Finals Series Report
27th August 2011
The Eagles Senior Club eagerly anticipated the arrival of the finals series with all four senior grade sides progressing to the major semis by virtue of their top two finish at the end of the regular season.
What started out to be a day full of promise unfolded into a bit of a train wreck.
In the first game the Colts had the bare minimum with only 15 run on players available for the kickoff. Matters took a turn for the worse when Luke Ellis rolled his ankle during the pre game warm-up. The opposition Coomera had turned up ready and willing to throw everything at Eagles and it showed in their preparation where they spent close to an hour on the field prior to the start of the game. Coomera ran out convincing winners 32 - 13.
Next up were the 3rd Grade side who were up against a formidable Palm Beach side and Eagles did themselves no favour by allowing their opposition to build a solid lead going into the wind with the Alleygators turning 12-3 up at the halftime break. Palm Beach were able to eventually build on their momentum to secure a strong 32-13 win to advance straight to the Grand Final.
The Eagles 2nd Grade side faced up to a monumental challenge in minor premiers Colleges. Nothing had separated the two teams on the ladder other than a better points differential and in the contest to follow it would prove to be no different with scores locked up at the end of regulation time at 16 points apiece. Eagles through the golden boot of evergreen Darren Robson would hold on for a hard fought 16-13 win to progress directly to the Grand Final.
The final game of the day saw the 1st Grade come up against a Palm Beach combination that had made a couple of changes that reinforced an already strong line-up. Palm Beach dominated the game on the scoreboard and managed to keep their noses in front right to the end to take the direct passage to the Grand Final courtesy of a 24-22 victory.
This would mean Eagles would be required to play in 3 of the 4 Preliminary Finals games if they were to get any more teams into the Grand Finals.
Palm Beach were the hosts of the Preliminary Finals and if you were looking to the heavens for inspiration, all you received were raindrops and bucket loads of them. Eagles supporters wondered if the weather was to be a sign of things to come.
First up again were the Colts who were looking to redeem themselves against their Grand Final opponents from last year in Helensvale. Helensvale had been bolstered by the inclusion of their RGC Breaker, Steve Finnigan. However the early momentum appeared to be with Eagles until Helensvale made a couple of tactical player substitutions early in the half to try and stop the Eagles momentum. The move seemed to work for the Hogs as they bounced back to not only tie up the game but move on to take the lead as halftime approached. Eagles Colts had other ideas though and on the back of RGC's Man of the Match Ryan Jones direction, Eagles started to gain some traction and points started to come. Eagles powered away the end to run away convincing winners 40-15.
3rd Grade followed in what was going to be another titanic contest taking on last seasons premiers, Surfers Paradise Dolphins. Eagles got off to a great start with a try to Setu Naseri, ably converted by fellow coach Luke Caughley. That was to be the last of Luke's contribution as he not too long after had to leave the field with suspected medial ligament damage. However Eagles were able to hold Surfers out, as they made numerous raids on the Eagles line with a slim 7-5 victory.
As the rain got stronger, everyone around the ground observed a minutes silence in recognition of the family that lost 11 members in the Slacks Creek fire.
It was going to be a colossal forward battle in 1st Grade and this game would not disappoint. As the Eagles coaches struggled with scrum penalties being handed out evenly, Surfers gained the early momentum by taking the lead through the boot of 1st 5 Kayne Wahlstrom who converted a penalty to give Surfers a 3 point advantage. The closeness of this contest though would mean that Surfers would not score any more points in the game. Eagles through the highly accurate boot of Jamie Weston were able to convert a couple of opportunities to take a 6-3 lead that was never going to be bettered as both teams battered each other from pillar to post for the right to continue their finals dreams. However Eagles were the ones to be fortunate this day and with former skipper Hayden Callan, the RGC's Man of the Match, and Jacob Heilbronn in particular leading the way, Eagles remain in the hunt for a chance to secure another 1st Grade premiership for the club.
So the final wash up sees the Eagles senior club feature in all four Senior Grade Grand Finals.
