NOTHING STOPS BRETHREN CHARGE

Past Brothers becomes the first team to qualify for the Bundaberg Rugby League A-grade title after beating Easts on Saturday night.

FULL MOTION: Jayden Alberts forces his way across the line to score for Brothers.

LEAGUE: Brothers captain Kevin Sherriff doesn’t understand why his club has done well in odd years this decade.

But he is enjoying it while it lasts.

Past Brothers became the first team to qualify for this year’s Bundaberg Rugby League A-grade decider with a 22-16 win over Easts at Salter Oval on Saturday night.

The Brethren has now qualified for the past six deciders that have its year end in an odd number including 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and this year.

The side will now chase its third title in five years in less than two weeks.

Brothers got a good start, scoring off the first set of the game after an error from Easts from the kick-off.

The minor premiers then dominated the contest but couldn’t put any scoreboard pressure on as Easts held on.

Easts then made Brothers pay with an intercept try to Billy-James Stefaniuk before the Magpies gained a 12-10 half time lead.

In a seesawing contest, Brothers took the lead back in the second half before Easts levelled at 16-16 with more than 10 minutes to go.

Brothers would then score the winning try late to seal a memorable win.

“It’s a good feeling to go straight through,” Sherriff said.

“We had all the footy but just didn’t make the right decisions early on.”

In the end the side did enough with Jayden Alberts scoring two tries at fullback with experienced play maker Brent Kuskey adding another.

“It was good to see Jayden back,” Sherriff said.

“He’s an experience player back from injury.

“Kuskey played well as well and is an experienced campaigner that just knows how to get it done.”

Sherriff said the side would continue its training patterns from the past three weeks into the next two weeks to get ready for the decider.

The team will have only played one game over the past month to get ready for the decider.

“I think that’s the way we work over the next two weeks,” he revealed.

“It will be high intensity with training on Saturday.”

Past Brothers didn’t report any injuries from the contest but for Easts it wasn’t so lucky.

The side lost Dylan Taylor to concussion and Sakenasa Lalakomacuata during the contest to what could be a serious knee injury.

Both are in doubt for this week and Easts coach Mick O’Sullivan revealed having both of them out cost them the game.

“We had no forwards to interchange for the last 30 minutes,” he said.

“We just ran out of petrol and defended too much during the contest.”

O’Sullivan said the team played well and was able to take its chances when it counted.

“Overall the commitment was there for the boys and they all played well,” he said.

Easts now must regroup and beat The Waves next week at 5pm next Saturday at Salter Oval to make it to the grand final.

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