North Queensland Cowboys prospects on show in Queensland Cup, Townsville Blackhawks’ big win
Townsville remained undefeated in the Queensland Cup as the Blackhawks punished the Redcliffe Dolphins 40-18. Catch up on the game and see how Cowboys players fared around the league.
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Townsville remained undefeated in the Queensland Cup as the Blackhawks punished the Redcliffe Dolphins 40-18 on Saturday night.
A first-half double from veteran winger Kalifa Faifai Loa put Townsville on track for the big win and two Dolphins consolation tries in the final 10 minutes made the score appear closer than the contest.
The Blackhawks were fast and physical, outclassing their highly-rated opponents with clean football and tough defence.
Dolphins halfback Joshua James opened the scoring when he sliced through the defence close to the line in the third minute, but it would be another 70 minutes before Redcliffe scored again as Townsville ran in seven straight tries.
Blackhawks coach Terry Campese was proud of his group ahead of the one-week Easter break, paying extra credit to interchange forward Tyrone Gunn-James.
“The boys were outstanding. They were excited and I think you could just tell that they were happy to throw the ball around,” Campese said.
“Our attitude from 1-17 has been outstanding since the start of the year.
“’Gunny’ played a couple of games for us last year and he’s there abouts – you can tell that he had the attributes of a Cup player and a potential NRL player in the future, but he just wasn’t consistent.
“He worked hard through the pre-season, especially with ‘Axe’, and it’s paying dividends for him. I think he’s been one of our best.
“He comes off the bench and has got really good footwork. He’s been working really hard, he fights for quick play-the-balls and he’s been doing his job.”
English recruit Robbie Storey made his club debut, becoming Blackhawks No.176, and Campese said he could be proud of his performance.
“It was a really good effort from Robbie, he broke his jaw in pre-season training so this was his first game back and I thought he went really well,” Campese said.
“We put him in the centres – he trained at front row, but he did his job and it was awesome to see.
“I love when blokes debut or they have a special occasion and we win the game, because it’s all about memories and it’s all about talking about these games in the future, and Robbie will talk about this forever.”
Norths Devils beat the Falcons on the Sunshine Coast to hold onto first place, with the Blackhawks trailing on points differential by 27 points.
MAL MENINGA CUP U19S
The Dolphins were too strong for the Blackhawks in the under-19s curtain-raiser, as Townsville’s season came to a close with a 46-16 defeat.
The Blackhawks started slow and were punished by the visitors, heading into the sheds with their tails between their legs trailing 26-6.
The tries came thick and fast for Redcliffe, racing out to a 30-point lead before the Blackhawks stemmed the flow and scored back-to-back tries through Karlos Iraia and Ethan Rains.
Dolphins utility Mathias Santo-Hero, who played halfback for Coumba Catholic College’s 2023 Schoolboys Trophy-winning side, scored a late try that was well-received by the crowd.
A loud cheer unexpectedly went up when the Charters Towers product darted over – considering it put Redcliffe 30 points ahead – but it was a nice moment for the young Dolphin who earnt some congratulations from the Blackhawks.
Townsville’s players will now mostly turn their attention to the local A-grade and under-21s season, as well as the upcoming schoolboys season for the younger members of the group.
COWBOYS IN CUP
Kaiden Lahrs was strong for the Blackhawks, picking up good metres with almost every run, while Cowboys Young Gun Assariah Lenoy was reliable at centre, throwing a try assist and busting three tackles during his 13 carries.
Cowboys winger Jaxson Paulo scored a try for the Cutters as Mackay fell to the Central Queensland Capras 20-16.
Paulo ran a game-high 171 metres from 17 runs, including two linebreaks and two tackle breaks.
Cowboys prospect Jeremiah Mata’utia played 55 minutes in the backrow, making 66 metres from seven runs while breaking seven tackles and throwing three offloads. The 20-year-old forward made 15 tackles with three misses.
Xavier Kerrisk played 48 minutes off the interchange, making 20 tackles with only one miss and forcing a dropout with a nice grubber into the in-goal.
For Northern Pride in their close loss to Wynnum-Manley, Tom Duffy set-up the game’s opening try with a clever grubber kick that wrong-footed the Wynnum-Manly defence. Followed it up 10 minutes later with a try of his own in a productive day.
Marly Bitungane was trusted with plenty of hit-ups throughout as one of their two starting props, and once again showed his aggression in pursuing the try line as a front rower.
Zac Herdegen played a secondary role to Duffy in the halves but was nonetheless creative when he had his opportunities.
Braidon Burns made an impression on his return from injury, scoring a try midway through the first half.
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Originally published as North Queensland Cowboys prospects on show in Queensland Cup, Townsville Blackhawks’ big win
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