Milburn excited at finals chance

Brothers’ Corey Milburn will be hoping to make a big impact in tomorrow’s A-grade grand final.

Chris Ison

NERVES are starting to set in on the eve of the Rockhampton rugby league grand final.

Tomorrow afternoon, Brothers front-rower Corey Milburn will be playing in his first A-grade grand final and while nervous, he is excited about the challenge of coming up against the competition’s minor premiers, Yeppoon Seagulls.

The youngster is in his first full season of A-grade rugby league and is loving it after featuring in just a handful of top-grade fixtures in the local competition last year.

Milburn has been a part of the Central Queensland Comets development program and is hoping tomorrow’s performance can help him secure a spot in the top squad for next season.

Despite being in the starting side for most of the season, the 20-year-old will be entering the match off the interchange bench after making way for Comets front-rower George Tuakura.

Rather than seeing it as a demotion, Milburn reckons Tuakura’s inclusion in the side is a real boost for his own game.

“We all look to his leadership on the field,” said Milburn.

“He’s been going really well for us.”

Coming off a good, solid week at training, the Brethren are hoping they can repeat the performance in the last 20 minutes of their match against Yeppoon in which they got on top of the minor premier.

Brothers captain Tom Simpson has returned to the side but Milburn believes his team is more confident when the crafty dummy half is playing.

“When we’ve got the footy, he’s the leader out there,” Milburn said.

“He’s in a crucial position and he’s been playing in the side for the last few years, so he knows what to expect when it comes to grand finals.”

Yeppoon has lost once in the local league competition and that was against Brothers, however, in their last encounter the Seagulls were too strong for the Brethren, scoring seven tries to five in their 36-26 win in the first semi-final.

Milburn will be hoping his side can turn that result around this weekend.

In the reserve grade competition, the CQU Norths Chargers will be confident after having the weekend off following their 34-22 win over Yeppoon Seagulls in the first semi-final.

The Chargers will need to contend with the Conway brothers who have helped Brothers rack up some big scores in recent weeks.

Grand finals

Tomorrow’s matches at Rockhampton’s Browne Park

Reserve Grade: Rockhampton Brothers vs CQU Norths Chargers 11.30am

Under-20s: Rockhampton Brothers vs CQU Norths Chargers 1.15pm

A-Grade: Yeppoon Seagulls vs Rockhampton Brothers 3pm

Grand final teams

Under-20s

Rockhampton Brothers: 1 Anthony Raymond, 2 Pat Hoare, 3 Kayan Davis, 4 Ryan Beatson, 5 Ossie Mi Mi, 6 Zac Moss, 7 Jacob Langdon, 8 Brad Bryant, 9 Ian Bowie, 10 Ben Fleming, 11 Adam Whelow, 12 Ashley Pickersgill, 13 Mitch Collins, 14 Lionel Williams, 15 Mick Boulter, 16 Wally Saunders, 17 T J Ross Miller, 18 Joel Russell, 19 Scott Sears. Coach: Shane Robinson

CQU Norths Chargers: 1 Jaymzhi White, 2 Gavin Duncan, 3 Brodie McLean, 4 Dale Stevens, 5 Alan Cleland, 6 Caleb Littleboy, 7 Ryan Fraser, 8 Simon Gregory, 9 Chris Saunders, 10 Tyrone Kemp, 11 Ty Hetherington, 12 Luke Atkinson, 13 Shaun Kane, 14 Michael Hansen, 15 Kalen Barrett, 16 James Dale, 17 Clay Scott, 18 Daniel Nancarrow, 19 Ricky Conrad. Coach: Lionel Harbin 

Reserve Grade

CQU Norths Chargers: 1 Neville Blake, 2 Rob Spence, 3 Randall Smith, 4 David Hatfield, 5 Josh Doyle, 6 Ricky Fuller, 7 Justin Peacock, 8 Ben Ardley, 9 David Doyle, 10 Keiran Savage, 11 Brad Parker, 12 Lloyd Savage, 13 Adam Connor, 14 Lee Bob, 15 Josh Kemp, 16 Joel Morgan, 17 Darran Ferricks, 18 Matthew Pope, 19 Jason Heke. Coach: Mark Kennedy

Rockhampton Brothers: 1 Darryl Hurley, 2 Darren Masters, 3 Damien Siebold, 4 Casey Conway, 5 James Bailey, 6 Chris Conway, 7 Brenton Whittaker, 8 Damien Kenny, 9 Daniel Chapman, 10 Luke Mauger, 11 Sam Williams, 12 Rob Palmer, 13 Blake Perkins, 14 Evan White, 15 Ken Oakley, 16 Sam McCoombes, 17 Charlie Russell, 18 Michael Thaiday, 19 Patrick Busby, 20 Anthony Munns (one to be omitted). Coach: Scott Munns 

A-Grade

Yeppoon Seagulls: 1 Nick Deaves, 2 Corey Randall, 3 Matthew Oates, 4 Matthew Bromley, 5 Sailosi Vatubua, 6 Cheyenne Motu, 7 Brendan Harms, 8 Tim Harlow, 9 Luke Crumblin, 10 Dave McLellan, 11 Lewis McPhail, 12 Sam Creedon, 13 Gavin Hiscox, 14 John Bidgood, 15 Chris Littleboy, 16 Steve Nelson, 17 Mitch Hansen, 18 Sam Madden, 19 James Munns (two to be omitted). Coach: John Harbin 

Rockhampton Brothers: 1 Reece Baker, 2 David Munns, 3 Sam Granville, 4 Paul Oram, 5 Tim Hain, 6 Gavin Duffy, 7 Ben Matheson, 8 Mitch Ireland, 9 Tom Simpson, 10 George Tuakura, 11 Dan Williams, 12 Reece Giles, 13, Kam Wilkinson, 14 Ty McMillan, 15 Justin Wills, 16 Cory Milburn, 17 Mitch Heath. Coach: John Jenkins