MAJOR SEMI-FINAL: South Perth Lions 50 – North Beach Sea Eagles 22
By PETER ROWE
The South Perth Lions became the first team to claim a grand final spot on Saturday evening, after comfortably defeating the North Beach Sea Eagles in the NRLWA Fuel to Go and Play Premiership major semi-final.
Led superbly by halfback Samisoni Langi, the Lions were simply too good for an underperforming Beach side, scoring nine tries before allowing their opponents to score four in the final 14 minutes of the game.
“It was a very good performance,” a delighted coach Duane Gwiazdzinski, said after the game.
“We started well and set the tone, scored two tries (through wingers Jordan Tumoana and Josh Perring) and then went to sleep a bit that allowed them back into the game.”
Beach halfback Jeremy Wallace was first to score for the visitors, but hooker Jayden Evans, who had another outstanding game, added a third and Langi crossed for a fourth before Will Dickinson scored for Beach three minutes before halftime.
Wallace tried hard for the visitors / Photo – Total Sports Photography
“We seemed to go sleep in patches,” Gwiazdzinski said. “So at halftime it was a wake-up call. It worked.
“The immediate response was good and we scored first in the second half to again establish authority.”
Ben Russell was first to cross, followed by Evans again and Tumoana, Perry and Langi’s second brought up the 50.
“I think the boys knew the game was won by then.” Gwiazdzinski added.
“And we took our foot off the gas – and allowed them to score four tries. But all credit to them, it was a good day with a lot of go very good performances. An outstanding team effort.”
Langi was by far best on field, but closely followed by forwards Mason Hiko and Tim Noble.
Langi was best on field for the Lions / Photo – Carmel Potter-Green
“Corban Daniels had a great day and deserved to be named players’ player,” Gwiazdzinski said, admitting it was hard to pick a 3-2-1, as it was such a good all-round show.
For Beach coach Phil Douché it was the opposite.
“Shocking” was the word he used to describe his team’s performance.
“It hasn’t really been a good week. Kobi (Aeisi) was ruled out early and then Kallum (Gulliver-Brown) rolled an ankle in the warm-up.
“I thought, in hindsight, our preparation for the game wasn’t right – so this a wake-up call.
“We made some corrections late on and scored four tries (Riley Bradley, Kade Breen, Kani Solomon and Tom Fry), but mentally we weren’t there.
“To be fair, they were the much better team on the day. They executed well and we didn’t.
“And when there was blood in the water, they smelt in and finished us off.”
Douché saw issues on both sides of the ball and will work with his side this week, preparing to face an upbeat Willagee team in the Preliminary Final at Charles Riley Reserve on Saturday.
“There are things we need to correct. We will get it done,” he said.
For Gwiazdzinski the week off will give his side the opportunity to prepare for grand final day in a different way.
“We’ll train this week, have a bit of fun and then get down to fine tuning next week,” he said.