The Luxury Paint Ipswich Jets have been slowly simmering and threatening to boil over but haven’t managed to put it all together in 2015. On Sunday against the Sunshine Coast the Intrust Super Cup saw another glimpse of what the Jets are capable of in 2015 and that glimpse showed the back of a running Marmin Barba.
The Falcons had several late changes with danger half, Ben Hampton, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Johnny Vuetibau dropping out for Dan Murphy, Hymel Hunt and Tom Learyd-Lars who came into the side.
While the Ipswich Jets had Chris Walker and Daniel Vidot drop out with debutant and Jet number 558 Brandon McGrady coming in with Josh Seage.
Marmin Barba scored a Jets’ record 22 tries in the 2014 Intrust Super Cup season, using his sizzling speed to leave sides chasing him around fields all over the state.
Barba had started the 2015 season slowly; as far as try scoring was concerned with only one try from three games.
That changed today with the Marmin show going to the Sunshine Coast, the game was still in balance at 12-4 at half time when Marmin took off after the break and was too quick for the Falcons, even a late desperate ankle tap couldn’t stop the flying Barba.
The Jets then led 16-4, and Marmin was quiet for the next 30 minutes but then exploded with two tries. One from deep in the Jets own half to take the Jets to 30-10 and then sealed it with another try to make the final score 36-10.
As if that wasn’t enough Marmin also added 6 goals for a personal haul of 24 points for the match.
Carlin Anderson playing fullback contributed with a try as well as injecting himself with selfless runs through the middle throughout the game keeping the Falcons on constant high alert.
What impressed Ben and Shane Walker the most was the Jets’ defence, while the public’s first love is attack the Jets are built on defence. Ben Walker singled out both of the Jets’ Capewell brother’s Kurt and Liam for their defence.
The Falcons hung in there recording two tries to Rueben Baillie and Kem Seru, while Corey McGrady kicked one goal. The Falcons just couldn’t keep up with the Jets relentless charges or speedy backs.
Next Saturday the Ipswich Jets will be back at the North Ipswich Reserve at 5pm to take on the defending premiers the Northern Pride.
IPSWICH JETS 36 (Marmin Barba 3, Carlin Anderson, Josh Cleeland, Sam Martin tries; Marmin Barba 6 goals) defSUNSHINE COAST FALCONS 10 (Rueben Baillie, Kem Seru tries; Corey McGrady goal) at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
Final teams
Sunshine Coast Falcons: 1. Joe Uluibau 2. Travis Robinson 3. Callum Klein 4. Ruben Baillie 5. Suli Vunivalu 6. Dan Murphy 7. Cory McGrady 8. Hymel Hunt 9. Slade Griffin 10. Tom Learoyd-Lahrs 11. Kenny Bromwich 12. Jake Samoa 13. Tom Murphy (c) 14. Billy Brittain 15. Jordan Ryan 16. Jon Platt 18. Kem Seru
Ipswich Jets: 1. Troy O’Sullivan 2. Marmin Barba 3. Brandon McGrady 4. Nemani Valekapa 5. Carlin Anderson 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. Gerico Cecil 15. Kurtis Lingwoodock 16. Billy McConnachie 17. Liam Capewell