BURLEIGH V TWEED PREVIEW

BURLEIGH V TWEED PREVIEW
By Kevin Braysher
At just 22 years of age hooker/halfback Danny Kerr has done plenty in rugby league, now he is making his mark on the Intrust Super Cup.

Kerr, who was born in Sydney and started his junior football with the Mt Druitt City Tigers, is now in his second season with the Bears.

He was picked up at the end of 2011 as a result of a stand out season playing in the Bycroft Cup for the Tugun Seahawks.

That year his Seahawks went all the way to the grand final and Danny lit up the competition on his way to the Bycroft Cup Player of the Year award.

Previous to his stint at Tugun Danny played NYC for both the Gold Coast Titans and Cronulla Sharks.

?That year at Tugun was probably the best footy I?ve ever played,? Kerr said of his stand out year.

?At the end of the year I got a call to see if I wanted to come to Burleigh and give Q Cup a go. That was something I was very interested in so I came down and had a crack.

?It?s one of the better clubs I?ve played at. It?s a good club with a lot of good people.?

The last month has seen Danny given the opportunity to play more minutes off the bench and he has responded to that by producing his best football of the season.

He has an ability to lift the side?s intensity with great line speed in defence and he has been using his outstanding acceleration as a weapon out of dummy half.

His electric running game was a feature of his time at Tugun and it has been a big boost for the Bears in recent weeks.

?Early on in the season I wasn?t really showing too much, but Briggsy pulled me aside one day and told what I needed to work on and what I needed to do,? he said.

?So I took what he said to me on board and one of those things was just choosing to run more where I can and help the team out a little bit that way.

?Not sure why it took so long to find a bit of form but I?m pretty happy with the way I?m going at the moment. Hopefully I can keep playing consistent football. ?

Last weekend against Wynnum Manly a poor completion cost the Bears a chance at victory and Danny believes if they can have more attention to detail a win against the Tweed this Sunday is achievable.

?We need to concentrate on our completion rate especially after last week,? he said.

?We need to complete as many sets as we can and stay strong in defence; they are the biggest things. When we defend well wins seem to come our way.?

The Bears kick off against the Tweed Heads Seagulls in Intrust Super Cup action at Pizzey Park this Sunday afternoon at 3pm.

This weekend is also Men of League round which means all Men of League members who show their badge on game day will receive free entry.

Coach Carl Briggs has named an unchanged lineup for the encounter.



Burleigh Bears

1. Jordan Rankin 2. Dan Kerr 3. Jordan Atkins 4. James Stuart 5. Steve Michaels 6. Tyler Chadburn 7. Jacob Grant 8. Luke Page 9. Sam Meskell 10. Shane Gray 11. Louis Fanene 12. Tyron Haynes 13. Darren Griffiths (c) 14. Danny Kerr 15. Brendan Hoare 16. Nick Harrold 17. Jamie Judge

Coach: Carl Briggs

Tweed Heads Seagulls

1. Shaun Carney 2. Brad Lees 3. James Wood (c) 4. Blake Anderson 5. Tom Merritt 6. Tom Dawney 7. Michael Burgess 8. Josh Coyle 9. Matt King (c) 10. Jake Leary 11. Ayden Lee 12. Tom Kingston 13. Chris Binge 14. Marmin Barba 15. Cory Blair 16. Aaron Cannings 17. Josh Harvey

Coach: Aaron Zimmerle

Referee: Michael Gordon

I will be heading to Pizzey to watch this game, will be better than the other Gold Coast team has offered up lately

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TITAN PETE

Tweed Heads Seagulls

1. Shaun Carney 2. Brad Lees 3. James Wood (c) 4. Blake Anderson 5. Tom Merritt 6. Tom Dawney 7. Michael Burgess 8. Josh Coyle 9. Matt King (c) 10. Jake Leary 11. Ayden Lee 12. Tom Kingston 13. Chris Binge 14. Marmin Barba 15. Cory Blair 16. Aaron Cannings 17. Josh Harvey

Coach: Aaron Zimmerle

Referee: Michael Gordon

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few good nrl surnames there ;) if only

NEWS
BEARS RUE MISSED CHANCES
By Kevin Braysher

The Tweed Seagulls have outlasted the Espresso Essential Burleigh Bears in their Intrust Super Cup rivalry round clash at Pizzey Park on Sunday.

Some late tries saw a final score of 24-8 but for the vast majority of the contest it was much closer than that.

The first forty minutes saw just one try but plenty of entertaining football was played by both sides.

Burleigh created a number of opportunities ? most notably through line breaks from the likes of Jordan Rankin and Brendan Hoare ? but they couldn?t convert them into points.

Matt King?s 12th minute intercept and 50 run to the rightcorner turned out to be the only points of the half, giving the Seagulls a narrow lead at the break.

A try to James Wood shortly after the break gave Tweed some breathing space but the Bears went back on the attack shortly after.

Burleigh managed to mount some pressure during this period and certainly had the better field position, but the Seagulls were terrific defending their line and their application through that period gave them the confidence to close out the match.

?It was just a reflection of what we are this year,? Seagulls coach Aaron Zimmerle said.

?They had four/five sets pretty much back-to-back on our line and as a group the boys just showed that they are a resilient bunch.?

The Bears eventually broke through in the 60th minute when they went through the hands and Steve Michaels finished in the corner, but it was largely undone two minutes later when Michaels dropped a bomb that was swooped on by Tom Merritt, taking the margin back out the ten.

They kept pressing the Tweed line, but Burleigh couldn?t break through the Seagulls? defence.

A barnstorming try to Seagulls prop Josh Coyle in the 70th putthe result beyond doubt.

Brad Lees (Tweed) and Jordan Atkins (Bears) both picked uptries in the last five minutes to round out the scoring.

The win means the Seagulls hold eighth spot, but the congested nature of the ladder means they are just one point out the five and well and truly in finals contention.

Zimmerle praised the effort of some of his young players who have stood up in the absence of some more experienced guys.

?We?ve blooded quite a few young guys as a result of losing important guys like Beau Henry to season ending injuries, but young guys like Michael Burgess, Tom Dawney and the like already look like established Cup players and they?ve only played half a season,? he said.

?To see them already fill that role as 21 year old kids is sensational for this club. They might make an error here and there, but they can win us games as well.

?Whatever happens for the rest of this year we?ll continue to threaten and I reckon there are a few teams sitting above us that don?t really want to play us.?

Again it was his side?s struggle to get the little things right that frustrated Bears coach Carl Briggs.

The Bears? poor completion rate keep them out of the contest in the second half against Wynnum-Manly last week and it was a problem again this week.

?Completing sets was a problem again today. Their desire was greater than ours at time,? he said.

A positive sight for Burleigh was the return of Jamie Dowling in the centres.

Jamie, who debuted for the Gold Coast Titans earlier this year, has missed much of the season through injury and he was strong in his first game back in Bears colours.

?Jamie?s a quality footballer. He?s had quite a while out and to be fair we?ve missed him. He played well today in his first game back,? Briggs said.



TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 24 (T Merritt, J Coyle, M King, B Lees, J Wood tries B Lees 2 goals) def BURLEIGH BEARS 8 (S Michaels, J Atkins tries) at Pizzey Park



A Grade Burleigh 38 def Tugun 12

Reserve Grade Burleigh 54 def Tugun 4

U19 Tugun 18 def Burleigh 16

FOGS Colts Burleigh 64 def Tweed 0