By Kirra Livingstone
BRAVE, bold and bullish… record-making… They are just some of the words you could use to describe this year’s Beerwah Bulldogs A Grade side, who have taken out the 2023 grand final title against the Kawana Dolphins 10-12.
This is the first time an A Grade team has won every game in a season and is the first grand final the Beerwah Bulldogs A Grade men has won in its 44-year history.
It was a tough brawl from start to finish, and Beerwah’s centre, Samuel Humphreys, scored the first try in the left corner, just three minutes into the game.
Kawana then held the majority of the possession for the rest of the half, however could not score due to the Bulldog’s impeccable defence.
Three fights broke out during the first half, with the final one following a late hit on Beerwah’s halfback, Mathew Kidd.
Kidd explained what happened after the game.
“I hurt my back, I just turned into the line and he hit me in the back and it made a weird noise, there’s some pain in there at the moment but it’s over now so that’s alright,” he said.
The score was 6-0 heading into the second half, and after relentless defence from the Bulldogs, Kawana finally got a try in the 58th minute, putting them back into the game, however, missed the conversion.
This prompted the Doggies to score another try on the right edge in the 62nd minute by winger Samuel Fullerton, which took the score to 10-4 after an unsuccessful conversion.
With eight minutes left of the game, a Kawana player was sent to the sin bin, allowing Beerwah to kick a successful penalty goal, seemingly sealing Kawana’s fate.
Despite this, the Dolphins scored a successful penalty goal two minutes later, bringing the score to 12-6, bringing them back into the game.
Kawana then broke through the Bulldog’s strong defence despite being down one player, and scored a try in the dying seconds of the game.
The pressure was on for Kawana to convert this final try to level the score, sending the grand final to golden point.
Every Beerwah Bulldogs player, fan and volunteer were on the edge of their seats as they watched the Dolphins fail to convert their try on fulltime.
The crowd and entire squad then erupted in pure joy and excitement, with Beerwah’s captain Daniel Kidd being dived on by other teammates on the sideline.
Bulldogs president, Ref Hammill, was speechless and brought to tears as he realised the A Grade men had won their first Sunshine Coast grand final.
The Senior Vice President, Ray Ballantyne, expressed how proud he was of not just the team, but the whole club.
“That game, just the fight that they put in, and how hard they worked and how hard they’ve worked all season, that showed,” he said.
“The drive and determination that we still kept holding it together as a team, that shows what the club is all about and what we’ve done all year to really get where we need to be to bring the trophy home tonight, that’s a fantastic effort.
“I’m too proud, unbelievably proud of all the work of the whole squad, the club, everyone who has pitched in this year and what they’ve done has been a phenomenal effort.”
Matthew, who is also the team captain Daniel Kidd’s brother, said how happy he was to finally win a premiership for his brother, as Daniel has been at the club during hard times.
“I’ve always just wanted to win one for him, he’s been here through the tough times and he was there when Bulldogs were getting flogged,” he said.
“It was hard to watch when I was young and now I’m a bit older and I get to help him out a little bit, I’m stoked that he got to win one and I’m so happy for him.”
Congratulations to the Beerwah Bulldogs on their history-making year!
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