CDRL: Yarrabah Seahawks soar into the CDRL decider
Cairns District Rugby League’s kings of momentum withstood a rollercoaster sudden-death contest to book a grand final date with Innisfail.
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Cairns District Rugby League’s kings of momentum withstood a rollercoaster sudden-death contest to book a grand final date with Innisfail.
The Yarrabah Seahawks showed their march towards the club’s second grand final appearance in four seasons has been anything but a fluke as they terminated Brothers’ season a week earlier than most predicted.
The 28-26 victory at Barlow Park on Saturday night was nothing if not chaotic as both sides battled through wild swings of fortune and were their own worst enemy at times.
With six minutes to go, a Jackson Clarke try – the winger’s third of the night – put the Brethren within distance of drawing level, but captain-coach Jordan Biondi-Odo’s conversion attempt was waved away.
Yarrabah held their composure in a frantic final five minutes to secure a thrilling victory and the club’s second grand final appearance in its history.
Co-captain Dale Ambrym said his heart was “definitely pumping faster than it should have been” in the closing stages of the match.
“We just lifted our spirits – the crowd is always getting us up there,” he said.
“I’m a bit overwhelmed at the moment to be back in the grand final again.”
It was plain to see just how much it meant to the players, the supporters and the wider Yarrabah community moments after the game, when Ambrym and his teammates received the kind of fanfare NRL players would be familiar with.
“It’s very big in the community over there, rugby league is like another religion,” he said.
Yarrabah didn’t take long to click into top gear, jumping out to an early 10-0 lead that they extended to 22-6 at halftime on the back of a kicking masterclass from veteran halfback Charles Murgha.
The wily playmaker was at his influential best and had the ball on a string in the opening stanza, scoring a try off his own grubber and kicking two 40/20s, before snatching an intercept and racing 50m to score his second four-pointer of the night.
Yarrabah’s faithful had their hearts in their mouths when the champion No.7 limped from the field with scores level at 22-all, after Brothers put on three tries in 15 minutes after the break.
But the Seahawks went to another level without their chief orchestrator on the park, in yet another display of the never-say-die attitude that has been a feature of their season.
While Murgha, with a hamstring complaint, did not return to the field, Ambrym was hopeful he would be fit for the big dance.
“Being one of the oldest – or, actually the oldest – in the club, he shows a lot of leadership, a lot of experience and just controls the game for us,” he said. “Hopefully he’ll be all right for next week, we’ll definitely need him.”
Fellow Seahawks veteran Hezron Murgha did not suit up for the clash, with the former Cowboy also nursing a hamstring injury.
While it was sheer jubilation for the Seahawks, it was heartbreak for minor premiers Brothers, who previously had only lost twice – both times to Innisfail – this season.
Simple mistakes ultimately cost the Brethren, whose search for their 24th premiership will enter a tenth year.
PRELIMINARY FINAL RESULTS
A-GRADE
YARRABAH SEAHAWKS 28 (C Murgha 2, Bann, Costello, Miller tries; Dabah 4 goals) def BROTHERS 26 (Clarke 3, Suavai, Hansen tries; J Biondi-Odo 2, L Biondi-Odo goals).
RESERVE GRADE
IVANHOES 42 (Ormsby 2, Baira, Williams, Raivaroro, Raivaroro, Valmadre, Kuna tries; Herd 4, Torney goals) def MOSSMAN-PD SHARKS 16 (Fourmile, Mark-Thompson, Dau tries; Fourmile 2 goals).
UNDER-18S
KANGAROOS 24 (Elia 2, Byquar, A Nona, Thompson tries; D Nona 2 goals) def ATHERTON 10 (Cuda, Gallagher tries; Carson goal).
Shades of 2017 premiership win in Yarrabah finals tilt
YARRABAH’S dynamite backline has dominated the headlines but co-captain Dale Ambrym believes the Seahawks’ unheralded forward pack could be the difference in Saturday’s preliminary final against Brothers.
The Seahawks’ spring-heeled flyers have set the Cairns District Rugby League finals series alight with an exciting brand of eyes-up footy and devastating strikepower out wide.
