Easts Tigers v Ipswich Jets at Tapout Energy Stadium on Sunday, July 12 – 1.40pm* (Live on Channel 9)
Easts Tigers: 1. Maeli Seve 2. Matt Duffie 3. Shane Neumann 4. Michael Kai 5. Mahe Fonua 6. Shaun Nona 19. Brentt Warr 8. Christian Welch 9. Tommy Butterfield 10. Liam McDonald 11. Dane Hogan (c) 12. Jake Foster 13. Troy Giess 14. Francis Tualau 15. Foisa Peni 16. Matthew Zgrajewski 17. Billy Walters
Coach: Craig Ingebrigtsen
Ipswich Jets: 1. Carlin Anderson 2. Marmin Barba 3. Chris Walker 4. Nemani Valekapa 5. Brandon McGrady 6. Josh Cleeland 7. Dane Phillips 8. Josh Seage 9. Landon Hayes 10. Rod Griffin 11. Sam Martin 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Keiron Lander (c) 14. Fakahoko Teutau 15. Kurtis Lingwoodock 16. Billy McConnachie 17. Tyson Lofipo
Coach: Ben Walker and Shane Walker
Overall head to head – Easts 19 Ipswich 19 Drawn 1
Last time they played: Round 9 2015.
IPSWICH JETS 32 (Kurt Capewell 2, Marmin Barba, Josh Cleeland, Sam Martin tries; Carlin Anderson 6 goals) def EASTS TIGERS 24 (Eddie Tautali, Richie Kennar, Tommy Butterfield, Jake Foster tries; Shaun Nona 4 goals) at North Ipswich Reserve.
Round 18 2015
When the Jets v Tigers clashed in May the Jets got out to a great start at 10-0 but the Tigers came back and the game was locked up at 22-22 Easts then took the lead 24-22 with 10 minutes to go in the game. Before the Jets ran away with a Josh Cleeland try to seal the win.
The ledger is now even between these two clubs at 19 all and this week’s game will tip either the Tigers or the Jets over to the positive.
Ipswich has won only three of the last 9 games between these two sides. In the past Easts have proven a hurdle for the Jets; last season it was one all with both sides winning away from home.
This year the Jets won at home in May and now it’s the Tigers chance to host the Jets. The Jets record at Langlands Park is 9 wins from 19 games with one draw.
The mind games and trickery will be out this week; Tigers will try and convince the world they’re unable to field a side, no boots, no bus, no oranges and missing 24 players.
Tigers will tell you that the Jets are favourites and the poor downtrodden Tigers will just do their best.
Don’t believe it.
After a poor start to the year the Tigers have now climbed into fifth spot on the ladder; just below the third place Jets.
The Tigers are on 21 points while the Jets are on 26.
The Tigers have now scored 434 points through 83 tries while the Jets are ahead on 522 points and 94 tries. That’s an 11 try difference to the Jets.
In defence the Tigers have a better record than the Jets; the Tigers have conceded 269 points and a miserable 46 tries compared to the Jets 354 points and 67 tries. That’s a 21 try difference to the Tigers.
The Tigers are a great defensive side with only the Blackhawks having allowed less tries through. The Blackhawks have let 38 tries go past compared to the Tigers 46.
The Tigers will not be happy with their defence against the Pride, they allowed a soft try through their middle third to get the Pride started and then didn’t number up on their left hand side for the Pride second try. Both tries were defending their own line errors.
In the first clash this year Easts’ hooker Tom Butterfield split the Jets defence and scored under the posts. Butterfield is a very alert runner and will take advantage of any Jets’ markers that assume he will pass. Butterfield will play the full 80 minutes for the Tigers and will be very selective when he runs. Butterfield is also an excellent defender who regularly tops the tackle count for the Tigers. Against the Pride last week Butterfield made 50 tackles and only missed four.
Shaun Nona will be another danger for the Jets, his kicking game is excellent and he will pressure the Jets back three and make them turn around and chase his kicks behind the line.
Nona kicked a smart 40/20 last week against the Pride and set up the Tigers’ try for Michael Kai with a long ball.
Easts’ highest try scorer this year has been Matt Duffie who sits on 12 tries. Duffie made his debut for the Storm in 2010 and wrote off last year with a knee injury but is slowly getting back to form through the Tigers and is a danger for the Jets on the Tigers’ right hand side.
Easts are big and physical and that is what makes these games so enthralling, they’re a battle of contrast. Easts are big and power through you and over you while the Jets are quick and small with offloads.
Easts’ gain a lot of momentum and power from their bench; Dean Britt is another Storm import who makes great metres for the Tigers while Mat Pitmann is an experienced campaigner who provides stability and offloads.
The Jets this year have allowed 52 tries from inside their own 20m zone that’s 77% coming from close to their line. The opposition has only scored 9 from 21m-50m and 6 from over halfway. The Tigers will run a lot of plays that make the Jets make decisions and have big bodies in motion.
The Jets lost Dane Phillips last week to illness and Hayden Lipp came in and scored his first Intrust Super Cup try. While Tyson Lofipo returned off the bench for game 119 for the Jets and his first in over 12 months.
Lofipo became the fifth most capped Jet of all time on 119 games, going past Ricky Bird on 118. Lofipo will go into fourth with three more games and past Brian McCarthy who currently is on 121.
The Jets also had to do without try scoring point scoring machine Marmin Barba, Marmin is no longer the Intrust Super Cup’s leading try scorer having surrendered that title to Zac Santo from the Townsville Blackhawks but with 17 tries from 12 games he isn’t turning into a slouch just yet.
Marmin has not just scored 17 tries this year but also kicked 22 goals from 31 attempts for 112 points. Marmin has also lost the mantle of Jets’ highest points scorer with Carlin Anderson now sitting on 130 points from 12 tries and 41 goals from 56 attempts.
It is not just the points Marmin brings to the Jets, he also has a presence or threat about him; he has opposition players watching for him. This puts them in two minds if they should throw that long ball because they know if he gets it they won’t catch him on a motorbike.
The Jets are the Intrust Super Cup off-loads kings with 233 offloads this year compared to the Tigers 170. The Jets look to keep possession and keep the ball alive waiting for gaps to appear for their smaller men to exploit.
Nemani Valekapa again played unbelievable football against the Magpies; 23 runs, 267 metres, two tries, eight tackles, no miss tackles, one off-load, two line breaks.
Valekapa now has 244 runs this season at an average of 17 per games, 2715 metres at 193 metres per game, 12 tries and 16 line breaks.
Nemani’s defence has been excellent too; 177 tackles with 18 missed tackles.
Kurt Capewell was outstanding against the Magpies with 132 metres, 13 runs, 3 off-loads, 1 line-break assists, 1 try assist, 18 tackles and 1 try.
Capewell has an outstanding ability to pop up anywhere and take advantage of any situation; he chases kicks and is nearly always leading the Jets’ kick chase.
This game will be like all the other Jets v Tigers game, plenty of emotion and suburban football at its best. It’s a game of contrasting styles and will be another great game.