Sullivan Eyes Thirroul & Milestone
Friday 12th August, 2005

The last time Port Kembla and Thirroul met, Jason Sullivan watched from the sidelines with an arm injury. This time around, he'll be in the thick of the action out in the middle, playing his 50th First Grade game for The Blacks.

The spoils have been evenly shared this season between the two teams. Port Kembla came out in Round 1 and stamped themselves as title contenders with what many thought was an unlikely win against last season's runners up. The Black's season from then on had highs and lows with no real consistency. Until the last week that is. A round 16 thrashing of Helensburgh was followed up by an important final round win against Dapto to force a three way play-off for fourth spot.

The Blacks then did the unlikely by getting over the top of Corrimal, then hammering Dapto (their third game in five days) to earn the right to face off with The Butchers for a place in the Preliminary final against the loser of the Collegians - Wests Major Semi-Final.

Thirroul started the season with one win from just five games before they turned their season around with some crucial wins. Perhaps their most important was a round nine defeat of the then undefeated competition leaders, Collegians.

Thirroul last played Port on June 12, a round ten fixture at Gibson Park. As ironic as it was, Thirroul downed Port by the same scoreline they lost to their opponents by in the first game of the season (24-18). In that game at Gibson Park, it took Thirroul a come from behind victory and a 75th minute try to grab the win. The game was of high quality, as are most of these Port-Thirroul fixtures.

If we compare the two sides line ups from June 12 to their most recent, we find a few significant changes. Thirroul's latest team which faced Collegians were without June 12 players in Todd Grose, Andrew Hart, Paul Crawford, Brad Smith and Brett Pincham. Their places were taken by Jade Air, Paul Air, Matt Prior, Hew Phillips, Lewis McPhail and Ty MCarthy.

The Blacks had Troy Fleming, Stuart Philpott, Lincoln Hutchison, Michael Yatras and Daniel Bunt for their last game against the Butchers. All of these players were missing when they belted Dapto at WIN Stadium on Thursday night, but they have lost nothing with their replacements.

Jason Sullivan occupied the wing position, while Nathan Heffernan filled in for Stuart Philpott (who played of the bench). Matthew Michalowski (who played fullback against Thirroul), started on the bench against Dapto with Keith Lulia having a blinder at fullback. In the forwards, the loss of Lincoln Hutchison saw Luke Roberts elevated into the starting line up, his place on the bench taken by super sub Chris Dove. Perhaps the most notable inclusion since their last meeting will be Nick Nikitaras in the pack. Josh Edwards has ably filled the hooking position to accommodate Nikitaras in the backrow.

Games between these two teams are traditionally hard fought and close, and the Minor Semi Final promises to deliver more of the same. The key could come in the final 20 minutes of the match, with Port's legs perhaps tiring from their gruelling schedule of the past week. However, the Black's players know what lies ahead of them and are all up for the challenge. It's finals football, and anything can happen.

One thing is for sure, and that is that both clubs will have ample support in the stands and on the hill, barracking on for their respective team to come away with the "W", and in doing so earning the right to sit back and wait for their next opponents.