By Michael Atkinson

Ladder positions counted for little on the weekend with a couple of upsets registered in Round 10 of Queensland Premier Rugby. Here’s five things we learned from Saturday’s games.

Empty nest

Norths went into Saturday’s game against Uni with two straight victories and were looking red-hot. But their recent run of bad luck with injuries and players departing for foreign opportunities finally hit home on the weekend. Without Tyrone Lefau (injured), Brad Lacey (Western Force), Phil Kite and AJ Campbell (New Zealand), Norths were simply no match for the Red Heavies on their home turf. UQ’s unbeaten run continues and Norths’ quest to reach the finals got a little bit harder.

Dog Bite

Wests have shown they are can be premiership contenders in 2017 after taking down G.P.S. 25-14 at Sylvan Road. The Bulldogs had trailed 14-3 heading into the final ten minutes but proved it’s not over till the fat puppy sings, piling on 22 unanswered points to the cheers of their big Ladies Day crowd. Wests now sit in fourth, five points clear of Brothers in fifth and have defeated two of the three sides who sit above them – Sunnybank and Jeeps.

Loose Bond

The Gold Coast boys are really struggling this year. After succumbing to Sunnybank at their home ground in Robina, Bond now have just one win and a draw from their nine games. Next weekend presents the perfect opportunity for Bond to notch win number two as they head up the M1 to face Easts who are on a four-game losing streak.

Trotters

Queensland Premier Rugby’s oldest club – G.P.S. – are known as the Gallopers but they aren’t quite living up to that title when it comes to scoring points. While Jeeps are sitting comfortably in second they have struggled to score points in recent weeks. They have averaged just 15 points in their last three outings and although that features two wins, their last outing showed that they can’t rely on defence when the game is there for the taking.

Timid Tigers

Are the stripes falling off the Tigers? They started the season in positive fashion with three wins from their first five games. But they haven’t been on the positive side of a score line since round 6, and are coming off a fourth straight defeat. They have the fight as we saw in the second half against Jeeps two weeks ago and they were in a winning position against the Magpies on the weekend. Poor patches have out-numbered good ones in performances across 80-minutes, but if they can reverse that ledger, the wins will come.

Round 10 Results:

Souths 20 d Easts 15

Wests 25 d GPS 14

UQ 57 d Norths 7

Sunnybank 33 d Bond 19