The Sunshine Coast Wizards have had a stranglehold on the Rising Star Conference since its inception. Alongside The Entrance, the Wizards have consistently been one of the top sides in the RSC, and after last year's upset loss to Hunter in the decider, they've drawn the high flying Ryde Eagles in today's grand final. With the crowd filing in for the big clashes between Wagga/Fairfield and Northern/Central Coast, it's expected to be a real crackerjack opener. The two sides were named, and there's plenty of world class talent in display in today's curtain raiser.
In their semi finals, both sides accounted for their opposition in differenty style. Sunshine Coast ended Kensington's season with a big 32-16 thumping of the Highrollers.
Kensington: Scott Staniforth, Timothy Rice, and Kyle Bryant. Opan 1/1. Rice 1/2
Sunshine Coast: David Seage, Ade Gardner, Neil Sweeney, Matt Kennedy, and Steve Witt. Sweeney 6/7
PoM Points: Matt Kennedy 3, David Seage 2, and Neil Sweeney 1.
In their semi final, Ryde accounted for first placed Entrance with an 80th minute try to Brian Jellick to seal a 24-20 victory.
The Entrance: Romeo Magro 2 and Craig Simmons. Riddle 4/5
Ryde: Karl Fitzpatrick, Jan Gvozdev 2, and Brian Jellick. Ventrue 4/5
PoM Points: Brian Jellick 3, Alex Moore 2, and Leter Lewis 1.
Sunshine Coast Wizards Ryde Eagles
1 David Seage 1 Michael Ventrue
2 Ade Gardner 2 Brent Grose
3 Dustin Cooper 3 Maxim Ramonov
4 Anthony Quinn 4 Brian Jellick
5 Neil Sweeney 5 Maury Heinlein-Nein
6 Brett Stewart 6 Sean Harris
7 Steve Witt 7 Alex Moore ©
8 Andrew Price 8 Stuart Pierce
9 Aaron Payne 9 Jamie Goddard
10 Matt Kennedy © 10 Chris Motu
11 Louis Anderson 11 Jan Gvozdev
12 Maurie Fa'asavalu 12 Peter Lewis
13 Todd Lowrie 13 Brett Sergeant
++Interchange
14 Marcus Perenara 14 Blake Mueller
15 Mark Bryant 15 Ken Rogers
16 Reegan Tanner 16 Karl Fitzpatrick
17 Epalahame Lauaki 17 Simon Cooke
In a rapid fire opening, Ryde landed the first blow after less than two minutes, continuing their season's trend towards scoring plenty of points. Maury Heinlein-Nein made a mockery of the Wizards' left side defence, scoring out wide. Ventrue's conversion was good, and the Eagles were early 6-0 leaders.
Sunshine Coast had their opening try disallowed in the 7th minute, with Aaron Payne ruled to have dropped it over the line after collecting a brilliant kick from Steve Witt. It was an exciting half of football, highlighted more by desperation defence than by breathtaking tries. The 22nd minute saw Ryde denied a try of their own, with the chase of Karl Fitzpatrick on the Alex Moore kick ruled to have been offside. Just a minute later, Sunshine Coast landed their first points of the match in the form of a Sweeney penalty kick after the Eagles had crept offside.
Ryde were again denied in the 28th minute, with Maury Heinlein-Nein penalised for a double movement after being dragged down achingly short of the line by Anthony Quinn. Just as with the last disallowed Ryde try, Sunshine Coast followed it up with a penalty kick to Neil Sweeney, again for offside. Halftime came with Sunshine Coast again menacing the Ryde line, but the Eagles were able to diffuse a volatile grubber by grounding it in goal. The dropout didn't have time to occur, and halftime saw Ryde as slender 6-4 leaders.
HALFTIME: Sunshine Coast 4 trail Ryde 6
The first points of the second half didn't come until the 52nd minute of play, with Neil Sweeney again punishing Ryde for their ill-discipline, this time it was Chris Motu being penalised after a blatant three on one strip. 6 all, and there was still just under half an hour of play remaining. More exciting football followed, with both sides going close but not crossing the whitewash. The Wizards finally took the lead in the 62nd minute, when Neil Sweeney landed his fourth goal of the match. Again it was a penalty for offside, lifting the Wizards to an 8-6 lead. Despite their reliance on penalties, however, the Wizards were looking dangerous in attack- particularly down the Ryde flanks.
Michael Ventrue landed an equalising penalty of his own in the 74th minute, the Wizards offside on the fifth tackle and gifting the opposition fullback with two points for an 8 all scoreline. A tense finish was promised, but Ryde's sole opportunity was squandered when former QLD representative Jamie Goddard knocked on. A penalty for a dangerous tackle piggy-backed Sunshine Coast downfield, and David Seage was able to slice through a lazy Brian Jellick tackle to score adjacent to the uprights. Sweeney's good night with the boot continued, and the Wizards had secured a low scoring 14-8 victory.
FULLTIME
Sunshine Coast Wizards 14
David Seage
Sweeney 5/7
defeated
Ryde Eagles 8
Maury Heinlein-Nein
Ventrue 2/2
PoM Points
Anthony Quinn............3
Dustin Cooper.............2
Maury Heinlein-Nein.....1
Damn how many penalty kicks at goal. I'm not happy with the refereeing
but I'm pleased with Ryde, for a bunch of no-names they did well to get to the GF :)
Well, it's good to taste *some* grand final success in 2004/2005. I'd have liked to see Gold Coast take it out, but it's always fun to see your RSC side win the big one.
Ill-discipline cost Eastwood in the end, but I'm sure they'll be a force again next year.
