap: Falcons fly to lock in top four finish

Sunshine Coast Falcons came out firing against Norths Devils in the final round of the Hostplus Cup season and claimed the two points to secure fourth place on the ladder. 

The Falcons scored six tries in the first half to go into the break up 36-0 and the Devils were unable to claw their way back in the second half, but have finished the regular season in second place. 

Falcons skipper Sam Burns said "geez we needed that". 

"Huge confidence booster after the last couple of weeks, especially against Norths Devils... they're a really, really classy outfit and tough as nails, so to get them at home is special for us and definitely what we needed," Burns said.

"It feels good to finish in the top four because we put a lot of hard work in, in the season and pre-season, to try and get ourselves in a position to do something in the finals that is significant... and top four, you get two chances (which is good).

"That was just a really special effort... we had a big opportunity last week that we sort of blew but we addressed it and tonight just went after it, which is awesome."

Burns said there was a lot of different units within the team that put in a big effort to get the job done.

"Not really any singular players to point out... there was a lot of boys doubling up at each position," Burns said.

"(Harrison McIndoe) was defensively awesome on our right side and Thallon Peters had to change positions a few times... he's a young bloke who is really, really good.

"Our ruckies held it, in the middle. Danny Heenan normally plays No.9 for us but he had to play in the middle because we had a few busted tonight, but we just found a way. Probably one of our better wins of the season, which is awesome."

Burns said taking on minor premiers Northern Pride in the first week of finals would be a challenge.

"We need to start really well and we need to play for 80 minutes because they're aggressive and tough but they're also classy with the football and they've got a lot of big game players who we've got to try and mitigate," Burns said.

''We've got to do it together and it's a challenge... we're going to have to face them some time so if we can get them week one, beat them, it'll be a huge victory for us and big step for us trying to win a premiership.

"Bring on finals... we're due."