Wynnum Manly Seagulls v Ipswich Jets at BMD Kougari Oval on Saturday, July 18 – 5pm
Wynnum Manly Seagulls: 1. Daniel Ogden 2. Peter Gubb 3. Matthew Grieve 4. Mitchell Buckett 5. Greg Eden 6. Patrick Templeman 7. Mathew Seamark 8. Ben Shea 9. Alehana Mara 10. Tim Natusch (c) 11. David Stagg 12. Jon Grieve 13. Mitchell Frei 14. John Te Reo 15. Brendon Gibb 16. Aaron Rockley 17. Tanu Wulf
Coach: Jon Buchanan
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. Liam Capewell
Coach: Ben Walker and Shane Walker
.Jets v Wynnum Head to Head: Wynnum 20 Ipswich 16 Drawn 3.
Round 1 this year was the last time the Jets and Wynnum played and the Seagulls got the win when Greg Eden kicked cross field and found Daniel Ogden who scored in the corner to give the Seagulls an 18-16 win.
WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 18 (Daniel Ogden 2, Patrick Templeman, Brendon Gibb tries; Matthe Seamark goal) def IPSWICH JETS 16 (Wes Conlon, Marmin Barba, Nemani Valekapa tries; Wes Conlon 2 goals) at North Ipswich Reserve.
Round 19
The third-placed Seagulls have won eight from their past ten matches, with the two losses coming by a mere point against both Burleigh and Northern Pride.
Wynnum have gone above the Jets now into third spot based on their current form. The Seagulls are now on 28 points to the Jets 26.
Wynnum have scored 489 points this season with 89 tries while the Jets have scored 538 points through 97 tries. That’s an 8 try advantage to the Jets.
In defence the Seagulls have the advantage with 302 points and 56 tries while the Jets have allowed 372 points with 71 tries. That’s a 15 try advantage to the Seagulls.
The Seagulls leading points scorer is Matthew Seamark who has 141 points this year through 66 goals, 1 field goal and two tries. Seamark also has 1092 Intrust Super Cup points for Wynnum and Redcliffe over the course of his career and is currently the Intrust Super Cup’s highest point scorer.
While the provider of heartbreak for the Jets in round 1 Daniel Ogden has 15 tries this year and is the Intrust Super Cup’s fourth highest try scorer. Ogden has 109 career tries for Norths and Wynnum.
One of Wynnum’s biggest strengths is their big backs with Peter Gubb, Matthew Grieve, Mitchell Buckett and Greg Eden who all love the collision and use their big bodies to dominate opponents.
Mitchell Frei the Seagulls’ lock is a real danger and follows the halves around and feeds off their small kicks or flat passes. Frei has a strong running game on the fringe and Wynnum go to him as an attacking option.
Bronco veteran David Stagg has been getting into dummy half and still tackles everything that moves for Wynnum. Last week Stagg made 34 tackles against Central Queensland without a miss.
The Jets are coming off a close loss to Easts on the weekend that saw them go down for the third time this year by the score 18 – 16.
The Jets created plenty of chances but just couldn’t find the last pass to score the try that would end the contest. The Jets made 5 line breaks to the Tigers 4. Yet the Tigers scored 4 tries to 3. The Jets also had four line breaks assists compared to the Tigers 3.
The Jets have now lost 3 of their last 5 games. The Jets will be looking to string wins together with plenty of teams in finals contention coming their way in the next weeks.
The 2015 season only has seven games left to play and during that time the Jets play Wynnum, Hunters and Townsville who all will be there at finals’ time.
In 2014 the Jets won 9 of their first 12 games, then six of their last 12 to finish fifth after being in the top three all year. The Jets will not want to see that pattern continue.
Last weekend the Jets’ best against the Tigers was Kurt Capewell. He was outstanding popping up all over the field and especially dangerous on the Jets’ right hand side. Capewell played 80 minutes and ran the ball into the Tigers’ defence 13 times for 128 metres, 2 off-loads, 1 line break and 27 tackles.
The Jets will be hoping that injured forward double act Rod Griffin and Keiron Lander who both didn’t return to the field against Easts will be right to play by Saturday. Lander only played 29 minutes and Griffin 67 minutes against Easts and their absence left a huge hole in the Jets set up.
To make matter worse Sam Martin will be serving a suspension for a dangerous throw and going to Wynnum minus three forwards wouldn’t be ideal.
Griffin is the Jets forward leader and so much of a good result depends on his go forward that is provided whenever he plays. Griffin is also a great defender in the ruck having made 418 tackles this year and only 30 miss tackles from 14 games.
The Broncos have failed to name Daniel Vidot and Joe Ofahengauein their 17 which may lead to them playing for the Jets on Saturday. The Jets will be hoping to welcome back Marmin Barba who has been missing now for three weeks due to a suspension and health problems.
In the absences of three forwards in Lander, Martin, and Griffin who between them have played 378 Intrust Super Cup games, the Jets Billy McConnachie will need to stand up and became the Jets’ forward leader. If the Jets are to be without key forwards more responsibility will fall on his shoulders. McConnachie played 43 minutes off the bench last week, scored a crucial try, and made 19 tackles and 15 hit ups. He is an old school forward and has opposition players looking sideways when he runs with the ball and when he is defending.
Chris Walker was very good for the Jets against Easts making two line breaks and created chances for the other players around him. The Jets will need his experience this week.
The Jets missed a season high 55 tackles against Easts, but in the positive they only cost themselves four tries. Being reduced to 15 players would have impacted on the missed tackles as the Jets’ had to play extra minutes.
This weekend will be a big test for the Jets with no Sam Martin and maybe no Keiron Lander and Rod Griffin against the third placed team at a ground the Jets have struggled to win at in the past.