Tweed Heads Seagulls v Ipswich Jets at Piggabeen Sports on Sunday, August 23 – 3pm
Tweed Heads Seagulls: 1. Ali Grant 2. Nathanael Barnes 3. James Wood (c) 4. Shaun Carney 5. David Sheridan 6. Jamal Fogarty 7. Sam Foster 8. Will Bugden 9. Sam Meskell 10. Ethan Price 11. Jai Ingram 12. Blake Anderson 13. Sam Saville 14. Ricardo Parata 15. Shane Gillham 16. Dane Clarke 17. Anthony Colman
Coach: Aaron Zimmerle
Ipswich Jets: 1. Carlin Anderson 2. Marmin Barba 3. Chris Walker 4. Nemani Valekapa 5. Brandon McGrady 6. Josh Cleeland 7. Dane Phillips (c) 8. Josh Seage 9. Matt Parcell 10. Rod Griffin 11. Fakahoko Teutau 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Richard Pandia 14. Landon Hayes 15. Kurtis Lingwoodock 16. Billy McConnachie 17. Liam Capewell
Coach: Ben Walker and Shane Walker
Head to Head: Tweed 18 Ipswich 9.
Last time they played Round 11 2015.
The Jets were shooting for not only a fourth win in a row but also a fourth win in a row over the Seagulls at the Reserve. The Jets lost Captain Keiron Lander before kick-off with Dane Phillips captaining the Jets for the first time.
It was 12 all at half time and then; the score read 32-16 and in the space of 30 minutes of football the Jets had scored three tries and blown the game apart.
IPSWICH JETS 32 (Marmin Barba 2, Chris Walker, Nemani Valekapa, Sam Martin, Billy McConnachie tries; Carlin Anderson 4 goals) def TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 16 (Matt Srama, Matt Robinson, Leva Li tries; Jamal Fogarty 2 goals) at North Ipswich Reserve.
Round 24 2015
The last time these two teams clashed at the Tweed had the Jets staring down the barrel of a 13-0 record at the Tweed in an Elimination Final.
The Jets overcame that day to win through to week two and record their first ever win at the Tweed in a famous Jets’ win.
This week the Jets will have to overcome a pretty poor overall record against the Tweed; sitting on 18 losses from 27 games.
The Jets are coming off two losses in a row against the Hunters and Blackhawks, while the Seagulls are coming off a close win over the Capras last week.
The Jets have won 14 games this year compared to the Tweed’s 8 games. The Jets have fallen to fourth the last few weeks while the Tweed is in 10th spot.
Their positions on the table aren’t the only difference between the two teams; the Jets have scored 632 points this year from 114 tries while the Tweed 458 points through 86 tries. That’s an advantage to the Jets of 174 points and 28 tries.
In defence the Jets have allowed 474 points and the Tweed 529 points. That’s a 55 point advantage to the Jets. The Tweed has allowed 10 more tries in this season than the Jets.
Tweed have lost six games this year from 6 points or under; if they had won some of those close games their position on the ladder could be very different.
Tweed coach Aaron Zimmerle commented this week; “We won’t get to play finals this season, but we just need to keep moving forward,” he said.
“We play Ipswich this weekend, they are playing some great footy and we will have to work out a method to beat them.”
Tweed have employed a Jets’ style of football at times this year and this game against the Jets and the finals lost makes the Tweed a dangerous side with young men in the side that want to prove themselves and play some football.
Tweed were found suspect last week against a change of direction when they didn’t move up and a simple change saw Marco Delapena score for the Capras against the Tweed blind side defence. Matt Minto also caught out the Tweed defence with two long balls that led to tries.
The Jets will have noted this and with change of direction and early spread they will he hoping to find the Tweed short again.
The Tweed danger man will be the winger Nat Barnes who has scored 13 tries this year. Barnes is still the Intrust Super Cup’s leading try scorer with 133 tries. He’s a smart customer with plenty of finishing ability and football smarts about him.
Seagulls’ Ali Grant scored two good tries from fullback to seal the win for the Seagulls last week he showed good pace and game awareness. He joined the backline down the left hand channel and ran from dummy half to score in the second half.
The Jets have come in for some rough treatment from the referees in the last two weeks; losing the penalty count against the Hunters 9-2 and the Blackhawks 12-8.
Overall this year the Jets have only won the penalty count twice; against Wynnum and Sunshine Coast. They’ve been penalised 173 times and received 110. That’s 8 per game against and 5 for the Jets.
This puts added pressure on the Jets’ defence; that is called on to make on average 41 more tackles per game than the other side. The Jets will be looking for the return of Keiron Lander and Sam Martin to sure up the defence.
The Jets had several milestones last week with Marmin Barba now the record holder for most tries in a season for the Jets. Barba scored two tries to take his season tally to 23. Barba has scored 23 tries this year from 16 games and 22 goals for 136 points. His Jets’ career tally is now 45 tries from 39 games.
Carlin Anderson also kicked 6 goals to bring up his 200th point for the Jets and his 150th point this year.
The big milestone this week is the local hero returning from suspension Jet number 513 Sam Martin; Martin a local Norths’ junior will play his 100th game for the Jets. Sam Martin will be the 11th Jet to reach the century after Danny Coburn, Brendon Marshall, Brendon Lindsay, Brian McCarthy, Tyson Lofipo, Ricky Bird, Luke Walker, Keiron Lander, Danny McAllister and Ian Lacey.
Sam Martin made his debut for the Jets against Redcliffe on 12 June 2010. A game the Jets lost 18-12 at the North Ipswich Reserve.
Martin has scored 22 tries in his 99 games and has 88 points; if he scores 3 tries on Sunday he can bring up his 100th point in his 100th game.
Sam started as a tackling machine but has developed a great attacking game, Martin constantly asks questions of defenders running back at their inside shoulder and has a great ability to back up with support play while still being fearless in defence.
Co-Coach Ben Walker; “He is a player who his team mates admire and through his determination, competiveness and his overall will to win has seen him reach 100 games”
Dane Phillips will captain the Jets in the absence of Lander and he had this to say about Sam Martin; “The guy is a no frills competitor. You know what you will get with him week in week out. His uncanny style is what makes him great. He makes things happen. The ball bounces to him and he is as tough as they come. Aggression is his key. Marto is one of the good guys. That everyone wants to play alongside.”
The Jets have now lost their last two games and have two games left against the Tweed Seagulls and the Sunshine Coast Falcons till the finals; Jets are still equal with Wynnum on 32 points who are in third spot due to the point differential of 18.
The top two are decided; Townsville and the Hunters both on 39 points will have the first week off while the spots below are open.
3. Wynnum 32 points and +176
4. Ipswich 32 points + 158
5. Easts 30 points +201
6. Pride 28 points + 32
7. Redcliffe 25 points +131
The Jets have their finals story in their hands; win their last two games and go into the finals in third with a home final would be a great outcome. It starts this week against the Tweed.