BRL: West Panthers beat Waves, Easts beat Wallaroos

The first round of the Bundaberg Rugby League season kicked off at at Salter Oval on Sunday, and the heroism on the paddock was inspirational from these players singled out by their happy coaches.

27/03/2023 - Will Walthall, pictured with his brother Scott, put in a huge tackling display for the East Magpies in their win over the Wallaroos. Picture: facebook

Coach Corey Tanner says some younger players stood out as his West Panthers team held on to beat Waves Tigers 18-14 in the first round of the Bundaberg Rugby League season at Bundaberg’s Salter Oval on Sunday.

Halfback Laish Salam, who signed from the Capras this season, put in a big display from halfback.

"Laish directed us around the park well and was one of the players who really stepped up for us," Tanner added.

Noah Law was also singled out by coach Tanner for his defensive efforts as the Panthers fought back from a 14-6 deficit at half-time, with Daniel Tanners scoring the try.

"Noah is 17 and did a brilliant job playing as a second-rower and centre for about 60 minutes.

"We based our game on defence and Noah did brilliantly in a great all-round effort from all of our forward pack."

27/03/2023 - Noah Law stood out for West Panthers. Picture: supplied

Club stalwart Bruce Ikamanu scored two tries for the Panthers, with coach Tanner heaping praise on his second-rower.

"Bruce was fantastic against one of the sides who were marked as one of the favourites for the competition," Tanners said.

"We weren’t confident enough to know that we could win the game with the squad that we’ve got now, but I got a gauge on the Tigers when we played them in the Nines carnival in preseason.

"I thought that we’d have the superior forward pack and if went through our forwards we would definitely be in the game at the right time at the end of the match to win it and that’s the way it panned out."

Defensive efforts were also key for new Easts Magpies coach Jacob Blanke in their 32-22 win over the Wallaroos.

Blanke, who won the BRL Premiership as coach of the Hervey Bay Seagulls last season, said the win wasn’t pretty and there was plenty to work on, but picked out some star performers.

"Our hooker Will Walthall must have made about 100 tackles," Blanke said.

27/03/2023 - Will Walthall, pictured with his brother Scott, put in a huge tackling display for the East Magpies in their win over the Wallaroos. Picture: facebook

"He was outstanding in defence. At one stage in the second half, we probably had 20 sets near our goal-line and he just kept on putting tackles in."

Skipper Delroy Tanner, who scored two of Easts’ six tries, was also singled out by his coach.

"Delroy put in a good captain’s knock," Blanke said.

"He played powerfully, kept his head and was good.

27/03/2023 - Laish Salam (centre) was one of the standouts for West Panthers in their win over Waves Tigers. Picture: Nicole Dendle

"Ethan Bullard was another player who defended like his life depended on it. We pretty much defended for the whole second half and Ethan put in his fair share of tackles.

"All I got out of the game is that we can tackle.

"We have got plenty of points in us and I know we can defend.

"We have just got to learn to play as a team, be disciplined and stop giving away dumb penalties."

In the other result in round one of the BRL, reigning premiers Hervey Bay Seagulls were well beaten by Past Brothers 62-4.

Originally published as BRL: West Panthers beat Waves, Easts beat Wallaroos