The Quarter Finals of the Pre-Season Trophy has seen two of the top four seeds defeated.
The Sunshine Coast accounted for Sydney 13 points to 11 in a close match in which Sydney had three prior match points.
The match drew a huge crowd that included NSW Premier Kirstina Kinnensburg, who was visibly sobbing after Sydney went down.
However the coup of the round belonged to 2009 Challenger League Premiers Newcastle, who accounted for last year's First Division runners-up Brisbane, denying them a potential rematch with Melbourne in the Final. This is clearly frustrating for a Brisbane side who were clear favourites in 2009 but fell at the final hurdle.
Melbourne and Perth both survived, comfortably defeating Gold Coast-Tweed and Illawarra respectively.
Melbourne and Newcastle will now play home Semi-Finals and seem the favourites to meet in the Final. The sides met in a friendly match in late 2009, a match instigated by Premiers Melbourne as a reward to Newcastle for winning the Challenger Cup, with Melbourne winning 21-16 in a light-hearted encounter with both sides entertaining the crowd with various zany antics.
It is unlikely a Pre-Season Trophy Final encounter would be so warm and friendly.
QUARTER FINAL RESULTS:
Q1: Melbourne 11 d Gold Coast-Tweed 8 (at Melbourne)
Q2: Perth 11 d Illawarra 7 (at Perth)
Q3: Newcastle 12 d Brisbane 10 (at Brisbane)
Q4: Sunshine Coast 13 d Sydney 11 (at Sydney)
SEMI FINAL DRAW:
S1: Melbourne v Perth (at Melbourne)
S2: Newcastle v Sunshine Coast (at Newcastle)
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3 comments:
What happened to NZ teams?
Both lost at home in the Preliminary Round. Very poor performances across the Tasman...
Gold Coast-Tweed 11 d South New Zealand 5 (at Christchurch)
Sunshine Coast 11 d North New Zealand 8 (at Auckland)
Remember North New Zealand captain Solomono Vave was late 'cause his brother was caught with excess pippies from the Bay of Plenty?
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