Ipswich Jets v Sunshine Coast Falcons at North Ipswich Reserve on Saturday, August 29 – 3pm
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. Matt Parcell 10. Rod Griffin 11. Fakahoko Teutau 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Richard Pandia 14. Landon Hayes 16. Billy McConnachie 18. Keiron Lander (c) 22. Sam Martin
Coach: Ben Walker and Shane Walker
Sunshine Coast Falcons: 1. Sam Wright 2. Rowan Klein 3. Young Tonumaipea 4. Hymel Hunt 5. Travis Robinson 6. Ben Hampton 7. David Oakes 20. Tom Learoyd-Lahrs 9. Jay Lobwein 10. Ryan Hansen 11. Paul Ivan 12. Jacob Samoa 13. Tom Murphy (c) 14. Jon Platt 15. Jaz Nahu-Main 16. Mboya Adams 17. Jye Ballinger
Coach: Glen Dreger
Head to Head – Ipswich 9 Sunshine Coast 3 Drawn 1:
Last time they played: Round 4 2015.
IPSWICH JETS 36 (Marmin Barba 3, Carlin Anderson, Josh Cleeland, Sam Martin tries; Marmin Barba 6 goals) def SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS 10 (Rueben Baillie, Kem Seru tries; Corey McGrady goal) at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
It was still in the balance at half time at 12-4 to the Jets; when that man Marmin Barba scored three second half tries to end any hopes of a Falcons’ win. Barba scored 24 points and the Jets came away 36-10 winners.
Round 25 2015
The Jets are sitting in third place with a game to play in the 2015 regular season. The Jets story makes for simple reading.
The Jets are currently on 34 points and a points differential of 180 while below them sits the Wynnum Seagulls on 34 points and 176 points +/-.
If the Jets win they will finish third and play 6th place which is currently the Pride at the North Ipswich Reserve week one of the finals.
If the Jets were to lose and Wynnum win by more than four then the Jets will finish fourth and play fifth still at the North Ipswich Reserve.
The Jets qualifying for the finals in 2015 is a club record five years in a row; the Jets previous best was two in a row. In 2002/2003 and 2007/2008 the Jets made the finals twice. The Intrust Super Cup record is Redcliffe sitting on 8 finals campaigns in a row.
The Jets must first take on the Sunshine Coast Falcons who can’t play finals but can cause some problems for the Jets.
The Falcons are now that annoying proposition that you encounter in the last round; they might be ready to close the book on 2015 or they might be in the mood to cause some trouble while the Jets might be mentally thinking of the Northern Pride in week one of the finals.
The Falcons have won seven games this season and scored 400 points including 73 tries. While the Jets have scored 120 tries and 666 points and 15 wins. The Jets have a clear advantage of 266 points and 47 tries.
In defence the Falcons have let through 95 tries and 546 points compared to the Jets 486 points and 90 tries. That again is the Jets in the clear by 60 points and 5 tries.
The Falcons leading points scorer this year is Ryan Hansen with 50 while their leading try scorer is Young Tunamaipea with 7 tries.
The Falcons will also have the services of a lot of Storm players with the most dangerous and noted being Ben Hampton. Hampton played well against the leading Blackhawks and scored a great try on the Falcons’ right hand side he ghosted through and rounded the fullback in a class effort.
Storm’s Hampton was also smart enough to get the points on offer and snap a field goal when the Falcons got down that end to then lead at half time.
Storm forward and NRL veteran Tom Learoyd-Lahrs will also come off the bench for the Falcons and can cause plenty of momentum for the Falcons.
The Falcons’ winger Rowan Klein will also go past his brother Callum to become the most capped Falcon on 86 games this week.
The Falcons will be hoping that Tom Murphy and Ben Hampton can come away from their night at the judiciary with a clean sheet both are facing dangerous play charges from their Blackhawks game.
The current Jets have scored 666 points from 22 games which places them behind the 2003 Jets who scored 766 in 24 games at an average of 31.9 points per game. While the best points average of any Jets’ side is the 2008 side that accumulated 708 points in 22 games and an average of 32.2.
The 2015 Jets have averaged 30.3 points from 22 games.
The 2015 Jets can also equal 36 points which is the current record that the 2008 side finished on from 20 games.
If the Jets finish third it will be their best finish since 2008.
The sight of Marmin Barba should keep the Falcons awake at night. Barba now has 26 tries from 17 games. Barba is also 2 points away from 300 points and two tries away from 50 for for the Jets through 48 tries and 53 goals from 40 games.
Barba is gunning for Ricky Bird who has 303 points for the Jets and is the club’s fifth highest point scorer.
Barba has scored three hat-tricks this year following up 7 doubles and three single try day outs in 2015.
The Jets brought back two experienced members of the 100 club against the Tweed with Sam Martin and Keiron Lander coming off the bench.
Both bring a real defensive presence about them and they tighten up the Jets’ middle third.
The Jets were forced to defend their line against the Tweed and the Seagulls applied real pressure to the Jets but they couldn’t crack the Jets’ wall.
The Jets attack comes from anywhere; Carlin Anderson has 13 tries, Marmin Barba 26, Brendon McGrady 12, Josh Cleeland 8, Nemani Valekapa 12, Dane Phillips 6, and Chris Walker 6. Of the 28 players the Jets have used this season 16 have scored tries.
This game will be game 150 in the Intrust Super Cup for Rod Griffin; Griffin has played 67 of those games for the Jets. Rod Griffin is the Jets’ forward leader; he starts the Jets’ sets with a typical hard run and an offload with a Jets’ high 70 this season. After the run and offload come defence that hurts 525 tackles with 40 misses. Griffin has not had a miss in four games this year out of his 19.
This game is pivotal to the Jets’ season; you want to go into the finals with two things, momentum and no injuries. This week is all about confidence and the Jets can start their finals campaign on Saturday.