By Tim Mosey; Photo: QRU Media – Brendan Hertel

Round 9 results: Souths 5-0 UQ; GPS 38-14 Easts; Bond 41-7 Norths; Wests 34-31 Brothers.

Ladies Day Curse?

Ladies Day was held at University and Brothers on Saturday but both home teams though were on the losing side of the scorecard.

Was it the Curse of Ladies Day?

Were both home sides more focused on the sideline activities and aftermath to come or did both the visiting teams in Souths and Wests spoil the party?

The contrast was apparent between both games. It was points a plenty for both Wests and Brothers at Crosby Park, whilst over at Sir Fred Schonell Drive a late Eto Nabuli try was the only scoring play in the UQ vs Souths affair.

Both rain soaked venues seemed uninviting for spectators, particularly at Brothers where the marquee at the northern end of the ground looked to be particularly wet.

Perhaps the bachelor auction held in the Red Heavies clubhouse post match gave players and spectators some enjoyment after a rainy afternoon.

Bond Enjoy Home

41 unanswered points.

Bond were clinical in their dissection of Norths at Varsity Lakes on Saturday. No Mitch Third for Bond, but they had a handy replacement in former Sunnybank 200-point-season flyhalf Dion Taumata.

The QLD Country representative from 2015 is a steadying hand on the Gold Coast and Director of Rugby Sean Hedger will sleep easy, knowing he’s got plenty of depth in the halves.

If pressed with further injuries he may even be able to call upon backs coach and former Western Force utility Scott Daruda to dust off the boots.

Depth Tested Across Clubs

A keen eye would note the number of changes in pivotal positions to losing teams over the weekend.

No Scott Gale or Tate McDermott for UQ at 9.

No Nick Chapman at the base of the scrum for Norths either.

Easts missed their tireless hooker Andrew Ready to Reds duties.

And Brothers would have loved the calming influence of either Pat James or Dallan Murphy in their halves against Wests.

When one player doesn’t play, the opportunity does open up for another and younger players in second grade or on the bench will relish their chance in first grade when it comes.

Hopefully they can learn from their side’s losses, and atone next week.

Pook-A-Boo

Three matches of the round in a row and all three have seen young referee Aaron Pook blowing the whistle.

What is the man doing right?

The Nic Berry lookalike with the short back and sides haircut, No.9 like stature and chiseled features seems to be the man-of-the-moment in the officiating world.

Keep it up Scotty Young (referees boss)! Give that man some more time in the middle!

From the sidelines the “fresh-on-the-scenes” ref seems to be doing a good job. Understated, in the background, Pook looks to have settled well into the QLD Premier Rugby landscape.

With ex-players, now referees, Berry and Damon Murphy regularly away on international or Super Rugby duty, the QLD comp can only benefit with younger whistle-blowers such as Pook making the transition into first grade.

Who remembers the good old days when Patty Rae, Simon Moore, Alistair Mould, Andrew Cole, Paul Marks and Young graced the first grade fields of Brisbane?

What fun times they were!

Halfway already!

Time flies when you’re having fun and that seems to be the case in Brisbane club rugby circles this year as we’ve already hit the midpoint of the season.

After nine rounds, just one bonus point win separates competition leaders Souths and fourth placed Easts.

The remaining five sides outside of the top four are all still within striking range but they’ll need to improve quickly to challenge the talent up top.

There is still a lot of footy to be played between now and finals and plenty of time for teams to move up or down the ladder.

All nine sides are still alive in 2018!

Keep an eye out for our mid season report later this week.