large crowd is on hand to see the Gold Coast Crusade contest their first ever final, as they take on the Hobart Devils.

GOLD COAST HOBART
1: Kris Radlinski 1: Brett Hodgson
2: Brian Carney 2: Jason Robinson
3: Chris McKenna 3: Michael DeVere
4: Matthew Rodwell 4: Julian O'Neill
5: Marcus Bai 5: Michael Withers
6: Laurie Daley 6: Trent Barret ©
7: Andrew Johns © 7: Brett Kimmorley
8: Nathan Cayless 8: Willie Mason
9: Danny Buderus 9: Dean Schifilliti
10: David Raelke 10: Ruben Wiki
11: John Eeles 11: Steve Simpson
12: Jason Croker 12: Mark Geyer
13: Ashley Harrison 13: Luke Ricketson

14: Willie Peters 14: David Furner
15: Sean Carstens 15: Rob Smyth
16: Josh Perry 16: Mark Riddel
17: Quentin Pongia 17: Ben Duckworth

The crowd and league analysts were surprised to see Willie Peters on the bench for Gold Coast, whilst goal-kicking forward David Furner lost his starting spot to big Mark Geyer.

The game started with a roar, as Andrew Johns kicked off and the Devils had their chance to make premiership history. The Crusade defence was full of sting, as the Devils struggled to escape their own twenty. The good defence was compounded by a Steve Simspon forward pass, which put Gold Coast straight on the attack.

Both sides produced promising sets with their next touches. Hobart found inspiration through blockbusting winger Jason Robinson, whilst the Crusade relied upon a John Eeles break to move their attack. In the 3rd minute, Marcus Bai capitalised on a brilliant flick pass from Chris McKenna to sail into the right corner. Andrew Johns' touchline conversion made it 6-0, but the Devils weren't out of it.

The Crusade busted the line from the kick-off through Ashley Harrison, but a brilliant tackle from Jason Robinson jolted the ball loose and gave his side some time to breath. Hobart applied pressure of their own only moments later, when Barret's swirling bomb was chased by Robinson and DeVere. However, Radlinski took it well, and defused a volatile situation for the home side.

The Devils were faced with back to back sets after a sloppy pass from Kimmorley found touch rather than Hodgson, but managed to hold out. With their return set, the Devils made ninety metres, before Kimmorley's ill-placed grubber took the pressure off. The Crusade continued the game's end to end style with some good runs, before a bullet pass from Andrew Johns sent Brian Carney into the corner. The conversion made it 12-0 after ten minutes, and Hobart coach Nathan Hoy looked worried.

The game got sloppy as Hobart tried to force their way back, whilst the Crusade showed signs of complacency. Handling errors and stupid penalties creapt in, as neither side could find the 'killer instinct' needed for finals football.

A penalty for holding the player down against interchange player Ben Duckworth resulted in a Gold Coast set on the twenty, from which Matthew Rodwell set up the Crusade's third try. A freakish bannana kick found the waiting arms of Chris McKenna, who put it under the dot for an 18-0 lead.

The kick-off came, with Kimmorley trying for a short. It didn't come off, and the Crusade had excellent field position with twenty minutes to play. The pressure all dropped off after a Laurie Daley handling error, as Brett Kimmorley packed the scrum. The Devils' nightmare continued, as Danny Buderus hooked the ball back and the Crusade won against the feed! A bullocking Marcus Bai run on the last sent Hodgson reeling, and put the home side up 22-0. Andrew Johns missed the sideline conversion, but the Crusade were clearly in cruise control.

On the rack and looking down the barrel of an embarassing finals loss, the Devils began to steal themselves, and strung a few good passages of play together. DeVere came close to crossing, except for the attention of Marcus Bai, who bundled the big centre into touch. Andrew Johns showed his characteristic brilliance moments later, as he dummied his way through the entire Hobart side before being pulled down only five out. One pass off the ruck put Nathan Cayless in just left of the upright, making it 28-0!

The Devils looked to have found some luck in the 30th, when some promising forward work put David Furner in under the sticks. The video ref didn't agree however, calling the try back after it was shown that Mark Geyer had taken out Willie Peters. With Joey Johns having a rest, the livewire English half took the reins for the next set.

Back to back penalties shortly before half time had the visitors in good field position, but the clock beat them, and the siren went. The crowd were wild, as their side had an almost unassailable halftime lead. The Devils, although dejected, will no doubt come out fired up in the second half.

The whistle sounded as the Hobart Devils got the second half of the final underway. Trailing 28-0, it didn't look like a miracle comeback was on the cards, but the look of determination in captain Trent Barret's face said that his side would go down fighting.

A line break by Brian Carney early on looked ominous, but some excellent desperation defence from the Hobart forwards repelled what looked like a certain Crusade tryscoring opportunity. The Devils looked to strike back immediatly, with Dean Schiffiliti slicing through the defence before grubbering the ball ahead for Jason Robinson. Radlinski defused the situation, escaping the in goal and making twelve metres before being met by Julian O'Neill.

In the 48th minute, it was the Crusade's turn to be shell-shocked, as some scintillating passing from the Devils saw them cross in the corner. However, the video referee leapt to the Crusade's side again, finding a small knock on prior to the grounding of the ball.

The Devils got another chance moments later, when a penalty had them in the Crusade ten for a full set of six. The forwards, particularly Dean Schifilliti tried hard, but some desperate defence held the Devils out. A Kimmorley bomb at the end of the set was disappointing, as none of the runners came close to pressuring Marcus Bai.

Schiffiliti continued to trouble the Crusade, making another clean linebreak moments later, only to be hit in a bell-ringer by Andrew Johns. The pressure mounted as the Devils received another set of six deep in Gold Coast territory, but was released after Simpson steamed onto a bullet pass and dropped it in a tackle.

The Crusade made it up into Hobart territory on the back of a penalty, before John Eeles cut through a weak Kimmorley tackle and offloaded to his captain and halfback, Andrew Johns. Joey danced through two would-be tacklers to claim a try, and put his side ahead 34-0.

Despite this minor setback, Hobart's defence remained strong, repelling repeated Gold Coast attacks against its line. The effort was for naught, as even the most idealistic Hobart fan was resigned to the fact that their side couldn't win this one. Another disallowed try in the 67th minute gave Hobart fans plenty to boo about, as it appeared that Ricketson had legitamately used a dummy runner.

Only a minute later, and the Hobart fans finally had something to cheer about. A thirty metre dash from Julian O'Neill made it 34-6, but with only ten minutes to go, it didn't look good for the Tasmanian side.

In the 71st minute, a short pass from Marcus Bai put Ashley Harrison into space. He was collared by Brett Hodgson, although the high tackle resulted in a penalty putting Gold Coast up in Hobart's end again. Matthew Rodwell capitalised on some lazy marker defence, weaving passed Luke Ricketson to score in the corner. Johns' conversion was wide, but at 38-6, it didn't matter.

Both sides produced memorable defensive sets to close the game out, with Gold Coast's form an ominous warning to fellow contenders, Perth.

FULL TIME
Gold Coast Crusade 38:
Brian Carney
Chris McKenna
Matthew Rodwell
Marcus Bai 2
Andrew Johns
Nathan Cayless
Andrew Johns 5/7
def.
Hobart Devils 6:
Julian O'Neill
Julian O'Neill 1/1

Player of the Match Points
Marcus Bai 3
Andrew Johns 2
David Raelke 1