The biggest news from round 18 of the Brisbane Rugby League

A premiership contender flexes their muscle, an incredible upset, a streak continues and two sides end their season in a brutal encounter.

A premiership contender flexes their muscle, an incredible upset, a streak continues and two sides end their season in a brutal encounter.

The talking points from round 18 of the Brisbane Rugby League A-Grade Competition.

Carina Juniors Tigers 19 defeat West Brisbane Panthers 18

With over twenty minutes left in the first half, Baptiste Fabre had everyone at the ground scratching their heads as he took a field goal to put his side up by five.

It would turn out to be a masterstroke and proved all the difference as Carina scored a massive upset victory over premiership heavyweights Wests.

Coming into the fixture, a victory for the second placed Panthers over the last placed Tigers did not seem in doubt.

The problem was that no one told Carina.

Carina’s Baptiste Fabre in action for Tully Tigers earlier this season. Picture: Brendan Radke

The Juniors came out on fire early with Bacho Salam, showing what he is capable of when injury free, scoring two tries and a moment of individual brilliance from Mitchell Butler through a grubber and regather had them on top 15 to 10 at the break.

Showing their class, the Panthers fought back to trail by just one when Eddie Tautali crossed

for his hattrick with under five minutes remaining.

Just when it looked like their hard work would go in vain, Baptiste Fabre capped off an outstanding game by putting man-mountain Ewan Coutts into touch and ending West Brisbane’s attacking raid.

The Panthers will be hoping that this match serves as a wakeup call heading into their elimination final against Valleys, while Easts end their season with their heads held high.

Brighton Roosters 46 defeat Valleys Diehards 20

In their last encounter back in round nine, Valleys got the points and left Brighton languishing at the bottom of the BRL ladder with a record of 2 wins and 6 losses.

It proved to be a turning point for the Roosters and their last loss of the regular season as their round 18 victory capped off their eighth win in a row, catapulting them into the elusive top three.

Showing their premiership credentials, Brighton put on an absolute clinic in the first half

with their forward pack setting the platform with some impressive efforts from captain

Samson Graham and Ben King.

This allowed the Roosters halves to take control with both Thomas Casey and Cody Hunter crossing for tries to lead by 28 going into halftime.

It would take almost 50 minutes for Valleys to trouble the scorers, when James Atonio crossed.

This seemed to spark the Diehards, who would score the next twenty points, capped off by front row sensation Jordan Brown crossing out wide.

Unfortunately for Valleys, it was too little too late with the Roosters capping off a great

victory with Thomas Casey scoring from a brilliant Joseph Clarke flick pass.

The Diehards will look to regroup before next week’s elimination final.

For the Roosters, with the momentum of their streak alive and securing two chances with a top three finish, they will be going into their qualifying final against Wynnum full of confidence.

Wynnum Juniors Seagulls 68 defeat Souths Juniors Magpies 20

With his side’s opportunity for a home qualifying final on a knifes edge and clinging to a four

point halftime lead, Seagulls coach, Jason Harris, reminded his side of the standards his club had set and to get back to them in the second half.

The response was impressive as his side came out after the break on fire.

In what is a testament to the strong culture at the Magpies, Souths kept it tight in the first

forty matching the aggression of a physical Wynnum pack.

Joseph Tomane showed his class for the Magpies and sent a message to the Host Plus Cup selectors through his powerful running game and with hooker Joshua Williams at his crafty best, Souths had the momentum heading into the main break.

Inspired by some stern words from their coach at the half, Wynnum responded early with

Nathan Ward crashing over after some clever work from Justin Smith.

This would start an avalanche of points for the away side, scoring eight straight tries and a total of forty points in the second half to pluck the Magpies and send a warning to the rest of the competition.

In his return from a debut at Cup level, Luke Maddaford was solid, scoring a try and creating opportunities for the Seagulls.

In what is shaping up as a mouth-watering match up, Wynnum will take on Brighton in a

qualifying final with the opportunity to earn a week off before their semi-finals.

Normanby Hounds 22 defeat Beenleigh Pride 18

With Beenleigh needing a massive victory and other results to go their way to feature in the

finals, they would get neither as fullback Edward Downing-Brown helped to lead his feisty

Hounds side to a win.

Beenleigh Pride playing in the Brisbane Rugby League (BRL) A-Grade competition. Picture supplied by QRL

The Pride could not have asked for a better start with hooker Zach Hamilton showing why he is one of the most dangerous runners in the competition, scoring the first try of the match within the first five minutes.

Despite a few half chances from the Hounds, Beenleigh looked on top in the first twenty minutes.

Enter Downing-Brown.

Receiving the ball from the back of the scrum, the electric fullback demonstrated why speed kills leaving several defenders clutching at air on his way to a 40-metre sprint for his side’s

opening points.

The highlights would not end there as Downing-Brown then helped put on a second try for the Hounds with a lovely cut out pass to put winger Tiko Twist away in the corner.

Looking to end the season on a high, Beenleigh hit back in the second half and would take

the lead through a tremendous no look flick pass from Johnson Murray to his fullback Tyler

Han.

It wasn’t too be though with Normanby scoring late to take the game in front of a packed crowd at Bert St Clair Oval.

Round 18 Shout Out

After being recruited from Papua New Guinea, Jordan Millie was given his A Grade debut for

Brighton.

With a record of 7 tries in just 4 games of Reserve Grade, the Roosters faithful were keen to see what Millie could go and do on the big stage.

They did not have to wait long with Millie scoring his club’s opening try within the first ten minutes of their game against Valleys.

He was not done there. In the second half, he again showed class and determination to chase through a routine grubber from Thomas Casey to beat everyone to the ball.

An outstanding debut from a great young man.