Five talking points from Rugby League Gold Coast round 2 action

A 21-year-old established himself as an iceman of the competition, while Currumbin defied a daunting hoodoo. All the major talking points from RLGC round two.

Tanu Nona impressed in his first A-grade outing for Tugun. Pics Adam Head.

The Rugby League Gold Coast A-grade season is finally underway following the postponement of last weekend’s matches.

From a drawn game to Southport’s continued dominance and the cold converting of Lachie Evans, there was plenty to discuss from round 2. Discover all the major talking points below.

Currumbin overcome Tugun hoodoo

Currumbin downed Tugun 36-30 to open the round two RLGC action.

It was a rare away win for the Eagles against their cross-town rivals, and a feat never achieved until the weekend in Matt Geyer’s four years as head coach.

Geyer noted that the Seahawks’ old boys days make for a particularly hostile environment.

It was a seesawing contest and Currumbin was made to fight tooth and nail to keep its lead intact late following a sin binning.

Spine trio Liam Foster, Elliott Speed and Michael Burgess were all among the Eagles best, as were forwards Reegan Creedy, Jarrod Gill and Jayden Wright.

Currumbin vs. Tugun. Jayden Wright. 15 July 2023 Currumbin Waters Picture by Richard Gosling

Tugun’s new faces impress

Despite the narrow loss to Currumbin, a number of fresh faces in the Tugun line-up impressed.

20-year-old Tanu Nona put in a stellar shift in his first Seahawks match, coming off the bench, excelling at dummy half and posing a threat through the middle to be adjudged player’s player for the game by his peers. The former Palm Beach Currumbin high school talent will be one to watch this season. Has previously had train and trial experience with the Titans.

Former NRL players Kane Elgey and Nathan Peats also made their experience known in their debut games for Tugun.

Elgey made good decisions with ball in hand and selected his passes expertly to set up two tries, while starting hooker Peats was exceptional through the middle. He played a full 80 minutes at hooker and lock against Currumbon’s physical forward pack and was a tackling machine, laying in excess of 40.

Nathan Peats in his Titans days. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

Evans the iceman

Cometh the moment, cometh Lachie Evans

In a drawn match every point counts, and the 21-year Helensvale half didn’t miss a conversion in his side’s 30-all result with the Seagulls. But he also had the composure to nail one after the siren to tie the match.

Despite still being in the infancy of his A-grade footy career, Evans has history deciding results off his boot - particularly against Runaway Bay.

Cast your mind back to round 15 of last season, it was Evans who broke the Seagulls heart then too, slotting a conversion from an eerily similar position to hand the Hornets a 28-26 victory.

Evans is one of a strong contingent of promising young talents who impressed for Helensvale on the weekend. 19-year-old debutant Caleb Isaia turned heads at centre and even crossed the stripe in his first taste of A-grade footy, creating a future election headache for the Hornets. Tough as nails winger Jack Murphy, still just 18 years of age, also impressed.

Southport still dominant

The player points system has been introduced to the competition to act as an equaliser following season’s of dominance from Southport.

Surprisingly, the Tigers line-up from the round one washout barely filled a quarter of their points quota and was the lowest of any side in the competition.

But if their first hitout against Burleigh was anything to go by, Southport will still be well in the mix for a three-peat. The Tigers downed the Bears comprehensively to run away 34-4 victors.

Southport Tigers are gunning for a third consecutive premiership. Photo: Regi Varghese

Burleigh’s spark amid defeat

The Bears experienced a testing start to the season against Southport and were left to rue a number of costly errors, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom.

Young Tama Te Ahorangi Darlington, who played at fullback but is a natural half, demonstrated his tough nature and versatility having been given a chance to impress after filling in throughout the trial matches.

The teen talent has also put in some strong performances for the Bears Meninga Cup side throughout the season, but wasn’t part of the historic 130-0 trouncing of Wide Bay on the weekend.