Giant killers Mayne are the only team who can stop Noosa finishing the year at the top of the ladder (despite the incorrect & hopeful reporting of the "Roos Daily" on Sunday who reported that it will come down to the last match of the season) after a comfortable victory on the weekend.
On Saturday, Mayne gave stalwart duo Caleb Brown and Dan Weller the perfect way to celebrate individual milestones when they downed Surfers Paradise at Everton Park on Saturday.
Brown and Weller were playing their 100th seniors matches for the Tigers, who responded in style with a 16.8 (104) to 12.9 (81) success over the Demons.
Mayne’s win also snuffed out what little chance Surfers had of playing finals football this year.
With seven regulars back in action, coach Mitch Ferguson was afforded the luxury of his best side for a long, long time – that fact plus the memories of letting down skipper Andrew Housego when he played his 200th match for the club two months ago.
“We mucked it up on ‘Housey’, but we got it right for these two,” said Ferguson, who remains confident his side can still avoid the wooden spoon.
“Those seven inclusions helped, it was probably the strongest side all year and it gave us good balance around the ground.”
On Saturday, Mayne were pumped to do well for their milestone celebrants and led by two goals at quarter-time. Ahead by 25 points at half-time, Mayne then did what they had to, although when the Demons crept to within nine points in the final term, things looked a little shaky.
But Mayne’s tenacity, not to mention a couple of missed chances from easy scoring positions by the Demons, swung the momentum back to the home side.
Starring for the winners were midfielders Tom Falconer and James Gillett (three goals), plus Brown and Weller. Brown, who played so well for Queensland Country in defence at the recent national carnival, was used up front by Ferguson and kicked three goals.
”But Mayne played good,” Surfers coach Rob Martin said. “They were fired up and everything went their way.”
Best for the Demons were full-back Chris Hughes, vice-captain Sean Atkinson in defence and on-baller/forward Dan Green.
Last Modified on 21/09/2010 10:50
