Ipswich Jets v Townsville Blackhawks at North Ipswich Reserve on Sunday, March 13 – 12.40pm*

Ipswich Jets v Townsville Blackhawks at North Ipswich Reserve on Sunday, March 13 – 12.40pm*

Ipswich Jets

1. Carlin Anderson 2. Marmin Barba 3. Liam Capewell 4. Nemani Valekapa 5. Richard Pandia 6. Haydan Lipp 7. Dane Phillips (c) 8. Joshua Seage 9. Landon Hayes 10. Abraham Atallah 11. Nathaniel Neale 12. Rowan Winterfield 13. Rory Humphreys 14. Sebastian Pandia 15. Kyle McConnell 16. William McConnachie 18. Michael Purcell

Coach: Ben Walker and Shane Walker

Townsville Blackhawks

1. Jahrome Hughes 2. Jonathon Reuben 3. Lenny Magey 4. Delouise Fredrick Hoeter 5. Samsen O’Neill 6. Kyle Laybutt 7. Sam Foster 8. Sam Hoare 9. Anthony Mitchell (c) 10. Corey Jensen 11. Noel Underwood 12. Rhyse Martin 13. Glenn Hall (c) 14. Nathan Norford 15. Kieran Quabba 16. Willie Minoga 17. David Munro 18. Alailima Maafu

Coach: Kristian Woolf

Head to Head: Jets 2 Blackhawks 1

Last time they played:

IPSWICH JETS 32 (Carlin Anderson, Marmin Barba, Nemani Valekapa, Dane Phillips, Matt Parcell, Keiron Lander tries; Carlin Anderson 2, Marmin Barba, Keiron Lander goals) def TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS 20 (Jahrome Hughes, Zac Santo, Tom Humble, Robert Lui tries; Robert Lui 2 goals) at Suncorp Stadium

Round 2- 2015

Any talk of a Grand Final rematch will be largely irrelevant this week. The Blackhawks have only six players backing up and the Jets 10 players.

The Blackhawks had 8 debutants last week and the Jets 5 players playing their first game.

The Jets started a bit rusty against Norths but found their rhythm with a great burst of scoring just after half time and the last ten minutes of the game.

The Blackhawks played Redcliffe. The Blackhawks started well with a try in the 6th minute but then didn’t score again till the 32 minute.

The Dolphins had three tries disallowed so the result could have been different.

At the North Ipswich Reserve it is Ipswich with the advantage 1-0 over the Blackhawks.

Blackhawks

Amongst the players missing will be Zac Santo who scored 31 tries last year by the end of the finals. The Blackhawks will need to replace that scoring firepower somehow. Samsen O’Neill might be on his way to filling that void with two tries against Redcliffe in round 1.

The Blackhawks will be hoping Mosese Pangai, Neville Costigan and Michael Parker Walsh can return this week.

Two players that haven’t changed are Jahrome Hughes who will sweep around the back on the Blackhawks right, hoping the Jets’ three in will bite and create space for his wing and centre.

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 still have big Glenn Hall who provides leadership and forward momentum.

Young half Kyle Laybutt has stepped up from the Cowboys 20’s. He played 16 games last year for the Cowboys for 10 tries and 30 goals from 48 attempts.

Sam Foster also has come up from the 20’s. Foster has played 54 games for the Cowboys, with 10 tries and 67 goals from 108 attempts and 1 field goal for 175 points. Foster has also played Intrust Super Cup for Norths. Foster loves to throw a long ball to his left and find outside men which might mean danger with Michael Purcell sweating on it.

Redcliffe exposed the Blackhawks on their left hand side and with some inside balls that caught big men napping on the inside in the middle.

Ipswich Jets

The Jets are currently on 199 Intrust Super Cup wins and looking to bring up the double century. The Jets had their first win in the Intrust Super Cup in 1997.

The Jets haven’t started a year off with two straight wins since 2008 when they won their first five games. The other two times that the Jets won their first game in 2003 and 2010 they followed it up with a draw in 2003 and a loss in 2010. In 2011 the Jets drew their first two games of the season then won two in a row.

When it comes to Grand Finals rematches the next year the Jets have not fared too well losing to Redcliffe in 2003 and Souths Logan in 2009 the first time their paths crossed again.

2003, Round 4: Redcliffe 29 defeated Ipswich 16 (Jay O’Doherty, Jamie Tomlinson, Kyle Warren tries, Steven West 2 goals)

2009, Round 3: Souths-Logan 20 defeated Ipswich 18 (Ian Donnelly, Scott Ireland, Michael Ryan tries, Ireland 3 goals)

The Jets are on a club record 8 game winning streak, because of the State Championship game the Intrust Super Cup streak is a club record equalling 7. The Jets can set a new Intrust Super Cup record this week.

The Jets started last week with five debutants who all equipped themselves very well. Marion Seve scored a double coming off the bench and Michael Purcell took an intercept and showed plenty of speed.

The Jets made 7 interchanges of their 8 and started with two forwards and two backs on the bench. With his game starting at 12:40 the use of interchange and tired players could be pivotal to who comes away with a win this week.

Carlin Anderson started the season involved in everything. Backing up his 250 points last year Carlin kicked 5 goals and scored 1 try for 14 points. Carlin now has 302 points for the Jets in the Intrust Super Cup from 45 games with 32 tries and 87 goals.

Against Norths Carlin contributed: 11 runs, 94 metres, 14 points.

The last time the Jets played the Blackhawks it was Marmin Barba who broke the game open. Townsville would have been happy to see the back of him but unfortunately for them he’s back. Marmin was outstanding in the Grand Final against the huge Townsville backs, making 4 runs, 126 metres, and 2

off-loads, 1 line break, 1 try and 1 try assist. Marmin wasn’t actually tackled the whole game.

Marmin Barba has three tries from three games against the Blackhawks. This is a bit behind his career Jets’ strike rate of 1.2 tries per game for the Jets.

Against Norths Marmin started 2016 with two tries and again was back doing what Barba does two tries from 5 runs.

Jets’ debutant and lock Rory Humphreys was outstanding in his first game topping the tackle count with 30. Humphreys was the players’ player.

The Jets took great momentum from their sets averaging 7m more per set than the Devils. The Jets were able to apply great pressure from their short kicking game with 145 metres gained from their 11 kicks.