Lions rookie Claye Beams earned glowing praise for his State debut for Queensland in the interstate game against Tasmania at the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Beams handled himself with aplomb, despite being the youngest player on the ground at 18.

Such was the coaching staff’s confidence in Beams that he was instructed to run with Tasmania’s prime midfielder Cameron Thurley in the second quarter, and Beams rendered him ineffective.

Thurley, the former North Melbourne and Geelong midfielder-forward, cut up Queensland last year but it was a different story at Southport as the speedy Maroons ran rampant with a 23.26 (164) to 13.7 (85) victory.

“Blokes like Claye Beams were super,” said Queensland coach Jason Cotter.

“We picked the right side, blokes who wanted to play for the jumper, and the results speak for themselves.”

Beams was the only Lions Reserves player in the side following an untimely groin injury to ruckman Broc McCauley, although former Lions Daniel Dzufer and Scott Clouston both played valuable roles.

Dzufer was lively across half-forward and finished with two goals while Clouston pinch-hit in the ruck and at centre-half-forward and kept presenting himself.

“Right down to No.23, we didn’t have a bad player,” Cotter said.

The score was Queensland’s biggest ever against the Tasmanians, while the 79-point margin was second only to a 96-point demolition at Mayne’s old home ground Windsor Park in 1985.

The lightning-fast Queenslanders played an irresistible brand of football.

The Maroons absorbed plenty of early pressure from the Apple Islanders before breaking the game open with a six-goal-to-one second term.

Victory was built around a dynamic midfield led by Paul Shelton, key forward targets Cleve Hughes and Cameron Maclaren, and a dashing half-back line.

The game was played at breakneck speed for the first three quarters and featured a series of spectacular high marks, with Maclaren, Hughes and Aaron Rogers all leaping high into the sky.

Hughes booted three goals in the opening term, an effort matched by Tasmanian full-forward Ben Reynolds, but the opportunities dried up for the visitors after that.

Austin Lucy started on Reynolds but moved to a half-back flank with devastating effect, creating a number of goals with his run and overlap alongside Danny Wise and Damien Bonney.

Shelton’s footpassing to the advantage of his teammates was outstanding and Hughes was unstoppable, having five goals to halftime and finishing with seven for the day.

Queensland’s greatest strength was their depth of running power - Grogan Medallist Matthew Payne would leave the field and he would be replaced by another Grogan winner in Todd Featherstone.

Nathan Gilliland, Cameron Ilett, Darren Pfeiffer and Beams overwhelmed the opposition as the Tasmanians failed to maintain the frenetic early pace that saw them kick three of the first four goals of the game.

Lone ruckman Kenrick Tyrrell did an outstanding job, winning the majority of the ruck knocks and providing an armchair ride to the midfielders.

Every time Tasmania tried to mount a charge at the home side, they were thwarted by a committed Queensland defence that saw Rogers lock-down on the dangerous Reynolds and provide a springboard back into attack.

The Maroons could have kicked 30 goals in the interstate arena for the first time had their radar not gone amiss, spraying 4.10 in the last term.

Maclaren finished with 2.4 although his contribution was far greater than his scoresheet suggests, and slipper small forward James Charlesworth contributed five goals, four in the second half.

Beams will go head-to-head against many of his teammates from last weekend when the Lions Reserves host Southport at Coorparoo on Saturday when the QAFL competition resumes.

The Lions sit in fourth position, one game ahead of a big number of teams hunting a finals berth.

SCOREBOARD

Queensland  5.5    11.11  19.16    23.26 (164)
Tasmania      5.3    6.5      10.7     13.7 (85)
 
GOALS - Queensland: C. Hughes 7, J. Charlesworth 5, M. Payne 3, N. Gilliland 3, D. Dzufer 2, C. MacLaren 2,D. Pfeiffer 1. Tasmania: B. Reynolds 4, K. Hall 3, D. Banham 2, J. Baker 1, M. Cassidy 1, C. Thurley 1,O. Divenuto 1.

BEST - Queensland: P. Shelton, D. Wise, A. Rogers, D. Pfeiffer, C. Hughes, C.
Ilett. Tasmania: B. Reynolds, S. Whitelaw, J. O'Brien, M. Hills.