Intrust Super Cup teams Finals Week 3
PNG Hunters v Ipswich Jets at BMD Kougari Oval on Sunday, September 20 – 3pm*(Live on Channel 9/NBN/WIN)
PNG Hunters: 1. Stargroth Amean 2. Oti Bland Tony 3. Noel Zemming 4. Edward Goma 5. Adex Wera 6. Israel Eliab (c) 7. Ase Boas 8. Henry Noki 9. Wartovo Puara 10. Esau Siune 11. Nickson Borana 12. Kato Ottio 13. Timothy Lomai 14. Warren Glare 15. Atte Bina 16. Willie Minoga 17. Thompson Teteh 18. David Lapua 19. Roger Laka
Coach: Michael Marum
Ipswich Jets: 1. Carlin Anderson 2. Marmin Barba 3. Liam Capewell 4. Nemani Valekapa 5. Richard Pandia 6. Josh Cleeland 7. Dane Phillips 8. Josh Seage 9. Matt Parcell 10. Rod Griffin 11. Sam Martin 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Keiron Lander (c) 14. Landon Hayes 15. Kurtis Lingwoodock 16. Billy McConnachie 22. Fakahoko Teutau
Coach: Ben Walker & Shane Walker
2015
PNG HUNTERS 40 (Israel Eliab 2, Stargroth Amean, Adex Wera, Kato Ottio, Lawrence Tu’u, Brandy Peter tries; Noel Zeming 5, Israel Eliab goals) def IPSWICH JETS 28 (Landon Hayes 2, Marmin Barba, Kurt Capewell, Billy McConnachie tries; Carlin Anderson 3, Marmin Barba goals) at Kalabond Oval, Kokopo.
PNG HUNTERS 32 (Stargroth Amean, Noel Zeming, Israel Eliab, Atte Bina tries; Noel Zemming 8 goals) def IPSWICH JETS 14 (Marmin Barba 2, Dane Phillips tries; Carlin Anderson goal) at North Ipswich Reserve.
These two teams have clashed twice this year for two wins to the Hunters.
Head to Head: PNG Hunters 3 IPSWICH Jets 1.
2015 Preliminary Final
The Hunters are contesting their first final series and first Preliminary Final. They’re coming off a loss to the Grand Final bound Blackhawks who lie in wait for an opposition that will be decided by this game.
Last weekend the Hunters let the Blackhawks get out to a flying start and then spent the game trying to peg it back. Every time the Hunters got back into the game they would let the Blackhawks pull away again.
The Hunters looked nervous in their first finals’ game and came up with some poor choices in attack and defence. The Blackhawks went to Zac Santo on the left- the Hunters right and came away with four tries. Hunters missed 34 tackles and had 23 ineffective tackles.
The Hunters kept putting themselves under pressure, they made 94 more tackles than the Blackhawks and gave them too many easy metres. Michael Marum is a smart coach and would have been working hard this week not to repeat that.
The Hunters to watch
Israel Eliab is the Hunters’ leading try scorer. Eliab has 22 tries this year and got two against the Jets in the earlier game this year. He’s that dangerous combination of speed and elusiveness. Eliab is the captain and will pop up all over the place looking for off-loads from his big monster forwards.
When these two teams last clashed Eliab was too much for the Jets’ defence and made a huge 253 metre gain for his team with two line breaks and a try.
Noel Zemming is the Hunters’ leading point scorer and has accumulated 182 points this year from 6 tries and 79 goals. Zemming scored 20 points against the Jets in August.
The Jets won’t need too much reminding about Wartovo Puara who is a smart and elusive dummy half. The Jets contained him well last time but they will need to be on high alert for the little number 9.
The Jets have had a stunning start to the finals and in their two games have scored 17 tries and 98 points. The Jets have only allowed the opposition to score 8 tries and 44 points.
The Jets are into a preliminary final for the first time since 2002 against Norths.
Ipswich 29 (F.Anderson 2, B.McCarthy 2, M.Chalk tries; R.Cressbrook 3, R.Bird goals; R.Cressbrook field goal) def Norths 26 (S.Tadulala 2, J.Webster, D.Slade, T.McKeough tries; C.Smith 3 goals)
In 2008 they won their way straight into the Grand Final from the Major Semi.
The two times that the Jets and Hunters have clashed this year the Jets have missed too many tackles to be effective. In round 13 the Jets missed 33 and in round 22 they missed 41. Since then the Jets have got their missed tackles down to a season low and in the two finals games have been 20 and 16. The Jets’ defence against the Tigers was at its best.
The Hunters have a very high ineffective tackle count, this year it was 22 and 28 against the Jets this can be exploited by the speedy Jets who will look to add to their 430 off-loads with Rod Griffin contributing 82 this season the Jets’ leading off-loader. If Griffin can get his arms free then Barba and Anderson will be sniffing around waiting.
Jets to watch
It’s hard to write a preview and not list the man who scored five tries. Matt Parcell set an Intrust Super Cup record for a finals game. In 127 previous Intrust Super Cup finals games no player had scored five tries.
Parcell is all the things you want in a dummy-half, he’s smart, quick and has great football sense. Parcell is also the Jets’ leading tackler with 667 and 17 misses for the year.
Parcell had an impressive day out against the Tigers with 28 tackles, 0 misses, 13 runs, 154m, 2 off-loads, 1 line break, and of course 5 tries.
Carlin Anderson is the Jets leading point scorer this year on 220 having scored 17 tries and 76 goals for 220 points from 24 games. In the finals Anderson has 3 tries and 15 goals for 42 points from two games.
The Jets’ point scoring record for a season is 264 by Steven West in 2003. Anderson has scored 42 points in two games and if his finals run continues 44 points isn’t too far of a stretch.
Anderson does some amazing things with the ball but the little things he does is what makes him such an instinctively good player. Anderson constantly runs lines in support waiting for the ball and supporting players. The try he scored on the weekend where he had his hand in the air indicating he wanted it while it was still on the other side of the field.
Kurt Capewell is an elusive player who is a bit of an enigma. He doesn’t look like a forward and he doesn’t play like one either. Capewell will slip across the face of the defence looking for a gap. If he can find one then out comes the big step and he’s away.
Capewell shows great awareness of where to run and then takes advantage of the situation. He has 35 offloads this year and 8 line breaks for 7 tries. While also being an excellent defender with the third most tackles 532 and has the effective tackle rate of 88%.
The start in finals is crucial and the Jets have been consistently starting well this year. The Jets average close to 17 points in the first half keeping the opposition to 10. On what could be a hot day at Wynnum starting well will be vital. When the Jets lead at half time they win and the Hunters know this. Expect the Hunters to fire from the kick off.
The Easts game was the Jets 18th time this year they’ve led at half time. Of those 18 games the Jets have gone onto win 15.
The Jets have scored 50 tries this year from 50m or beyond which means they’re constantly attacking and asking questions which the Hunters are going to have to combat.
The Jets won’t have Bronco Dan Vidot or winger Brendon McGrady this week due to injury.
The penultimate game of the year will decide who is going to meet Townsville next week at Suncorp Stadium. The Jets and Hunters are the two quickest teams in the Intrust Super Cup who both play attacking football and this game will have plenty of points. The Jets have great momentum but the Hunters are big and dangerous and have disposed of the Jets twice this season.
We know four things about this game. The Hunters will bring a huge crowd, the try of the year will be scored, the Jets won’t die wondering, and the Hunters will be better for their first finals experience and bounce back and start firm favourites.