Chris Binge delivers on a promise
“Give me the job for three years and I’ll give you a grand final within three years.”
That was the promise Chris Binge, pictured, made to the Ballina Seagulls Rugby League Club when he applied for the first grade coaching position in 2005.
This Sunday Binge will deliver on that promise when the Seagulls take on minor premiers Mullumbimby Giants in the Retravision Northern League grand final at Kingsford Smith Park, Ballina.
And Binge is confident the Seagulls can give the former Ballina forward his first grand final victory as a coach.
“Our home record is excellent. We’re unbeaten (at Kingsford Smith Park),” Binge said.
And he says that all players are fit, and the team could even be boosted by the return from injury of lock Alwyn Roberts and fullback Justin Carter.
Ballina finished the minor premiership rounds in third place. Their semi-final hopes were jolted by a 44-14 thrashing by Mullumbimby in the final rounds.
But the Seagulls regrouped and beat Tweed Coast Raiders in their first finals match, before stunning Mullumbimby and snatching the right to host the grand final with a thrilling 31-24 win over the Giants in the major semi-final at Mullum.
Binge credits that big loss to the Giants as providing the wake-up call the Seagulls needed after leading the competition for most of the season but falling to third in the final rounds.
“They touched us up, but it was the loss we had to have,” he said.
“We learnt a helluva lot as a team from that loss.”
The Giants signalled they were still up for a fight with a hard-fought 8-0 win over the in-form Marist Brothers in last Sunday’s preliminary final. It was a match many were tipping Brothers would win.
Binge watched the final — which was played after a week of constant rain — and described it as a ’slug-fest’ where opportunities were limited.
But he also was left with the impression that both Brothers and Mullum didn’t take their chances when they did come.
The Seagulls’ line-up on Sunday will be a youthful one, as it has been all season.
Wingers Lachlan Flannery and Matt Gibson, centre Luke Bartlett and hooker Andrew Battese are still eligible for Under-18s.
The experience comes from halfback Willie Hammond (30), forward Paul King (29) and props Grant Clements (25) and Dylan Montgomery (24). The remaining players are all under 21, Binge says.
The coach credits Ballina’s successful junior development program as the key to the club’s success (see our story below on Saturday’s junior finals, in which the Seagulls have six teams contesting the seven deciders).
Binge also says the efforts of assistant coach Brian Battese and conditioner Chris Kinna have been vital to the Seagulls’ success.
In another boost for the club, Ballina’s reserve graders will take on Murwillumbah Mustangs in the reserve grade grand final.
Although the Under-18s missed out on making it a treble for Ballina, Seagulls football manager Brad Mansfield was high in his praise for them and their coach Greg Barnes.
He says they probably would have made the grand final if they had their full complement of eligible players who are in the first grade team.
“You have to take your hat off to them,” he said.
The Under-18 grand final on Sunday is between Marist Brothers and Mullumbimby, and it could be a cracker — the teams met in the major semi-final and Brothers won it with an extra-time field goal.
Gates open at 9.30am. Under-18s kick off at 11am, reserves at 12.45 and first grade at 2.45.
Ballina first grade possible team: Fullback, Jamie Quinn; wingers, Lachlan Flannery, Matt Gibson; centres, Brenton Cochrane, Luke Bartlett; five-eighth, Ben Crawford; halfback, Willie Hammond; props, Dylan Montgomery, Grant Clements; hooker, Andrew Battese; second-row, Ed Killingbeck, Dan O’Connor; lock, Dane Paczkowski. Reserves: Alwyn Roberts, Justin Carter, Ryan Paczkowski, Paul King, Kane Montgomery.
Reserve grade: Fullback, Des Anderson; wingers, Anthony Perry, Brad Newby; centres, Willo James, Shane O’Connor; five-eighth, Justin Bolt; halfback, Stuart Cohen; props, Chris Coleman, Steve Kelly; hooker, Paul Tagget (captain-coach); second-row, Dean French, Mick Foster; lock, Tyler Iverson. Reserves: Les Roberts, Martin Gordon, Max Beecher, Ryan Lindsay, Shaun Semple, Matt Hundy.