It was on display as Yarrabah scored 90 points in two weeks to knock reigning back-to-back premiers Mossman-Port Douglas Sharks out of the competition with a 46-30 major semi-final win last week, and in the side’s 44-36 minor semi-final win against Ivanhoe the week prior.
But the Seahawks will need to produce more than a bit of sparkle out wide to overcome the minor premiers, who will be smarting after a 39-18 loss to Innisfail last week, and punch their ticket to the CDRL grand final.
They will be up against a Brothers forward pack considered to be one of the best in the competition, led by heavy hitters Nick Harrold, Emmerson Whittel and Abiu Pearson.
But Ambrym expects the Seahawks’ engine room of Cyprian Mossman, Jack Webster and Hayden Golchert to have a big say in Saturday’s blockbuster at Barlow Park, as well as bench forward Brian Schrieber.
Schrieber copped a heavy knock in the process of scoring a try in last week’s win against the Sharks, but is expected to play against Brothers.
“He was running around at training (on Thursday night),” Ambrym said.
“We’ll need him there. He’s a bit of an enforcer coming off the bench for us.
“Being one of the young forwards, he’s stepped us his game a lot.”
Brothers players were clearly gutted at the heavy major semi-final loss to Innisfail, but coach Jordan Biondi-Odo said his troops had put the loss behind them as they seek to turn their incredible regular season record into the club’s first premiership since 2012.
The Brethren went 17-1 in the regular season, losing only to Innisfail, and will be out to make a statement against the high-flying Seahawks.
Biondi-Odo, who won the CDRL’s coach of the year award, said his team would be ready for the Seahawks.
“We looked at what we did wrong and everyone’s just owned it,” he said.
“We’ll definitely be better for it this week.
“Just the lack of the concentration, missing our opportunities at crucial times. The effort was definitely there.
“It might’ve been a bit disheartening, but we’re forgetting about that now and going in with our full focus on Yarrie, and we’re pretty confident this weekend. Our mindset is solely on Yarrie and not what happened last weekend.
“They’re playing good footy, they’ll be hard to beat, they got a bit of momentum, but we’re a good team too.
“They can score 30 points but they can also leak 36. You have to defend. We’ll get our opportunities; we just need to make sure we take them.”
Ambrym said Yarrabah would take plenty of confidence into the clash, after the two sides were separated by a last-minute Biondi-Odo field goal when they last met in August.
“I had a look back at that game too, I knew we could have beaten them, we just beat ourselves on the day,” he said.
“We’ll be a lot better this weekend and I know for a fact that we can beat them; they’re very mobile but we’ve got the speed there. If we just keep doing what we’ve been doing for the last few weeks, we’ll be fine.
“Brothers are a very structured team so we can sort of predict what they’re going to be doing, but knowing us, we’re very unpredictable, so we can come up with anything out of nothing.”
Ambrym, who was part of the Seahawks’ maiden premiership in 2017, said there were similarities between that successful campaign and this year.
“It feels like we have the same mentality,” he said.
“Some of the boys that were there back then – like myself, Charles (Murgha), Hezron (Murgha), Sam (Bann Jr) – we’ve just brought that same mentality, that same attitude.
“They’ve got that experience as well now, and just trying to show the young fellas who weren’t there what to do.
“Hopefully we can make it a repeat of the 2017 season.”
WHITTEL TO LEAD BROTHERS’ CHARGE IN FINALS
DAMAGING Brothers forward Emmerson Whittel is counting his lucky stars he chose to stay in the Far North.
Whittel rolled straight on to the field for Cairns Brothers in a trial game against Townsville’s Brothers outfit the same week he arrived in FNQ at the end of summer, and just a few weeks into his stay in the tropics had already considered moving on.
“It was just so hot,” Whittel said, a tinge of humour with his accent. “Me and missus had a chat about heading off, I didn’t know if I could do it.”
That conversation didn’t go too far, and in the time since Whittel has become one of the key components of Brothers’ Cairns District Rugby League minor premiership-winning side.
Cairns Brothers went 17-1 in the regular season, winning the minor premiership by a staggering nine points, but fell to Innisfail Leprechauns 39-18 in the major semi final.
