Hervey Bay Seagulls win rugby league grand final against Bundaberg Past Brothers

The Hervey Bay Seagulls soared to victory against Bundaberg Past Brothers at the rugby league grand final on rival soil at the weekend. Now, the Seagulls head coach reveals what sealed their victory:

The Hervey Bay Seagulls are celebrating their premiership win after going head-to-head with Bundaberg Past Brothers at Salter Oval on Sunday.

The Seagulls took home the A-Grade premiership title 32-14 after a gripping 80 minutes of play with Seagulls coach Jacob Blanke crediting their defence and “aggressive line speed” for this year’s crown.

“Our defence definitely won us the game,” he said.

Blanke, who has been coaching the Seagulls A-Grade team for two years, said they started putting a game plan together in November 2021 before pre-season began in January 2022.

“We just wanted to wear them out, and take them through the middle, and that’s what we did and we stuck to the game plan,” Blanke said.

The Hervey Bay Seagulls won the rugby league grand final against Bundaberg Past Brothers Sunday. Photo: 7News Wide Bay.

The victory was “definitely a team effort” and Blanke said 17 players could have won Man of the Match.

“It was very much our best team effort all year,” he said.

Despite the game being on Bundaberg soil Blanke said the Seagulls had a bus of fans cheering them on.

“Everyone was ecstatic, it was awesome,” he said.

“You want your friends and family there and the crowd, that’s what you do it for... you do it for each other as well, the boys are all good mates...” he said.

Blanke said the Seagulls had a “confident” mindset leading into the grand final.

“We knew we had the side to win the competition,” he said.

While the Seagulls secured a grand final win over The Waves Tigers in 2016, Blanke said it was the first time the team won with just locals.

“It was a tough game, it was hard obviously, I just think we wanted it a bit more and we were the better side,” he said.

As for what is next for the Seagulls, Blanke said a few players were heading into retirement and the team planned to “enjoy the next week”.

Blanke thanked his support staff, particularly his “right hand man” Chris Trevillion who he said put in a lot of work behind the scenes leading the Seagulls to their victory.