Rugby League Gold Coast: 2024 A-grade grand final preview and the history of the Currumbin-Tugun rivalry
Ahead of the Rugby League Gold Coast A-grade final, both coaches analyse where the game will be won and lost and we breakdown the complex history of the fierce Currumbin-Tugun rivalry.
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It was fitting that minor premiers Burleigh were bundled out of the Rugby League Gold Coast A-grade finals in straight sets, such has been the unpredictability of the 2024 A-grade season.
On Saturday, Currumbin hopes to complete its quest for a historic maiden A-grade premiership in its first grand final appearance since 2008.
Favourites Tugun are out for redemption after last year’s grand final thumping at the hands of a stacked Southport side.
Ahead of the crunch clash, both coaches unpack their sides form, the last time they met, and the biggest threats the opposition pose.
This masthead also unpacks the complicated history of the fierce rivalry between Currumbin and Tugun, and uncovers how the opposing number 7’s are following in the footsteps of their famous fathers.
Discover the full preview below.
Form
Currumbin
Last five: W, W, L, W, W
Currumbin enters the decider having peaked at the right time of year one could argue. Their only loss in their past five outing came in the first week of finals against – you guessed it – grand final opponent Tugun.
But that is a distant memory after the Eagles came roaring to life over the past two weeks with tense and scrappy two-point wins over Southport and Burleigh.
“You’ve got to hold on in those tense moments, we had a lead in both (finals) and held a lead,” noted Currumbin coach Matt Geyer.
“We were up by eight last week and even when we were up by two there were a couple of hairy moments. To be able to stay composed and get through the game and keep playing our natural game, I think it’s going to hold us in good stead.
“Come game time on Saturday, I don’t think there’s a better way to get in either way (with the week off or match-ready).”
Tugun
Last five: W, W, W, L, W
Tugun has also been one of the top teams all season, and having dethroned minor premiers Burleigh a fortnight ago and with the week off its hard to argue their favouritism.
Their only loss in the past five games was their round 14 fixture against Burleigh.
“We’ve definitely started to play our best footy at the right time,” said coach Will Johnstone.
“We’ve been up and down and mixed with our form, as a result of having a number of injuries to key positions and key players.
“Over the past few weeks I think it’s some of the best footy we’ve played and the way we’ve defended has been the highlight for me. At times we’ve leaked lots of points and that’s been something we’ve been working towards, to improve our defence.
“ In the last couple of games our defence has been the best it’s been all year.
“Currumbin only scored two tries against us, Burleigh only scored two tries against us, if we can continue that trend and defend well on Saturday I’m sure we’ll put ourselves in with a great chance.”
Last time they met
Tugun surged to a 26-16 win over Currumbin in the first week of finals, and are hopeful of a similar outcome on Saturday.
“(Currumbin) had a lot of field position,” reflected Geyer of that clash.
“We were down by two at halftime, it was close and I was really happy, there was a decent breeze but we just didn’t use that breeze in the second half.
“We were really wasteful and let them out of their half six times with penalties or errors, throwing long balls out of tackles and things like that.
“It was actually a good turning point for us, we took stock a little bit there and changed a few things. Hopefully the loss has held us in good stead and we’ve now simplified things in completion a little bit.”
For Tugun’s Will Johnstone, he also believed it to be a tale of missed opportunity despite the win.
“In that game we didn’t complete our sets very well, we actually turned over a lot of ball and gave Currumbin a lot of chances on our goal line, but the positive to take out of that was even when we did give them good possession and good ball we were able to defend our line and were really resilient defensively,” Johnstone said.
“It gives the guys a lot of belief in our team. We can be a really defensive side and a really resilient side, we can handle the attack and what they’re going to throw at us.
“They really like that gritty, battle style, there’s nothing too fancy about them, they’re fighters and they’re real scrappy, we know if we want to win this game it’s going to go right down to the wire and we’ll still be throwing punches at the end of the bell, we’re prepared for a tough game and we know as of that last game we can go with them and stay in that fight.”
Biggest threats
Currumbin
Geyer believes the match could be won and lost in the forward pack, while stemming the influence of Tugun’s key playmakers will also be decisive.
“Most of those games are won in the forwards … I’m really salivating looking at the forwards clash, (Tugun’s forwards) are big, mobile, fit, but so are ours.”