“We were hoping to go straight into the final,” Whittel said. “I’m not sure if it’s anything to do with that break. We don’t use that as an excuse, but it didn’t prepare us well for Innisfail.
“They’re a good team.
“They play the game the opposite to us: slow and controlled. We’re a small team in comparison to them. Everything we do is fast, but we tried keeping the speed quick and getting a roll on, but they played to their advantage. That’s why we lost the game.”
Whittel is no slouch.
He was part of Bradford Bulls’ academy for seven years as a junior, and made his Super League debut for the Bulls in 2014.
He played at other clubs in the lower divisions, including Gloucestershire, Keighley and Oldham and in2019, when he decided he wanted to test himself in Australia.
His first opportunity came with Rockhingham in Western Australia, but Whittel wanted an opportunity to play at a higher level.
It’s what attracted Whittel to Cairns in the first place, and Brothers’ football manager Tim Rumford ended up being the key to his signing.
“We put the feelers out there, but I was overwhelmed with 40 responses,” Whittel said. “I came to Brothers solely because of Tim Rumford.
“He’s from (England), he coached at Castleford. I didn’t know him personally then, but knew of him. He’d seen me play, played against teams he coached, and coming to Cairns I thought would be a good opportunity to try to play Queensland Cup.”
That opportunity hasn’t come yet, but the big Englishman has left nothing in the sheds as he aims to play a leading hand in the end of Brothers’ CDRL premiership drought.
The premiership trophy hasn’t gone to Stan Williams Park since 2012, the longest drought of the three remaining clubs in contention.
But Whittel isn’t focused on that October 9 grand final.
This Saturday, Brothers face a Yarrabah Seahawks side flying high on confidence.
The Seahawks, who some rival coaches have suggested could win the competition, flexed their offensive muscle by scoring 90 points in their two sudden death finals wins in the past fortnight.
“They play eyes-up footy – off the cuff, there’s no real structure with them,” he said.
“They’ll kick it on the first, they’re not bothered by maintaining possession and field position. They caught us out a couple of times when we played them this year but we rolled them through the middle.
“If we can play at our pace, we should go well.
“They’re full of confidence. We lost a lot then, losing a second time to Innisfail, but I feel we’re good enough.”
WHY LEPS ARE THE CDRL’S MOST CONSISTENT CLUB
THERE has never been a better time to be a Leprechaun.
The Innisfail club will have teams in two of the three Cairns District Rugby League grand finals, cemented by the A-grade side’s dominant 39-18 win against minor premier Cairns Brothers.
It earned the club direct qualification to the October 9 grand final, its sixth in a decade as it claims the title of the CDRL’s most consistent club of the past decade.
Innisfail has made five grand finals in the past 10 years – 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019 – but has only the one premiership to show for it.
So far.
Innifsail is the first team through to have an opportunity to be the CDRL’s 2021 premier.
In fact, it has two chances at CDRL silverware after its reserve grade side beat minor premier Mossman-Port Douglas 35-20.
Innisfail will learn on Saturday which opponents it will face in the reserves and A grade, but for now the club is enjoying the outstanding achievement of having two senior teams in deciders.
Innisfail president Nick Souvlis said the success came down to years of hard work, a growing junior base, dedicated and closely connected coaches across the grades and a commitment to providing opportunities to Innisfail footballers.
“Every season has its challenges but we’ve always had a strong base of players,” Souvlis said. “You do have to recruit every season, but we provide an opportunity to as many local guys as we can.”
Souvlis said coaches Leon Hallie (A-grade) and Ken Laza (reserves) had worked well together. Players move freely between the teams when required.
“It’s a really good feeling at the club,” Souvlis said. “The teams have worked closely together, they’ve gelled really well. When players move up or down between the grades, it’s never been a problem.”
The CDRL preliminary finals are at Barlow Park on Saturday.
NATURAL ABILITY POWERS KANGAROOS
IT is not the way David Westley and David Nona would prefer Kangaroos to win, but they’ll gladly take the two dramatic golden point triumphs in as many weeks to reach the under-18s preliminary final.
