Willagee Bears 16 – South Perth Lions 26
By PETER ROWE
The battle for the Fuel to Go & Play minor premiership is not over after the South Perth Lions produced an almost flawless first half of rugby league that set them up for a famous win over the Willagee Bears at Webber Reserve on Saturday afternoon.
Five-eighth Kade McDonald was the Lions’ star man, scoring two tries and setting up two more to close the gap at the top of the ladder to just two points.
After a tense opening 20 minutes McDonald was first to cross after centre Sisa Waqa jumped into dummy half to set up his teammate.
Waqa then leapt to take a high cross-field kick from McDonald to extend the lead four minutes later.
And backrower Ollie Petit picked up an offload from centre Corbyn Daniels seconds before the halftime siren to give the visitors a commanding lead at the break.
“It was a quality first half but we had to defend our line for the first 20 minutes,” Lions coach John Crawford said.
“That really set us up. I think the game was won off the back of that first 20. I think we frustrated them.”
Bears coach Nelson Davis said they were not in the game enough in that first 40.
“Errors and poor discipline let us down,” he said.
But after the coaching staff had singled out several underperforming players, they came out fired up.
Within three minutes of the restart they were on the board. A Billy Judge error gave them possession and backrower Jackson Hansen finished off a move from Kainoa Gudgeon, under the posts.
Two minutes later after Corbyn Daniels had been penalised for tackling Tommy Fifita without the ball, the Bears were in again.
A quick drive saw Finn McDermott bury himself across the line and it was game on.
But Gudgeon suffered a potential season ending injury when he came off the field with a fractured eye socket and Davis had to reshuffle his side.
“He came off and we bandaged him up and went back on, but sneezed and his eyeball popped out again,” Davis said. “Could be 8-10 weeks, we don’t yet, hopefully not.”
With both sides matching up the middle the game could have swung either way until on 54 minutes, McDonald took a pass from a scum, evaded tackles and raced away for 70 metres to increase the lead.
“That took a lot out of our sails after we got back in the game,” Davis said.
“But fair play to them, they played very week and Kade was the best on field.
“They controlled the ruck and the narrative. There was plenty of effort from both teams but they were the better on the day.”
McDonald’s five-star performance was done though. On the hour he threw a long pass to winger Simeon Oi, racing in at speed to seal the victory.
Crawford praised McDonald’s efforts but their player of the match went to veteran Daniel Green.
“His workrate was awesome. 80 minutes out there and the cover tackles when the Bears were throwing the ball around chasing the game were superb,” he said.
Crawford was quick to point out that it was “just another two points” and there was plenty still to do.
“Trying to keep the lid on the win,” he said. “I told the boys to go out and enjoy themselves after the game. It also kept a five point gap between us and Fremantle, which is important, but there is a long way to go.”
“It was a superb performance and Kade’s try was a momentum changing one for us, but there were still a few errors out there.”
A disappointed Davis admitted his team was disjointed at times and there was no connection from his forwards to the backs.
“It was a lesson learnt and good perhaps to get it in Round 12 than in a grand final. The monkey is off our back and there’s some relief there I guess.”
