Crumblin got the home crowd into the match when he crunched Pride winger, Daniel Kepa in a tackle after Kepa picked the ball up in his own in-goal area, beat three defenders and had the chance to run the length of the field to level the match.

The Comets eventually won the match 14-8 despite the Northern side scoring the opening two tries.

The Pride opened up their scoring account just 8 minutes in, after diving on a ball spilt by Comets centre Kurt Mann after winger David Munns threw a risky pass behind his own try line.

They followed up quickly with another try after winger Kepa intercepted a Comets’ pass on the half way line and ran 50 metres to score in the corner.

Both conversions were unsuccessful and by midway through the first half the Comets were trailing 8-0.

The Comets side went close to scoring during the first half but was stopped by some strong defense from the Pride.

Halfback Jack Madden capitalized on a string of penalties late in the half when he stepped back inside some tired defenders to score under the posts.

David Munn’s attempted conversion was successful and at half-time the Comets trailed the Pride 8-6.

Immediately following the break, the Comets took the lead for the first time when winger Denzel Mooney finished off a crisp back line movement by scoring in the left corner.

From there, the Comets defense took over and despite a few attacking raids late in the match the Northern Pride were unable to crack the Central side’s defensive line.

Late in the contest the Comets’ goal-line defense eventually forced an error from the Pride and from the ensuing 20 metre restart some classy work from second rower Alex Choyce put fullback Brett Rediex over to seal the match.

Comets coach Steve Parle knew that getting a win over the Northern Pride was important for the Comets’ chances of making the semi-finals in this year’s Mal Meninga Cup.

“It’s nice to get the four points,” Parle said.

“Tonight was worth double points because we got washed out in Bowen (in Round 1).

“Getting the win tonight sets up our season to do well,” Parle said.

In the under 16 match played earlier, the Comets snatched victory from the Northern Pride late in the match when second rower Corey Oates beat two defenders and scored under the posts.

Oates was the stand out in the 24-18 win, impressing with some bruising defense throughout the match.

Oates showed his versatility moving to the centres early in the game after Nathan Marshall suffered an injury early on.

The Central Comets under 16s and 18s take on the Townsville Stingers this Saturday afternoon at Browne Park.

The Mal Meninga and Cyril Connell Cup games kickoff at 3.30pm and 5pm respectively as the curtain raisers to the Round 1 Queensland Cup clash between the Central Comets and the Mackay Cutters at 7pm.

Cyril Connell Cup

CENTRAL COMETS 24 (Harry Pondekas 2, Luke Guinane, Cory Oates tries; Angus Dorante 3, Cory Oates goals) def NORTHERN PRIDE 18 (Nene MacDonald, Mitchell Grimes, Eddie Daniels, David Waigana tries; Mitchell Grimes goal) at Browne Park. (Double Points)

Mal Meninga Cup

CENTRAL COMETS 14 (Brett Rediex, Denzel Mooney, Jack Madden tries; David Munns goal) def NORTHERN PRIDE 8 (Francis Mosby, Tom Hancock tries) at Browne Park. (Double Points)

CENTRAL COMETS 24 (Harry Pondekas 2, Luke Guinane, Cory Oates tries; Angus Dorante 3, Cory Oates goals) def NORTHERN PRIDE 18 (Nene MacDonald, Mitchell Grimes, Eddie Daniels, David Waigana tries; Mitchell Grimes goal) at Browne Park. (Double Points)

Mal Meninga Cup

CENTRAL COMETS 14 (Brett Rediex, Denzel Mooney, Jack Madden tries; David Munns goal) def NORTHERN PRIDE 8 (Francis Mosby, Tom Hancock tries) at Browne Park. (Double Points)

Team: CENTRAL COMETS
Colours: Blue, Purple
Match: COMETS 18s VS Northern Pride
Venue: Browne Park, Rockhampton
Date: Saturday 6th March Time: 5.00pm
Coach: Steven Parle

1. BRETT REDIEX
2. DAVID MUNNS
3. KANE STEVENS
4. KURT MANN
5. DENZEL MOONEY
6. SAM MADDEN
7. JACK MADDEN
8. STEPHEN COOMBE
9. LUKE CRUMBLIN
10. SAM PIERCE
11. SIMON GREGORY
12. ALEX CHOYCE
13. DANIEL BERTUCCI
14. JEREMY OSBOURNE
15. ANTHONY MATAELE
16. DYLAN TIAAALEAIFE
17. GRANT RODGERS

Team: CENTRAL COMETS
Colours: Blue, Purple
Match: COMETS 16s VS Northern Pride
Venue: Browne Park, Rockhampton
Date: Saturday 6th March Time: 3.30pm
Coach: Graeme Middlebrook

1. Connor Broadhurst
2. Nat Taber
3. Nathan Webster
4. Nathan Marshall
5. Brendon Ingrey
6. Luke Guinane
7. Hayden Caughey
8. Talliee Nomoa
9. Dan Clarke
10. Thorne Johnson
11. Corey Oates
12. Harry Pondekas
13. Jack Rycen
14. Angus Dorante
15. Tom Dahl
16. Lucas Hetherington
17. Masi Nona
18. Casey Bell
    (One to be ommitted)

Last year produced a 26 all draw and those on had left satisfied and enthusiastic about the season ahead. This one proves to be an even bigger blockbuster with the Titans committing more NRL players to travel north before the NRL season. Be sure to purchase your reserved ticketing through the Pilbeam to avoid disappointment as well as enjoy discounted tickets pre game. Tickets for this one go on sale from January 18 and close February 27 at Midday.

