Intrust Super Cup
Townsville and District Blackhawks v Ipswich Jets at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, September 27 – 3.55pm* (Channel 9/WIN/NBN and QRL.com Live Stream)
Townsville and District Blackhawks:1. Jahrome Hughes 2. Zac Santo 3. Tom Humble 4. Mosese Pangai 5. Samsen O’Neill 6. Robert Lui 7. Michael Parker-Walshe 8. Glenn Hall 9. Anthony Mitchell 10. Daniel Beasley (c) 11. Rhyse Martin 12. Kelepi Tanginoa 13. Neville Costigan 15. Lorenzo Ma’afu 16. Chris McLean 17. Corey Jensen 18. Rhys Matsen 19. Ricky Thorby
Coach: Kristian Woolf
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 and Shane Walker
2015
The Jets and Blackhawks have clashed twice this year for one win each.
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.
TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS 36 (Kyle Feldt 2, Jahrome Hughes, Robert Lui, Michael Parker-Walshe, Kelepi Tanginoa, Lorenzo Ma’afu tries; Kyle Feldt 2, Robert Lui 2 goals) def IPSWICH JETS 28 (Marmin Barba 2, Dane Phillips, Billy McConnachie tries; Carlin Anderson 6 goals) at Bill Lewis Oval, Charters Towers.
Finals Record:Townsville Blackhawks 1 win and 0 losses; Ipswich Jets Played 19 won 9 Lost 10.
2015 Grand Final
The Townsville Blackhawks will be playing in their first Grand Final in their first year in the Intrust Super Cup while the Ipswich Jets will be competing in their third.
The Jets have played in four previous Grand Finals two in the Brisbane Rugby League where they lost back to back Grand Finals against Valleys in 1988 and 1989. The Jets also lost to Redcliffe and Souths Logan in 2002 and 2008 while contesting Intrust Super Cup Grand Finals.
2002 Redcliffe 34 (A.Barba 2, D.Richters, B.Berrigan, P.Shivlock, T.Leis tries; D.Richters 5 gls) def Ipswich 10 (S.West, A.Bulow tries; S.West goal)
2008 Souths-Logan 24 (C.Lasscock, M.Gibson, M.Templeman, K.Lodge tries; T. Cannard 2, J.White 2 goals) def Ipswich 18 (M.Ryan, D.Malone, A.Sweeney tries; J.Lewis 3 goals)
The Blackhawks are coming from the week off after having comprehensively beaten the PNG Hunters 26 – 12 to win their Grand Final berth.
The Blackhawks leading try scorer is winger Zac Santo who with his preliminary finals effort of four tries went to 30 tries for the year.
Winger Kyle Feldt is the Blackhawks leading points scorer with 190 points from 16 tries and 63 goals but Feldt will be playing for the Cowboys.
The Blackhawks two biggest strengths are their size and experience. They will enter the Grand Final with 637 NRL games in their team and two NRL premierships while the Ipswich Jets have 6 NRL games courtesy of Matt Parcell this season.
The Blackhawks have proven this year they’re a very clinical, professional side that strangle you with size and precision.
They rely on relentless forward momentum and then precise plays for their backs with Zac Santo on the Blackhawks right being particularly dangerous all year.
Robert Lui and Michael Parker-Walshe will attack either side with big huge monsters.
Jahrome Hughes will sweep around the back on the Blackhawks right, hoping the Jets’ three in will bite and create space for Mosese Pangai and Zac Santo.
Anthony Mitchell will skip out across the face of the defence letting runners go until he gets the big body he wants out wide one on one with smaller backs.
The Blackhawks finished minor premiers by one point but dominated on the scoreboard only losing 3 games all year, one of which was to the Jets.
The Blackhawks averaged 39 points a game and 17 against from their 22 games during the regular season, while the Jets averaged 30 points a game and 21 points against from their 23 games in the regular season.
The Jets have now played three finals games and scored 22 tries with 126 points. The Jets have defended their way to only allowing 56 points and 10 tries.
The Jets beat the Blackhawks in round two by getting away to a huge start 26 – 0 at half time and in the return game in round 22 the Jets lead 24 – 10 at half time but lost 36 – 28.
The two clashes this year prove that the start will be vital. The Hunters game was the Jets 19th time this year they’ve led at half time and of those 19 games the Jets have gone onto win 16 times.
Carlin Anderson is the Jets leading point scorer this year on 232. Anderson has 18 tries and 80 goals for 232 points from 25 games. In the finals Anderson has 4 tries and 19 goals for 54 points from three games.
The Jets’ leading try scorer and record holder with 29 tries is Marmin Barba.
Finals are all about three things, momentum, confidence and no injuries. The Jets have great finals momentum. They’ve played last year’s Grand Finalists and knock them both out and they’ve blown away an international side with a great 10 minute period before half time.
Rod Griffin was tremendous against the Hunters. Can anything more be said about Rod and his impact on the Jets? Griffin played 72 minutes last Sunday for 14 hit ups, 149 metres, 9 off-loads, 26 tackles and 2 missed tackles.
Griffin’s 9 offloads were a season high for him and the Jets. Taking his season tally to 91 from 23 games.
Griffin was the XXXX man of the match against the Hunters and had this to say about making the Grand Final.
“It is a very proud moment” and went on to say that the Jets were a brotherhood in the true sense of the word. “It is a community and all the boys are really close’… we don’t have any big names and all the boys are local. I am just so proud to be out there with them. Every jersey out there was representing Ipswich.”
Dane Phillips was great against the Hunters. He has been the calming influence on the team and is the no frills player you need. He is a voice of reason on the field with his short kicking game and will have an impact on Sunday.
Phillips kicked for a try himself and made several probing kicks that kept asking the Hunters questions. He also threw a great long ball for Barba’s try.
The Jets’ defence against the Hunters was outstanding. They made 36 more tackles but only allowed in two tries with the second Hunters’ try coming from when they were down to 12 in the last 30 seconds of the game.
The Jets had to overcome a crippling 12 – 4 penalty count against, but kept defending and turning the Hunters away.
Kurtis Lingwoodock made 27 tackles off the bench and missed 0. In what was his best defensive effort all year.
Is there a chance Ben and Shane Walker springing one last surprise selection and Chris Walker recovering to play in the Grand Final? Walker would add a lot of experience and aggression that would be valuable against the Townsville side.
The Ipswich Jets played their first game on the 19 March 1982 against Brothers at the North Ipswich Reserve. Since then they have played 440 Intrust Super Cup games and had 563 players pull on the jersey. They’ve contested four Grand Finals and never won a premiership, however they go into Sunday with momentum and confidence. The Blackhawks will start as red hot favourites with all their experience but the Jets will be the sentimental favourites.
This Sunday afternoon at Lang Park one side will make history.
If you require further information please contact Wayne Wendt on 0411 517 495.