Central Queensland Capras v Ipswich Jets at Browne Park on Thursday, March 29 – 7pm
Central Queensland Capras
1. Zeik Foster 2. Ken Tofilau 3. Connor Broadhurst 4. Nathan Bassani 5. Chanel Seigafo 6. Blake Goodman 7. Aaron Teroi 8. Bill Cullen 9. Billy Gilbert 10. Jerry Key 11. Dave Cowhan 12. Dave Taylor 13. Jamie Hill 15. Tyson White 16. Brad Lupi 17. Luke George 18. Phil Nati
Coach: Kim Williams
Ipswich Jets
1. Michael Purcell 2. Marmin Barba 3. Pio Seci 17. Rory Humphreys 5. Wes Conlon 6. Julian Christian 7. Dane Phillips 8. Tyson Lofipo 21. Kierran Moseley 10. Nat Neale (c) 11. Ben White 12. Seb Pandia 13. Ben Shea 4. Sam Caslick 9. Jayden Connors 16. Rowan Winterfield 15. Isimeeli Hafoka 19. Mitch Carpenter
Coach: Ben Walker and Shane Walker
LAST TIME THEY PLAYED:
ROUND 25, 2017
IPSWICH JETS 44 (Julian Christian 3, Nat Neale 2, Josh Seage, Michael Purcell, Marion Seve tries; Jayden Connors 6 goals) defCQ CAPRAS 4 (Chanel Seigafo try) at Cahill Park, Gatton.
Head-to-Head: Ipswich 28 Central 12 Drawn 1
ROUND FOUR, 2018
The Jets will kick of the Easter weekend in Rockhampton looking for more than eggs. The Jets will play the Capras on Thursday night looking to win three games in a row the first time since they won from round seven to 10 last season. The Jets head to Rockhampton with an impressive record against the Capras. They have played there 21 times for 14 wins and 7 losses. Over all the record between these two clubs is Ipswich 28 wins Capras 12 with one draw.
The last time the Capras beat the Jets was 2016 when they won 23-14 in Rockhampton. The Jets and Capras clashed in the last round of 2017 with the Jets winning 44-4 and Julian Christian scoring 3 tries. The Jets are coming off a win over the Tigers while the Capras lost by two to the Cutters in Mackay.
The Capras have won one game out of three that came in round one when they beat the Tigers by a point. The Capras have scored 47 points compared to the Jets 64 and in defence, the Capras have let in 68 while the Jets have let past 66.
CAPRAS
The Capras are doing plenty of defence having made 919 tackles in three games. That is the most in the ISC this season. They are putting a lot of pressure on themselves and they are coming up with missed tackles. The Capras have missed 108 tackles which is one every eight tackles.
BILLY GILBERT
The Capras’ little hooker is tackling up a storm. He leads the ISC with 131 from three games. Against Norths in round two, he made a mammoth 44 tackles in 55 minutes. He kicks from dummy half as well. Gilbert went across the ruck and turned James Hill under for a try. Gilbert then scored a bit of a Matty Parcell try, looking and going on an angle to score from 40m out. Last week against the Cutters he topped their meters with 149 and their tackle count with 47.
ZEIK FOSTER
The Capras fullback does a lot of kicking and makes good meters turning sides around and driving them back. He loves getting his hands on the ball and pops up all over the place. His short kicking game is strong. He broke two tackles against the Cutters. Jets have to watch him because he can turn up in the halves too.
DAVE TAYLOR
Big Dave Taylor will have an impact, in the first three round of 2018 Taylor has been getting his minutes up. He started with 54 minutes, then 70. Taylor can still destroy a side with his running game. In round one, he took the Tigers on and came away with 179m of destruction. Taylor will be the target to make work; double efforts are not Dave’s friend and the Jets little men will be looking to go at him. Taylor has given away seven penalties this season because players exploit his slow movement.
JETS
The Jets are flying with two wins in a row and now they travel to Rocky to take on the Capras. The Jets seem to have two things well under control in 2018. Fitness and go forward. The Jets look fit and ready to stay in games. Maybe the Jets lost that a little bit the last two years. The Jets go forward has been outstanding and they seem to have found a great balance between punching into the line and attacking.
BEN WHITE
Ben White has become the Jets’ iron man playing 80 minutes three weeks in a row. He has made 74 tackles and 44 runs in to the defence with nine tackle breaks. He is having a great start to the season.
DANE PHILLIPS
Dane is the Jets’ thermometer if he says the Jets are healthy then they are. Dane is back to running the ball and short kicking. Last season Dane ran the ball 67 times in 23 games. So far, in three games this year, he has run the ball 11 times. Dane only played 10 minutes against the Hunters in round one so really he has played two games this year. His short kicking game got two tries against the Tigers.
MICHAEL PURCELL
Purcell is away with his first try in 2018. Where will it end? He has 15 tackle breaks in 2018 from his 33 runs. That is a handy strike rate at breaking a tackle. Purcell leads the Jets for line breaks with three in three games. The Jets have been great two weeks in a row; last week had plenty of grit and fight about it. This week they have to travel and get the points against a team they will be expected to beat.