A determined second half has seen the Norths Devils wrestle back the NRL State Championship with a gutsy 20-18 win over the Newtown Jets to kickstart NRL Grand Final Day.
The Devils opened the scoring inside the first six minutes of play. Jeremiah Simbiken looked the most likely for the Devils in the first half and he was rewarded when he crossed to put the Devils ahead by six. Newtown woke up ten minutes later as the Jets scored a scintilating try. A strong kick return from Liam Ison got the ball in Norths territory before several sets of hands got involved as Sam Stonestreet reached out to score a sensational team try to level the scores.
Puru nailed a 40/20 and it looked like momentum would be flipped on it's head. A great ball from Jayden Berrell put Braden Hamlin-Uele away who was able to get a flick pass away, yes a front rower with a flick pass. Puru picked it up and scored for the Jets. Stonestreet picked up a vital try with nine to play before half-time after Norths made several key mistakes. Puru created the extra man, Chris Vae'ila drew in the defence and passed the footy to Stonestreet for his second try.
Norths were able to stay in the contest late as Newtown were placing themselves under pressure with elementary errors coming out of their own end. The Devils capitalised as Oryn Keeley delivered a magical offload to Jordan Lipp who scored a vital try in the shadows of half-time. It was anyone's game with goal-kicking proving to look the difference.
The Jets quickly added a try as Stonestreet rounded out his hattrick. Briliant hands down the right edge saw Ison link up with Stonestreet to get try number three. With 25 to go, Keeley was able to capitalise on the space provided, he had plenty of work to do to beat the sliding Newtown defence which he nearly bombed himself. Keeley had numbers and was seemingly stuck in quick sand before beating the defence to score and make it a two point game.
It was a tense final quarter, both sides had a plethora of errors. This meant attacking opportunities were sparingly utilised in the first half. Some contentious refereeing decisions gave the Devils field position and the QLD Cup premiers capitalised to seal the game. Jack Wright came through in the clutch with a lovely pass to Keeley and he charges across the line to give Norths a two point lead. Despite some desperate Jets attack, it wasn't to be as Norths become the first QLD Cup side to win the State Championship since the Ipswich Jets in 2015.