The SP PNG Hunters and Sunshine Coast Falcons fought it out in picturesque conditions at Sunshine Coast Stadium on Sunday, with the home side coming out on top 44-6 winners. From the opening set it was clear this was going to be a physical contest. Hunters’ forward Sylvester Namo came off the back fence from the kick-off and launched himself into a wall of Sunshine Coast defenders, leaving multiple bodies in his wake including Falcons’ prop Max Bailey who was forced from the field. With the tone set, both sides got to work as the Sunshine Coast locals watched on. Both sides had early scoring opportunities following the fiery start but neither was able to convert those chances into points. The Falcons forced a drop-out with a smart grubber down their left edge but couldn’t score in the repeat set, and then the Hunters earned attacking field position themselves but were barreled into touch when searching down a short side on Sunshine Coast’s line. The Falcons’ swiftly turned defense into offence. Three quick hit-ups through the middle earned a six again and before they knew it the home side was attacking the Hunters line courtesy of a linebreak from Luke Polselli. From the ensuing play-the-ball, the Falcons swung it right to Jack Howarth who crashed over to open the scoring with a big right foot step. There was a little more luck involved in the home side’s next points when an early exit kick found the grass and took a wicked bounce, beating Hunters’ fullback Tyler Han and landing straight in the lap of Sualauvi Faalogo to score under the posts.