Photo by Awesome Sports Images
Redland-Victoria Point kept their premiership defence alive and Surfers Paradise accounted for Labrador in TPIL Lawyers QAFL Semi-Finals on Saturday.
On the Sunshine Coast, a nine-goal burst in the second quarter has seen Redland-Victoria Point reverse the round 20 meeting against Maroochydore to win by 50 points 19.14.(128) to 11.12.(78). The victory sets up an enticing clash with Morningside in next week's Preliminary Final in Brisbane.
There was only two points difference at quarter-time with both sides kicking three goals and Sharks sharp-shooter Matt Hammelmann in a dangerous mood with two of those six-pointers.
RVP went into overdrive in the second term with five goals in ten minutes including a further two to Hammelmann and the lead was all of a sudden 33 points.
Koby Young would kick the Roos only goal for the quarter, but another four to the visitors with two of those from ex-GC Sun Alex Sexton and the half-time margin was now 52 (points).
It seemed like deja-vu for the Roos from last week's horror stretch on the Gold Coast where Palm Beach Currumbin broke away in the second term and now in consecutive weeks they had conceded 12 goals in a half of football.
Last week the Lions continued the onslaught in the third quarter, but to Maroochydore's credit they attempted to fight back and kicked the first two goals of the term through William Jones and Brad Castine. RVP countered though with two quick goals of their own from Hammelmann and Tyler Hausfeld to prevent any major comeback.
The home side got within six goals during the final quarter but were unable to creep any closer. The damage had been done and the Sharks had shown their teeth to stay alive for another week.
Hammelmann ended up with six goals, Sexton grabbed another brace in the final term to complete his impressive display with four, while Clay Cameron again proved his value up forward with four as well.
The midfield even without Charlton Offermans and ruckman Craig Malone, gathered almost 100 more disposals and controlled the contest with numerous uncontested possessions.
Jake Chapman and Matthew Hambleton with 28 disposals each headed several players over that tally including, Cooper Pell, Dylan Smith, Campbell Aston and Luke O'Sullivan.
Naturally, Maroochydore will be disappointed to end their campaign in 'straight sets', but they have made huge strides this season and now know what is required to go deeper into the finals to try and clinch that elusive premiership for the Sunny Coast.
Some of their better players included Hunter Moore (22 disposals), William O'Dwyer (21) Benjamin Thomas, Bailey Hahn, Luke Saunders, Harrison Ronchi and Bradley McDonald while Aaron Wilson finished his year off with three goals.
In the second semi-final at Kallibr Homes Oval in the Gold Coast derby, Surfers Paradise continued their winning streak over a game Labrador clinching victory by 33 points and a Preliminary Final berth next week 12.19.(91) to 8.10.(58). It was the same result as last year for the Tigers, who have not beaten their close rivals now in their past six meetings.
The match was basically decided in two separate 10-minute bursts by the home side in the first and third quarters respectively.
In the first term, following a string of behinds from both sides, the tallest player on the field Zac Smith slotted home the first goal of the match for the Demons at the 15-minute mark.
Labrador had bravely defended against the prevailing breeze favouring the Ashmore Road (Southern) end, but the game turned in time-on. Surfers suddenly sprung into action and in the space of seven minutes booted four goals including two to full-forward Josh Minogue to establish a handy quarter-time lead of 31 points.
The Tigers with the aid of the breeze responded quickly at the top of the second quarter with two quick goals to Noah Casalini and Riley Stevens. Late in the term Casalini bagged his second and the margin was pegged back to just 15 points at half-time with the home side restricted to four behinds against the wind.
The third quarter produced the best football with a total of eight goals scored with the Demons peppering the goals, but were off target managing just a solitary major. When pocket rocket William Manshanden and key forward Aiden Fyfe kicked successive goals half-way through the period, Labrador were back in the game and only nine points down.
In scenes similar to the opening quarter, Surfers Paradise suddenly flicked a switch and again slammed home four goals in 'red time' to open a margin of 34-points at the last change.
The effort though had taken its toll on the Tigers and they failed to take advantage of the scoring end while their opposition finally found a way to kick goals against the wind. Harrison Fraser's third goal followed by a fourth to Minogue put the issue beyond doubt.
Labrador switched a couple of defenders into attack and Rhys Nicholls bobbed up with a couple of consolation efforts towards the end of the match. The Tigers had fought bravely but were missing some bigger bodies for this clash such as Jake Goldsmith, Billy Marshall and Bradley Uglow.
Liam Odea as usual led the way with his attack on the ball collecting 30 possessions, nine clearances and nine tackles. Skipper Matt Lee, Greg Lord, Tom Foon, Harry Sullivan, Jayden Young along with Nicholls and Manshanden were worthy servants in the beaten side.
For Surfers Paradise, skipper Matt Doran (23 disposals) was awarded the TPIL Lawyers QAFL Best on Ground as he helped pick his side up when required. Other significant contributors included Alby Jones (24 disposals), Ben Woodburn, Jake Callinan, James Carrigan and Zac Smith took full advantage of his height in the ruck with a dozen clearances.
Meanwhile, Michael Luxton, Billy Beardsell, Sam Jewell and recently promoted Malachi Lines were part of a defence that interrupted the Tigers forward line and launched plenty of run off the backline.
The TPIL Lawyers QAFL Preliminary Finals will take place next Saturday afternoon starting at the same time of 2:10pm. Palm Beach Currumbin will host Surfers Paradise in a repeat of last year’s clash at the same venue (Stalagmite Oval) and in a rematch of the 2024 Grand Final and the other 2025 Prelim, Morningside face Redland-Victoria Point but this time at Jack Esplen Oval. Those fixtures guarantee that for the second successive year it will be a Gold Coast vs Brisbane/Bayside decider for the premiership.