Noosa front row puts on show

Noosa Dolphins player David Harrold meets resistance from Fraser Coast players at Dolphins Park Sunshine Beach at the weekend.

Geoff Potternb

Last Saturday was a strange day for the Noosa Dolphins as, although it was a home ground day, the only competition game of football to be played there on the day was the A-grade game. The women’s team, the Phinettes, was meant to have a bye weekend, but in a magnanimous fashion they did not claim the forfeit from Caloundra last week and allowed them to replay the game this Friday night. Unfortunately, karma did not work for them and they went down fighting, losing by just eight points.

The Colts were also scheduled to be away and due to a quirk of the draw, they were scheduled to play at 5pm, after all games had finished at Stockland Oval.

The young Colts side ended up losing only their second game for the season, going down 10 points to 22. This still leaves them in top position on the ladder and coach Peregini is confident they have learnt more from the loss than they would have from a messy win.

In A-grade, while Fraser Coast has been improving over the past few years, most of the supporters there felt this would be a fairly easy victory for the Dolphins.

The Fraser Coast team had no desire to simply lie down for the Noosa boys and they took to the paddock full of energy and aggression.

The game started slowly for the Noosa boys and was error ridden. It was only when the forwards took charge after 27 minutes that they put Andy Green over for his first try of the day from a rolling maul after the ball had been stolen by James Colvin. In fact, the score did not change before half-time and Noosa went to the break only five points to nil in front, which was a surprise to all given Noosa’s undefeated position on the ladder and their previous victories this year over Fraser Coast.

While the Noosa team had not shown much on the scoreboard in the first half, they had managed to spectacularly bomb several tries.

As the second half proceeded, Andy Green again stepped up, scoring from a rolling maul formed after a lineout to take Noosa to a 12 points to nil lead, after a successful conversion. Tom Kearney was unlucky in the first half not to score himself, after a kick charge down.

A few minutes later, Kyle Beakey stepped through a gap and again found Andy Green looming. He slipped him the ball and Andy went over beside the goal post for this third try for the day.

Fraser Coast’s No 10, Chris Dougan, then stepped through the Noosa defence to go over beside the posts making for an easy conversion.

At 19 points to 7, Noosa did not look in danger but they certainly did not look dominant. However, Noosa winger Luke Aglio decided to display a little bit of his own personal brilliance, sprinting over the line to give Noosa a safe buffer of 24 points to 7. Tom Kearney chimed in next, to top off the day for the front row team by scoring his own try after more good maul work by the forwards.

At 31 points to 7 Noosa was out of any danger, and it would be reasonable to say that the players’ individual talents saw them through on the day. Just to top off the day, speedster Luke Aglio finished off with another good personal try to bring the final score line to 38 points to 7.

Next week the Dolphins play Caloundra at Caloundra in what is always a hard tussle. After faltering slightly against Caboolture, and then having a messy win against Fraser Coast, coach Beakey will be expecting his team to step up to the plate and reassert their dominance in the lead up to the finals.

With the wins on Saturday, Noosa’s position at the top of the ladder is now unassailable both for the minor premiership and the club championship.

This means that the grand finals will all be played at Noosa on August 28 irrespective of what occurs in the earlier finals. The major semi final, which Noosa will be competing in, will also be at Noosa on August 14.