Round Three
South Perth Lions 76 – Joondalup Giants 0
By PETER ROWE
South Perth Lions set themselves up for their first big test of the 2025 season next week against North Beach, with a ‘perfect performance’ 76-0 defeat of the Joondalup Giants at George Burnett Oval as the Fuel to Go and Play Premiership resumed.
Halfback Samisoni Langi opened the scoring after five minutes and centre Corban Daniels was a destructive powerhouse, scoring four times as the Lions made their intentions clear: they want to win the premiership.
Leading by a six try to nil margin at the break, their other centre Okuk Mori was equally powerful, scoring four times.
Photo – Carmel Potter-Green
“I switched the centres before the game and it worked better for us,” coach Duane Gwiazdzinski said.
“A very good performance, not taking anything away from Joondalup, but everything worked well for us.”
Langi, who was one of Gwiazdzinski’s best on field, opened the scoring after five minutes and was a major influence throughout the game.
“Soni and Harry (Debique) were superb,” Gwiazdzinski said.
“Daniel Green is getting better with age, some big runs from him, charging through their line. But it was a team effort, everyone was willing to participate. They all played for each other, that was so pleasing to see.
Photo – Carmel Potter-Green
“No one got carried away, they all did their jobs and no injuries. Yes, we had a good day.”
For the Giants it was a day to forget.
“We had a few pull out Thursday and Friday,” captain Taurean Sheehan, who was a late addition to the team, said.
Sheehan has been recovering from a calf injury but stepped up on Saturday morning when numbers were thin.
“They (South Perth) were unreal, very, very good and credit to coach Duane for the work there,” Sheehan said.
“A very different team to last year. Well drilled and structured. We were clunky and made lots of silly errors.
“With the loss of Fifo players and then late withdrawals it was a perfect storm. But we have to move on, put it behind us and look to next week.
“No one goes out to lose 76-0.”