Kangaroos finished fifth on the Cairns District Rugby League ladder and entered the finals as the underdog.
They needed extra time to beat Cairns Brothers 32-28, and then again a week later when they upstaged Ivanhoes 40-36 in another outstanding game of attacking football.
Both games were decided by long-range efforts in golden point extra time.
In week one, Nona’s son David Nona Jr collected a chip and chase which bounced between two Brothers backs to score the matchwinning try.
On Sunday, Joseph Pearson showcased his footwork, speed and agility to score a scintillating 60m try, switching on the afterburners as he tiptoed down the touchline to score a memorable four-pointer.
Westley, who took on the coaching role from Nona midway through the season, said the team ideally would have got the results in normal time, but in both weeks were able to show the natural ability which makes this Kangaroos outfit so exciting to watch.
“It’s the way they play,” Westley said. “These kids came up through the grades together, they’ve played together for a long time.
“Those tries were from them reading the play, and knowing how each other plays.
“They play a free-flowing style. It’s the a very natural style of footy.”
Kangaroos face Atherton in the U18s preliminary final on Saturday, and Westley said the main message this week will be to toughen up on the defensive end so they can let their attacking brilliance speak louder.
“It’s working together, we know we can take it out,” Westley said. “They just need to do the little things right.”
ROAD TO SUCCESS
Atherton v Kangaroos in the U18s preliminary final.
Atherton (3rd, 28pts)
Qualifying final: 24-18 win v Ivanhoes; Major semi: 22-18 loss v Edmonton
Kangaroos (5th, 27pts)
Elimination final: 32-28 win v Brothers; Minor semi: 40-36-win v Ivanhoes.
Watch it live on the Cairns Post website at 3pm on Saturday.
WHY BROTHERS WON’T PANIC
Brothers captain-coach Jordan Biondi-Odo says his side won’t overreact to Sunday night’s 21-point major semi-final loss to Innisfail.
The minor premiers tasted defeat for just the second time this season after they were on the wrong end of a 39-18 scoreline at Barlow Park, losing their finals double-chance.
“We missed too many opportunities,” Biondi-Odo said.
“I think we had four tries that we didn’t ice, just simple two-on-ones, so that was probably the biggest thing.
“To be fair, Innisfail were pretty good, but we still had a chance to win that game.
“We put a lot of pressure on but in the end we bombed four tries – you’re never winning a major semi if you do that. You can’t miss any, let alone four, so that hurt us.”
Biondi-Odo refused to pin the loss on a lack of playing time in what was the Brethren’s first match in three weeks, after they finished the season with a bye and had earned themselves the first week off in the finals.
“It was just our concentration at times,” he said.
“Besides that we were all right, maybe a bit off the pace.”
Biondi-Odo said the playing group couldn’t dwell on the loss too much as it had to quickly turn its attention to this Saturday’s preliminary final against Yarrabah, who knocked out reigning premiers Mossman-Port Douglas with a 46-30 win in the minor semi-final.
“We’ll have a look at it, learn from it and be better for it this weekend,” he said.
“Yarrabah’s playing some good footy and they’ve built momentum the last few weeks, but we’re confident.”
The winner of this Saturday’s clash will face Innisfail in the grand final.
Leprechauns coach Leon Hallie said his side would enjoy the week off.
“I’m just really happy for the boys, they worked hard all year to get in this position, so to go on with it, it’s a good reward for them,” he said.
“This is what we targeted, to win these first two and then get that break to freshen up,
“It’s good to get the week off and hopefully watch the other two belt each other up.”
The Brethren were down 22-6 at half time, after Innisfail scored two tries in the 10 minutes before the break.
They threatened to come back in the second half but were denied a try when the margin could have been narrowed to six when Innisfail fullback Andrew Garrett tackled Brothers winger Jackson Clarke into touch before he could ground the ball.
It became a 12-point turnaround when Innisfail prop Johann Turner crashed over on the ensuing set, which extended the Leprechauns’ lead to 16 points, before an Aaron Jolley four-pointer sealed the win five minutes later.
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