After being early favourites for the Division Two title, North Queensland struggled for the early part of the season, before a late charge has seen them cast out Penrith and Port Moresby on their way to a grand final. Tamworth City have been here before, the underdog side coming close last year and looking to go one better in 2004.
Tamworth City Titans North Queensland Dolphins
1 Francis Cummins 1 Kris Radlinski
2 Henry Faafili 2 Linden Drummond ©
3 Mtombe Msabo 3 Brooke Martin
4 Scott Ella 4 Greg Wolfgramm
5 Joseph Goldstein 5 Joel Monaghan
6 Kurt Gidley 6 Adam Dykes
7 Byron Kelleher © 7 Justin Marshall
8 Joel Clinton 8 Forrest Sumner
9 Trent Wright 9 Malcolm Alker
10 Craig Simmons 10 Lars Gjolnier
11 Justin Harrison 11 Giovanni Piazza
12 Phil Waugh 12 Colin Charvis
13 Toutai Kefu 13 Brian O'Keefe
++Interchange
14 Trent Leis 14 Ben Black
15 Sam Payne 15 Raif McCallin
16 Tony Tatupu 16 Alwyn Simpson
17 Steve Carew 17 Caesar Ramirez
The opening minutes of the final decider to be played were frantic to say the least. Both sides treated fans to end to end football, with plenty of ad lib play making for exciting passages of play. For the Dolphins with was Kris Radlinsi who impressed early on, whilst Joseph Goldstein and vastly improved half Kurt Gidley did the damage for the Titans.
The trend for early scoring continued when Linden Drummond finished off a well worked backline maneuver to score the Dolphins' first points of the match. The captain was given a gift try when his centre, Brooke Martin, put a mean fend on Scott Ella and offloaded. Drummond converted his own effort from out wide to make it 6-0 after twelve minutes.
It took the Titans only four minutes to hit back with a try of their own, Justin Harrison running it on the last and capitalising on some woeful defence from the Dolphins to score underneath the sticks. The gap just opened up as Harrison slipped into dummy half, and it was simply a matter of running over the top of Linden Drummond to score and give Cummins a chance to level the scores. He made no mistake, and it was 6 apiece after sixteen minutes.
While North Queensland's back five, including subbed in winger Alwyn Simpson, continued to make good ground for the Dolphins- their somewhat weaker forward pack struggled to contain the Titans' world class backrow. When Harrison forced his way over in the 24th to score his second try and make it 12-6, the Dolphins looked like they couldn't wait for halftime. With only one forward on the bench, in the former of Italian star Caesar Ramirez, the Dolphins would be hard pressed to combat a side with three solid forwards running off the bench.
The defence from North Queensland may have been desperate, but it did the job as they tried desperately to whether repeated sets of six from the Titans. Enter veteran fullback and two time grand finalist, Kris Radlinski, to even the ledger. After producing some try saving tackles at his own end, Radlinski ran onto a perfectly placed Ben Black short pass to score underneath the sticks. The pass was good, but it was Radlinski's footwork that turned a break into four points. Drummond made sure it was 6, and the scores were at 12 all after thirty minutes.
The final ten minutes was frantic at best, and messy at worst. Tamworth City continued to press their size advantage, and the Dolphins found themselves forced to move slight centre Brooke Martin to the second row to give Giovanni Piazza and Colin Charvis a breather. While the Titans continued to exploit this weakness, they couldn't get the ball over the line, thanks largely to the tireless work of Radlinski behind the line. At halftime, they were inseperable at 12 all.
HALFTIME: Tamworth City 12 drawn with North Queensland 12
The second half started off with the Dolphins eager to get points on the board while their forward pack was still well rested. With the ten minute breather behind them, they came out fired up and forced an early turnover of possession. A powerful Alwyn Simpson break put the Dolphins on attack, before a penalty for offside allowed Drummond to put North Queensland ahead 14-12.
Another penalty for a dangerous tackle in the 60th minute put the Dolphins further ahead, and it became clear that they intended to keep the ball out of Tamworth City's hands as much as they could. Rather than opting for a possible no return on a tap, the 'visitors' continued to shoot for goal and try one out, no risk football.
The style of play began to frustrate the Titans, moreso because they'd been using it to such great effect all season. The penalty count began to lean in the favour of the Dolphins, and as a result they were able to keep the ball in their hands and save their forwards some draining defensive work. The possession wasn't manifesting itself in points for the Dolphins however.
That all changed when Kris Radlinski once again chose to inject himself into the line. The world class fullback stepped into the line at the right time, and raced straight through a yawning whole left by inexperienced centre- Scott Ella. While not as fast as he used to be, Radlinski had pace enough to escape the desperate defence of Mtombe Msabo and run it around under the posts. With ten minutes remaining, a ten point 22-12 lead may be unassailable.
The try seemed to cause North Queensland to throw out their safety first style of football, but the early extra defence the Titans had had to was having the desired effect, and the battered Tamworth side couldn't complete their sets in the face of fairly fresh defense. The fulltime siren sounded with Kris Radlinski capping off a marvellous game by producing a try-saving tackle on Toutai Kefu just inches from his line.
The Titans had fallen one short again, while North Queensland would meet Coffs Harbour for the right to promote to Premier League.
FULLTIME
North Queensland Dolphins 22
Kris Radlinski 2
Linden Drummond
Drummond 5/5
defeated
Tamworth City Titans 12
Justin Harrison 2
Cummins 2/2
PoM Points
Kris Radlinski.............3
Lars Gjolnier..............2
Alwyn Simpson...........1
