THE Wanderers Devils are through to the Lewie Fire Mount Isa Rugby League grand final after comfortably holding off Town Lions 36-10 on Saturday afternoon.
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The minor premiers secured a grand final berth in slick fashion with a 26-point win while Town will meet a red-hot Normanton Stingers in the preliminary final in a fortnight.
The Devils got off to a flyer with halfback Ryan Cassady and captain Corey Carlson bagging a try each in the first 15 minutes.
Off the restarting kick-off, Town booted the ball dead giving Wanderers a penalty on the halfway line with another full set of six tackles up their sleeve.
Hooker Brenton Stonier made the Lions pay for their carelessness scoring from close range at dummy half in the next set to stretch the lead out to 14-0.
A string of errors from Town gave what seemed like endless ball possession to Wanderers, who took full advantage with another try.
Second-rower Adam Kleier went over for his first try of the afternoon after charging over the Lions defence from 10 metres out, juggling and regathering the ball in the process.
Town halfback Marty Paulson provided his side’s best chance of points so far with a line break getting the Lions closer to the Wanderers in-goal area.
But the Devils defence line wasn’t to be breached until it was too late in the second half with Vilikesa Savuro and James Maher going over to make the score 24-10 with just over 20 minutes remaining.
A second try each to Stonier and Kleier along with an individual try to Anton Saltmere locked up victory for Wanderers, who now have a three-week wait until the MIRL decider.
Wanderers captain Corey Carlson said fellow second-rower Mark Bull was a standout in the team’s compact defensive line that made the difference.
“Our defence won it for us,” Carlson said.
“I think everyone turned up today and did the little things right. We have been talking about it all week and that’s pretty much what we did.”
WANDERERS DEVILS 36: Adam Kleier – 2 tries, Brenton Stonier – 2 tries, Corey Carlson – 1 try, Ryan Cassady – 1 try, Anton Saltmere – 1 try, 3 goals, Cody Saltmere – 1 goal.
TOWN LIONS 10: James Maher – 1 try, Vilikesa Savuro – 1 try, Marty Paulson – 1 goal.