Round Eight
Joondalup Giants 18 – South Perth Lions 54
South Perth coach Duane Gwiazdzinski saw his side outmuscle the Giants 54-18 at Admiral Park on Saturday afternoon to maintain their lead at the top of the NRLWA Fuel to Go and Play Premiership, but lost key players in a physical encounter that saw the lions cross the whitewash 10 times.
Fullback Travis Haney returned to his old club only to suffer an ankle injury that will sideline him for up to eight weeks as the opening 20 minutes became a real arm wrestle.
“Frustrating as we tried to speed the game up to play to our tempo and the Giants tried to slow it down,” Gwiazdzinski said.
The Giants started well, scoring two early tries through the short side, but then lost their way as the Lions roared into gear.
Billy Judge & Jordan Tumoana go after the Giants defenders / Photo – Carmel Potter-Green
Centre Okuk Mori, new signing Logan Barclay, Jordan Tumoana and Samisoni Langi all crossed to give the visitors a solid halftime lead before they stepped up another gear in the second half to seal victory.
Tiger Williams pulled one back for Joondalup but Marc Fariu, Hamish Roshan (2), Sam Javapro and a double from winger Tumoana to complete his hat-trick rounded out the win.
“Sam (Javapro) was our best on ground – a superb effort, closely followed by Daniel Green and Logan Barclay,” Gwiazdzinski said.
“We had four starting props unavailable through injury, so that was frustrating, but we got the job done.”
For Joondalup it was a disappointing day. Missing several players, including influential hooker River Coleman, they failed to make it three wins in a row.
“We had come off two weeks of wins and we’d hoped for better,” captain Taurean Sheehan said.
“But we were gassed at the end, too many errors when defending, tries on top of tries and we couldn’t recover.”
Leon White goes up for a high ball / Photo – Carmel Potter-Green