Courtesy of the Daily Mercury
THE Mackay Cutters are nursing their wounds after losing a battle of attrition at Dolphin Oval on Saturday.
The troops are sporting a grave injury toll after succumbing 22-12 to a physical Redcliffe outfit which joins Mackay in the Queensland Cup top four.
Dean Tass will have surgery in Brisbane this week after sustaining fractures to both sides of his jaw and a suspected fracture to his eye socket.
The swift three-quarter was playing his first match of the season in Cutters’ colours when he was jarred while attempting to make a tackle on the try-line.
Among the Cutters’ casualties are back-rower Mitchell Achurch (shoulder) centre Royston Lightning (suspected broken finger) and winger Anthony Perkins (concussion).
The trio bravely battled their way through the game and will be assessed during the week.
"At one stage we were looking at playing with 14 men ...we are walking wounded," STM Cutters operations manager Jamie McDonald said.
"It was a heavy track and we were still struggling to get over the game last week. I think the two games have taken their toll."
The visitors were left lamenting a host of opportunities, most notably when Daniel Abraham failed to ground the ball after crossing out wide.
The burly second-rower attempted to improve his position only to be stunned by Redcliffe’s Liam Georgetown who knocked the ball from his grasp.
"I don’t want to dwell on it but if Abraham scores that try it would have been 16-16 with minutes to go," McDonald said.
"In saying that, there were three or four other chances for us to win that match."
Georgetown’s effort pushed the ball back into the field of play but the officials disallowed a try despite Grant Rovelli’s touch on the loose ball.
"I think the referee might have rushed his decision a bit," McDonald said.
"It’s probably something we’ll take up with the referees’ director but at the end of the day it doesn’t change the score and to be honest there were plenty of other opportunities."
Indeed, the Cutters missed a golden opening in the first half when fleet-footed fullback Chance Bunce was bundled over the sideline by Georgetown.
The Cutters were first to score when Jardine Bobongie’s desperate lunge was rewarded following a pass from Abraham.
Alwyn Simpson got one back for the hosts before Craig Priestly put them ahead 10-6 at the break.
Bobongie was then shrugged aside by Chris Fox, who sent Mitch Rivett to the line.
But Lightning, who looked threatening all game, bridged the gap to 16-12 by sliding over from dummy-half.
The Dolphins held on to win despite the contentious sin-binning of prop James Crombie for repeated incidents, rubbing salt into the Cutters’ wounds with another dummy-half try, this time by Tom Butterfield.
Highly-charged Cutters prop Josh Rovelli was placed on report for hands around the head while brother Grant failed to find his best form at five-eighth.
The Cutters will collide with Norths in Mackay on Saturday.
Redcliffe Dolphins 22 (Tries: Mitch Rivett, Alwyn Simpson, Tom Butterfield, Craig Priestly; goals: Liam Georgetown 3) def Mackay Cutters 12 (Tries: Royston Lightning, Jardine Bobongie; goals: Daniel Abraham 2) at Dolphin Oval.
© Mackay Cutters 2010. All rights reserved.
Website by
