The biggest news and winners from round 1 of BRL finals

Plenty of feathers were ruffled in the opening round of Brisbane Rugby League finals and a new cult hero spread his wings to prove he could be the star to watch in premiership battle.

A streak ends, a cult hero emerges and a side rediscovers their form.

The talking points from week one of the final series of the Brisbane Rugby League A-Grade Competition.

Qualifying Final

Wynnum Juniors Seagulls 40 defeat Brighton Roosters 26

Leading 14-0 in the first half, it looked as though the Roosters’ eight game winning streak

would stay alive with the boys from Brighton firing on all cylinders.

However, this set an alarm off for the Seagulls, awakening their sleeping giant Cauis Faatili, who helped lead an impressive fightback for Wynnum.

Riding the momentum of their winning streak, Roosters got away to a hot start in the first half.

Halfback Cody Hunter continued his recent hot form, putting Thomas McKenzie through a hole for the opening try.

When Harrison McIndoe burnt multiple defenders in a scintillating dash to score their third straight try, the Roosters were well and truly crowing.

With Brighton showing flash and flair, Wynnum used sheer force to wrestle back the momentum.

After prop Connor Brebner laid the platform with a number of courageous runs, halfback Ethan Unicomb put James Robinson over to open the scoring for Seagulls.

Continuing their habit of scoring in bunches, Faatili would do it all himself carrying

three defenders to score his first of his four tries for the afternoon.

The Seagulls would never look back, running away with the game and booking a fixture with

minor premiers Bulimba in the next round.

Roosters will need to get back to their winning ways in a hurry when they face a resurgent West Brisbane side in an elimination final.

Elimination Final

West Brisbane Panthers 30 defeat Valleys Diehards 10

After a disappointing end to the regular season, the Panthers needed to rediscover the form

that had them cemented in the top three for most of the season.

While they were not perfect in their win over Valleys, West Brisbane did enough to keep their season alive.

Proving that you cannot keep a champion side down for long, the Panthers were on the prowl early racing out to a 14-point lead thanks to some brilliant work from hooker Shane Pumipi.

Former Redcliffe Dolphins player Shane Pumipi was a standout for West Brisbane Panthers at the weekend. Photo: Jon Sloan.

Pumipi terrorised the Diehards defensive line, scoring a try himself and then putting Faafeti Vaavale through a hole with a brilliant cut out pass in a dominant first half display.

Valleys did manage to respond late in the first half with man-mountain James Antonio keeping his try scoring streak alive with a barnstorming run to score.

Unfortunately for the Diehards, this was one of the few highlights in a game where their goal line defence was paper thin and unable to match the physicality of the West Brisbane forwards.

In what will set off warning bells for the competition, Simon Brittain-Snowden was outstanding and looked as though his confidence is building after a couple of less polished

performances.

The Panthers will take on Brighton next week hoping that this weekend’s win will have them back on track for a run at the premiership.

Finals Week One Shout Out

They say that big moments bring out big players and there was no bigger performance on

the weekend than that from Wynnum’s Cauis Faatili.

With his side trailing by 14 to start the game, Faatili would score two tries in the first half dragging no less than three defenders over the line on each occasion.

Not satisfied, he would replicate his efforts with two tries in the next 40.

His fourth try for the game was maybe his most impressive as.

Chasing through a bomb, Faatili was on the spot when the ball was fumbled and showed footwork and speed to run forty metres to score.

The Seagulls faithful will be hoping to see plenty from their curly haired hero in the side’s final run.