Reigning NRL Premiers the Melbourne Storm will journey north to Rockhampton this February to play another NRL heavyweight in the Brisbane Broncos live at Browne Park kick off at 8pm. Be on hand to witness some of the best players in the world go head to head in this fully sanctioned NRL trial. Be quick to purchase your Reserved Grandstand tickets through the Pilbeam Theatre to avoid missing out and save on the purchase price. Our own CQ Comets will do battle with the Mackay Cutters in the curtain raiser to the biggest game of rugby league in the beef capital in 10 years. Tickets go on sale January 18 and close on Saturday the 13^th of February at Midday.

 It just shows what semi final football can bring to a club and to the individual. We played close to one of our best games all season with players lifting performances. The clubs off field preparations also lifting to new levels, with a big screen, smoke machines and cheerleaders all making for an enjoyable night.

 The Comets only played the Sunny Coast team 3 weeks ago and got beaten 46-0 which was our worst defeat for 2009, in that we had 5 players with the swine flu and few more with flu symptoms. Reading into that game would have been a huge mistake for the sunny fans. The Saturday night game was very typical of a semi final in that the first half was a close affair with us going into the sheds 14-10 down. Coming out in the second stanza we knew we had to lift our game to another level, which the boys rallied and came home with the goods.  The last 10 mins the sunny side put five back-to-back sets on us and our defence held strong.

 Special mentions to our forward pack they really worked there asses off in defence and kept showing up in attack. We have Alan Rothery on report and Ian with a reoccurrence of his ankle so we will be awaiting both results.

 A massive thank you to our CQ fans that turned up on Saturday night to support our boys, all they could talk about was how good the crowd was.

 We play the Northern Pride in Brisbane On abc TV at 2pm at Kougari oval, if your in Brisbane get out and support us if not watch abc TV.

The Comets were tarred with the easy beat brush by many, only to silence the knockers in fine fashion in front of a packed house. The game would be a first for both sides with the home side and travelling Eagles in unfamiliar territory, semi finals football. You could say a win would spell the drought was over in the centre of the state, with the Comets long climb to the top finally starting to show promise. Both sides were keen to get into the grind early and possession was of utmost importance resulting with completions high in the early exchanges. The Comets were looking for some big guns to fire and it would be last year’s Competition best and fairest Nat Bowman who grabbed the bit by the teeth. Some clever lead up work by Ian Webster saw the livewire get some clean ball before stepping off his right and palming a scrambling defender off on his way to the white stripe. The try was unsuccessfully converted and the score read 4 nil after 20 minutes. From there the Eagles posted a try through the boot of Hodkinson and the scores were deadlocked. The Eagles had chances to score but to no avail and the Comets used what possession they had to score close to the break and convert. Then through another kick the visitors out jumped the Comets defenders and locked scores 5 minutes from the break. The Eagles got lucky on some calls and with a mount of possession scored again on the half time siren to lead 14 – 10.

The second half was of the highest standard and both teams tried desperately to get the upper hand. Then with the support of their home crowd the Comets scored out wide through back rower Alan ‘Kojak’’ Rothery to level proceedings. With 10 to go and numerous close calls for either side, the Comets broke out of the gate in the form of a runaway bull, big Carl Johnson split the defence on his way to the match winning try. The victory was sealed by comeback kid Nat bowman with a last minute field goal and the fairytale ride for the Comets continues to march on. With special mention usually going to a select few players this week has to go to the playing group as a whole for their attitude change and belief in each other. The win sets up a grand final qualifying showdown with the high flying Northern Pride who will look to overcome last year’s near miss against the magpies. We would like to make special mention to our Gold sponsor for 2009, PCD Steel Processing Qld’s leading Steel Processor and supplier.

The squad, although tired bruised and sore still got to bellow out our team song with another victory all be it ugly but still did our job of bringing home the points that matter. Injuries were probably the only other bugbear for me. Marc Fickling came from the field with his ankle playing up, Mick Esdale also re-injuring his foot and Gerard Parle with a groin strain, which he carried in from the warm up. We will be monitoring these blokes this week to see whether they’re available for the clash against fourth placed Sunny Coast.