By PETER ROWE
North Beach Sea Eagles secured their fourth consecutive Grand Final appearance on Saturday afternoon with a ‘slugathon’ 18-6 victory over the Fremantle Roosters in the NRLWA Fuel to Go and Play Premiership major semi-final at BlueForce Park.
The minor premiers had first-half tries from hooker Drew Lloyd (29), and centre Kani Solomon (38) to thank for a 12-6 lead at the break, with Fremantle’s only try of the game coming from Cooper Sanders in the 35th minute.
“It was tough out there, a real slugathon,” Beach coach Phil Douche admitted after the game.
“Penalties and errors from both sides in heavy conditions, but I felt we handled in better in the first 60 minutes, even though they (Fremantle) threw everything at us.”
The Roosters, missing several players, including player-coach Delane Edwards and captain Duane Butler, came out fired up and pushed for an early score, but it wasn’t to be as the Sea Eagles weathered the storm and crossed first.
With Joe Pou’hila and Eli Beattie back in the centres Fremantle had firepower down the edges but time and time again they failed to unleash that threat.
“Yeah, we dominated for large parts of the game, but we couldn’t execute,” Butler said.
“The effort was there, but our shape wasn’t, and we’d run three tackles up the middle and then lose our momentum.
“We didn’t have enough variation. Disappointing, but we go again next week.”
With only one try in the second half – a minute before the siren when fullback Korey Craig won a one-on-one tussle with his opposite number Paora Kemp to score – the game saw attempts from both sides, often ending in an error or being cancelled by some great defending.
Fremantle conceded two penalties on last tackle, one that cost them two points and winger Kaelin Heremaia-Phillips dropped the ball when clear with 20 minutes to go as a determined North Beach defence held them up cross the line and short several times.
Butler, who is recovering from a calf injury, knows his team can do better and is hoping to be fit for the preliminary final against Rockingham on Saturday.
“I have to be ready,” he said. “It’s all to play for now.”
For Beach, who beat South Perth in 2021, lost to Fremantle in 2022 and beat them last year, another big day awaits.
“Our defence got us home in this one, but there’s no celebration – we still have another game to go,” Douche said.
Photo – Carmel Potter-Green
That feeling was evident at Port Kennedy after the Rockingham Sharks had beaten a gallant Joondalup side 32-18 in the elimination final.
“Nothing to celebrate – we go again next week,” was the call from one of the Sharks senior players as they made their way off a rain-soaked field, their mud-infused jerseys hardly visible after a day of stormy weather.
The Giants, to their credit, were level at the break, 12-12, before the Sharks found momentum to score four second-half tries.
Logan Barclay, who was later to become one of their heroes with a hat-trick, lost control of the ball on his first carry, allowing winger Stanley Whyte to scoop up and score after just two minutes.
Barclay quickly made amends, pushing through tackles to score on the right edge, but kicking was a key feature of the game as Taurean Sheehan’s clever grubber kick bounced off the upright for him to recover and score.
Photo – Libby McMillan
Three minutes before the break Barclay was at it again and when skipper Keelyn Tuuta-Edwards kicked the conversion the scores were level.
The second half belonged to Rockingham, “we weren’t in the game from then on,” admitted Sheehan.
“We had too many errors and Rockingham made us pay.
“In the first half both teams were giving each other leg-ups with dropped balls and the like, but then they took control and applied pressure.
“The last five or six weeks I have seen other teams have really good preparation for games and we didn’t really, so we need to focus on that for next year, recruit well and try and get away from too many FIFO players.”
Barclay began the second half scoring before back-rower Ben White chipped in with another hat-trick – taking his season tally to 16 tries, combining superbly with halfback Boston Smith on the left edge.
Giants centre Brad Sparrow scored a consolation effort ten minutes from the siren but the final 20 minutes of play belonged to White.
He grabbed his first in the 55th minute, receiving a clever outside ball from Smith to barge across, before scoring his second 11 minutes later, a smart second row forward move from the back of the scrum.
His third came off a peach of pass from Smith as the Joondalup defence tired three minutes from time.
“In the first half we sort of shot ourselves in the foot a bit with errors that allowed them to score twice,” player-coach Tom Murphy said.
“So at halftime I told them we had to hold on the to ball and play the way we ended the first period.
“The tide turned and Logan and Ben got the points to get us home. Space opened up outside and Boston took advantage of that.”
But Murphy, who has been outstanding all season for the Sharks, was quick to play down the result.
The job’s not done yet,” he said. “Fremantle got the better of us last time we met so we know what we have to do next weekend.”