Sport
14 May, 2026
Bears make it three wins in a row
The Oakey Bears stalled a comeback charge from Brothers on Sunday afternoon at Glenholme Park to claim the Mark Barrett Shield and their third consecutive win, the first time they have achieved this streak in the 2020s.
An early Brothers mistake led to three attacking sets for Oakey.
The Brethren line cracked in the seventh minute after an offload caught the defence short, Joey Alberts the beneficiary out wide.
Brothers hit back to level the scores at 6-6 when Braith Clark burrowed over from dummy half.
Caught in a 2 on 1 shortly after that try, Oakey winger Brendan Saltner stopped another attacking raid by knocking down the last pass.
A six again gave Oakey the territory they needed to re-establish their lead, James Tutuila crashing through in the 26th minute.
Brothers thought they were about to level the scores in the 34th minute, but the kick play was called back for interference.
Oakey hit straight back down the other end where big Sam Mataroa couldn't be stopped on the right edge.
A sideline conversion from Dwayne Duncan made it 18-6 to Oakey at half time.
A bone crunching hit from Richard Murray early in the second half was followed by a dropped Brothers ball.
Dylan Chown pounced on a grubber from the resulting set to open up a 24-6 lead.
Brothers then gave away a penalty for niggle in the ruck which led to another try when some slick passing between halves Dwayne Duncan and Brandon McGrady found Dylan Glenbar on the left wing.
Duncan's kicking from the sideline continued to be spot on, making it 30-6 with just over half an hour to play.
Oakey held up Brothers' Brad Higgins over the line, but couldn't stop prop Ben Arandt from scoring off the next play to make it 30-12.
When Simi Ata touched down from a grubber for Oakey, the Bears had a 34-12 lead with 16 minutes to play.
But, they almost blew it.
Will Marks picked a weak spot in the 69th minute to bring it back to 34-18.
A short time later, a tiring Oakey side was caught offside, leading to a line break and eventually a Dominique Sandow try to cut the margin back to 34-22.
Another Brothers' line break set up a draw and pass to Jacob Mundy on the wing.
Crucially the kick was missed.
When Jackson Shelwell scored again in the 78th minute, Brothers fans were dreaming of a comeback victory to remember.
But, Oakey held strong in the final set, forcing a mistake, and making sure there would be no last ditch defending required.
Oakey 34 (Joey Alberts, James Tutuila, Sam Mataora, Dylan Chown, Dylan Glenbar, Simi Ata tries; Dwayne Duncan 5 goals; Brothers 32 (Braith Clark, Ben Arandt, Will Marks, Dominique Sandow, Jacob Mundy, Jackson Shelswell tries; Curtis Lambert 3, Nick Carrie goals)
WOMEN
Oakey 16 (Emmie Creevey 3, Ruby Wharton tries); Chinchilla 10 (Lacee Luther, Kate Ellem tries; Rosi Likusolei goal)
Oakey's women made the long road trip to Chinchilla and came away with a hard fought win thanks to an Emmie Creevey hat trick.
RESERVE GRADE
Brothers 46 (Shontayne Prince 3, Amdes Saunders 2, Jacob Hiles, Tate Costigan, Sandon Dahlstrom tries; Sandon Dahlstrom 7 goals); Oakey 10 (Jordon Anderson, Alijah Duncan tries; Cruz Williamson goal)
