This past Saturdays Major Semi final against this years minor premiers Barron Trinity was always going to be a major arm wrestle. During the weeks lead up a lot of talk and work was done on our game plan and looking at how best to play a strong Barron. It was mentioned that a win was not only going to come from physical fitness but mental fitness as well. With Tim Scott out due to a back injury we still felt confident in the entire 15 man run on squad, with Jordan Massey filling in the number 6 jersey and in form David “Robo” Robinson slipping straight into the hooking roll.
Right from the kick off there was a feeling in the air that the boys where ready to go and they immediately showed great fortitude in their game, even running into a stiff breeze. The intensity shown by both sides proved it was going to be a tough game and the team that held the ball and executed their game plan would hold an advantage. Kicking was to prove the advantage in the first half with Dion Pryor slotting 3 important penalties to put Barron on the back foot. Although Barron scored the first try to close there deficit to 1 point we still had the upper hand. Before long we posted a couple of our own tries to go to the half time break with a 21 to 8 lead.
The second half started much the same as most of our second half restarts, a little slowly. This gave Barron a chance to spur them selves on to try and close the margin, which they continued to do during the game. The game was still very physical and intense but it did start to loose some of the spark that we had witnessed in the first half. This is where I believe the physical and mental fitness really came in. With five minutes remaining we had a handy lead only for that to be reduced to 4 points after Barron scored and converted a late try. From the restart we got the ball deep in the enemy territory and endeavored to keep them down there. With a long-range drop goal shot from Shannon Mackey it was obvious what the teams motivation was and they stuck to the field position well. Before long Golden Boot Dion Pryor managed to slot a perfect field goal to seal up a 7 point win to the Mariners.
Once all the dust settled we booked our selves a well-earned Grand Final place. Some stand out performances where from Oscar Fasavalu, Lee Boylan, Jordan Massey, Dion Pryor (With an individual point tally of 21), Tahl Young and David Robinson. Not to take away from all the boys on the team as they played like a great team. I do believe we still have a bit of work to do over the next 2 weeks to polish up on some aspects of our game to try and achieve the ultimate goal of a grand final victory.
Final Score JCU Mariners 36 (Fred Samuels, Dion Pryor, Tahl Young, Justin Brown Tries, Dion Pryor 2 conversion’s, 3 penalties and 1 field goal) def Barron Trinity 29 (4 Tries, 3 conversions and 1 penalty)
Good luck to the Ressies boys who I am sure will be successful this week against the fish and set up a return match to square up the ledger against the Bulls in two weeks.
– Dave ‘Norto’ Norton
