Townsville Blackhawks v Ipswich Jets at Bill Lewis Oval, Charters Towers on Saturday, August 15 – 5pm
Townsville Blackhawks: 1. Jahrome Hughes 2. Zac Santo 3. Tom Humble 4. Kyle Feldt 5. Samsen O’Neill 6. Robert Lui 7. Michael Parker-Walshe 8. Ricky Thorby 9. Anthony Mitchell 10. Daniel Beasley (c) 11. Glenn Hall 12. Kelepi Tanginoa 13. Neville Costigan 14. Ray Thompson 15. Chris McLean 16. Lorenzo Ma’afu 17. Rhyse Martin
Coach: Kristian Woolf
Ipswich Jets: 1. Carlin Anderson 2. Marmin Barba 3. Chris Walker 4. Nemani Valekapa 5. Brandon McGrady 6. Josh Cleeland 7. Dane Phillips (c) 8. Josh Seage 9. Matt Parcell 10. Rod Griffin 11. TBA 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Richard Pandia 14. Landon Hayes 15. Kurtis Lingwoodock 16. Billy McConnachie 17. Liam Capewell
Coach: Ben Walker and Shane Walker
Head to Head: Jets 1 Blackhawks 0
Last time they played:
It was round two and the new guys came to Ipswich and got blown away in the first half it was 24 – 0 after 29 minutes and the Jets had scored 4 tries with 65% of the ball. The Blackhawks recovered to get within 6 points but couldn’t run down the Jets.
IPSWICH JETS 36 (Nemani Valekapa 2, Matt Parcell 2, Chris Walker, Kurt Capewell tries; Wes Conlon 6 goals) def TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS 24 (Zac Santo, Wayne Ulugia, Mosese Pangai, Rhys Matsen, Tom Humble tries; Tom Humble 2 goals) at North Ipswich Reserve.
Round 23
The second clash between these two clubs will see them travel to Charters Towers for XXXX Country Round.
To say the Blackhawks have been impressive this year would be a massive understatement. Their first year in the competition and they’ve lost only three games all year. The Blackhawks have lost once to the Jets in round two and twice to the PNG Hunters in round 11 and round 20.
The Blackhawks had a tough month with a bye, loss to PNG and a draw to Easts but they responded with style last week by matching the clock for a point a minute in the first half against Tweed.
The Blackhawks racked up 50 points for the fifth time this year.
The Blackhawks have scored 768 points this year and are currently averaging an Intrust Super Cup record of 39 points per game. The Blackhawks are placed ahead of the previous best 38 points a game from Norths in 1998. The Norths side in 1998 scored 872 points and had 394 points against them.
The Blackhawks also have the best defence with a miserly 300 points from 22 games. That’s 13.6 points a game.
The Blackhawks have brought together the perfect blend of huge forwards and backs that score tries with halves that scheme around the field.
Zac Santo has 23 tries this year and is the Intrust Super Cup’s leading try scorer, while the Cowboys’ Kyle Feldt has 178 points from 14 tries and 61 goals to be the Intrust Super Cup’s leading points scorer.
The Blackhawks have power and experienced all over the field with Hughes, Santo, Humble, Feldt, Lui, Thorby, Mitchell, Hall, Costigan, Thompson, Parker-Walshe, and Ma’afuall having played NRL.
Townsville have scored 138 tries this year compared to the Jets 110, while in defence the Blackhawks have allowed 53 to the Jets 81.
The Blackhawks are rated first for defence and attack while the Jets are third for points scored and 7th for defence. The Jets have scored 604 points and allowed 438.
The Jets had a disappointing day last week, nothing went to plan and it was one of the Jets’ worst performances this year. They failed to execute their plan.
The Jets will be raging underdogs for this game; they’re playing an NRL side, they’ve lost four of their last 8 games, they’ve dropped to fourth place, and they’re without Sam Martin and Keiron Lander.
The Jets missed 41 tackles against the Hunters. Which is their worst defensive effort since round 18 with the Jets’ season average per game is 31.
The Jets completed only 14 of 34 sets of 6 which is a 41% completion. They gave away 9-2 penalties and kept piling the pressure on themselves.
The Jets ended the game making 98 more tackles than the Hunters.
The instructions this week will be simple, relax and play our style of football. The two teams that have brought down the Blackhawks juggernaut this year don’t play anything like them. If you want to try and match the Blackhawks and take them on with power and strength you will lose. Both the Jets and Hunters have proven if you play football if you test them with movement you can move them around and the beat them.
The Jets’ destiny is still in their hands. They can’t finish top two anymore but they can finish 3rd and secure a home final in week one.
The Jets have fallen away as the season has progressed into the finals over the last four years.
2011- 6 wins and 5 losses.
2012- 5 wins 2 draws 4 losses
2013- 5 wins 1 draw 6 losses
2014- 6 wins 6 losses
This is a worrying trend that sees the Jets enter the finals lacking momentum. This week is the perfect week for the Jets to get away together and secure a win against a side they’re going to have to meet again in September.
Marmin Barba now needs one try to draw level with Donald Malone’s record with 22 tries in a season and two tries to own the record. Barba has 21 tries this year from 15 games.
Barba has also become the Jets fifth leading try scorer in the club’s Intrust Super Cup history on 43 tries. To move to fourth he will need to go past Luke Walker on 45. Barba has 43 tries from 38 games for the Jets.
The Jets are up against it this week, no matter which way you cut it. This will take plenty of guts and determination to come away from Charters Towers with the win.