He is particularly wary of former NRL player five-eighth Kane Elgey who has been “fantastic”, and fullback Kyle Williams who has “taken his game to a new level”.
Tugun
Johnstone said his side’s focus has been firmly fixed on four Eagles in particular all week.
Johnstone believes that his opposing half Michael Burgess, the duo of former NRL forwards Joel Thompson and Kevin Proctor, and winger Lachlan Smith will be pivotal for Currumbin.
“We know what (Michael Burgess) brings and he’s a really good halfback with a lot of experience, he’s played a lot of state league, he controls the game and he does all of their game management,” Johnstone said.
“He’s their real threat, he touches the ball a lot when they’ve got it, he plays both sides of the ruck and controls what they do. Anything that happens for them attack-wise is going to come off him.”
“They’ve got two stars in their NRL players in Kevin Proctor and Joel Thompson, and they’ve both started to play better footy as the season’s gone on, the more games that they play they’re playing better footy. Joel Thompson in particular is a real damaging ballrunner and a real threat with the ball. Kevin’s the same, he’s got great foot speed and footwork, he’s got a great offload and he’s a real tough bastard.
“We believe Lachie Smith, who’s played fullback for the last few years, now he’s back on their side on the wing, even though he may not see as much ball, he’s an extremely dangerous ballrunner and anytime Lachie’s around the footy there’s alarm bells ringing for you … he can break a game open from the wing.”
Friends turned foes: The history of the Currumbin-Tugun rivalry
As fierce as the Rugby League Gold Coast rivalry may be between Currumbin and Tugun, the clubs have a complex and intertwined history.
Ben Gonzales, who played 131 games across his career with the Penrith Panthers and Gold Coast Seagulls, understands this better than most.
Having been a long-time player and coach at Tugun, he jumped ship to coach the inaugural Currumbin Eagles A-grade side in 2008, and said the “huge rivalry” kicked off from day dot.
“I received a few disgruntled calls from (Tugun) because they thought they’d lose a few of their juniors back to Currumbin. The names started flying around, we were called the bin chickens and every other name under the bloody sun,” Gonzales recalled of when Currumbin established its A-grade outfit.
“Being an old Tugun boy we fired up the rivalry and that first year we had a really good year.”
The Eagles cracked the grand final in their first season, and downed Tugun in a thrilling major semi-final to get there.
“Some of the rubbish that was flying around about Currumbin, it didn’t really affect the players but we used that as motivation. Every time we came out to play them we lifted, we were a different side.”
The two clubs remain fierce rivals to this day.
“It’s just stuck, hasn’t it?” Gonzales said of the rivalry.
“There’s always talk through the week when Tugun’s playing Currumbin.”
Former Currumbin president Pat Asquith, who has been involved with the Eagles for over a decade, likened the clash to Gold Coast’s equivalent of the Sydney Roosters-South Sydney Rabbitohs rivalry.
In the early 1980s, Currumbin and Tugun became interweaved when the Currumbin Eagles junior club merged with Tugun and maintained the Tugun name.
Later that decade, the Tugun juniors relocated to the Galleon Way site Currumbin calls home today and changed their name to Currumbin-Tugun. The moniker stuck and players were fed to Tugun’s senior club until 2006, when Tugun’s seniors started their own junior program, spurring the return of the Currumbin Eagles name from the 70s and the birth of the senior club you see today.
Mate vs. Mate
Opposing halves Will Johnstone and Michael Burgess will be following in their father’s footsteps when they run out against each other in Saturday’s decider.
In the 1985 NSWRL grand final clash between Canterbury-Bankstown downed St George 7-6 in an old fashioned slog, and Will’s dad Billy Johnstone was the Bulldogs’ hooker while Michael’s father Glenn Burgess lined up at fullback for the Dragons.
The pair would later play alongside each other at the Gold Coast Giants and Seagulls, and it was here on the Coast that a lifelong friendship between their sons was born.
“We’ve known each other since we were born,” mused Will Johnstone of great mate ‘Burgo’.
“We went to school together, played all our juniors together at Currumbin-Tugun, I was the hooker and he was the halfback.”
The pair would also play for the Tweed Seagulls together, and are so close in fact that Burgess was the best man at Johnstone’s wedding.
They also played at Tugun together before Burgess switched allegiances to return to Currumbin ahead of the 2023 season.
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