Sunshine Coast Falcons v Ipswich Jets at Sunshine Coast Stadium on Saturday, April 21 – 5pm
Sunshine Coast Falcons
1. Khan Ahwang 2. Matt Soper-Lawler 3. Christopher Lewis 4. Justin Olam 5. Jake Ainsworth 6. Cooper Johns 7. Rhys Jacks 18. Tui Kamikamica 9. Harry Grant 10. Harrison Muller 11. Dane Hogan (c) 12. Joe Stimson 13. Lachlan Timm 14. Lachlan Roe 15. Liam McDonald 16. Louis Geraghty 17. Jacob Hind 19. Keelyn Tuuta-Edwards 20. Nick Timm 21. Brentt Warr 22. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui
Coach: Craig Ingebrigtsen
Ipswich Jets
1. Michael Purcell 14. Denzel Burns 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 15. Huskie Teutau 16. Rowan Winterfield 19. Mitch Carpenter
Coach: Ben Walker and Shane Walker
LAST TIME THEY PLAYED Round 13 2017.
SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS 36 (Matthew Soper-Lawler 2, Joe Stimson, Ryley Jacks, Jahrome Hughes, Alexander Copelin tries; Guy Hamilton 3, Scott Drinkwater 2, Donald Malone goals) defIPSWICH JETS 16 (Nat Neale, Nemani Valekapa, Michael Purcell tries; Wes Conlon 2 goals) at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
Head to Head – Ipswich 11 Sunshine Coast 5 Drawn 1
ROUND SEVEN.
The Jets will be travelling north to Caloundra this week to take on the Falcons. Last season the Jets lost both games to the Falcons and have not beaten the Coast dwelling team since 2016 when they won 20-6 at Stafford Park, Hervey Bay. Last season the Falcons got the cash 34-4 in Ipswich and 36-16 on the Coast. The 34-4 result was the Falcons first win against the Jets since 2011 and first win in Ipswich since 2010. Overall, the Jets still lead 11 wins to five with one draw. The Jets last had a win on the Coast in 2015 when they won 36-10. The Jets have won nine of the last 11 games between these two clubs. The Jets won nine in a row before 2017. Ipswich has won five from eight at Sunny Coast.
The Falcons are coming off a close loss to the Blackhawks while the Jets are coming off a disappointing loss to Mackay. The Falcons are in eighth spot with three wins from three games. While the Jets are in ninth with the same amount of wins for 2018. The Falcons have the jump on the Jets in attack with 127 points v 116 and in defence the Falcons are winning there too 128 v 134.
FALCONS TO WATCH
The Falcons will not be too disappointed with how they played against the Blackhawks. However, they are sitting on 3/6 wins in 2018 and will not want that to fall too much more. The Falcons were ahead at half time, ended up with only 46% of the ball by the end of the game, and lost by two. The Falcons were heavily penalised with nine penalties, which just kept giving the Blackhawks the ball.
Lachlan Timm
Timm is having a break out year after spending time at the Storm in the off-season he has returned to the Falcons ready to go. Timm has smashed out 93 hit ups this season, the fourth most in the ISC. Timm is backing up his year last year where he played Queensland Residents and won a contract with the Storm based on his work ethic on the field. Timm made 161 metres against the Blackhawks and five tackle breaks.
Harry Grant
Grant makes many runs from dummy half, he leads the ISC with 43, and he has scored three tries this season and is a very aware player. Grant’s runs are effective with him averaging 78 metres a game. Grant had two tackle breaks against the Blackhawks.
Matthew Soper-Lawler
Soper-Lawler seems to find a way, does not matter if it is to the line or to the bouncing ball he just seems to turn up. He has scored four tries this year for the Falcons and can bust a tackle. He has found a way out of 23 tackles this year and 4 line breaks. Soper-Lawler scored twice the last time the Jets played the Falcons.
JETS
Disappointing would be the word to use about the Jets’ performance against the Cutters. It just did not happen. The Jets played like the batsman that wants 100 in a session but doesn’t really want to work too hard. The Jets had 60% of the ball and after half time looked the goods but they fell away again. The Jets made massive metres over the Cutters and came away with not a lot from that 342 metres advantage the Jets kept making mistakes and coughing the ball up for them to score. It is a battle to the 1000 metres this week.
Nat Neale is on 990, Ben Shea 973 and Seb Pandia 963. The Jets have great forward momentum in those three players. Nat Neale was exceptional against the Cutters churning over 213 metres for the game. The Jets as a collective unit have run from dummy half 86 times in 2018, with big forwards like Tui Kamikamica maybe the Jets little players can take advantage of the big units getting a bit lazy. Kierran Moseley ran four times against the Cutters and has run 21 times this year, he looks so dangerous when he gets the Jets on the front foot by attacking.
The Falcons have a strong kicking game and scored two tries from kicks against Townsville. The Jets back three will need to be on their game. Michael Purcell has been excellent bringing the ball back this year and his kick return metres is the fifth most in the ISC with 169 metres. You add in his 31 tackle breaks and kicking to him might not be the smartest play. Purcell showed his versatility by diving over in the second half from dummy half against the Cutters. Jets defence needs to be alert and stay alive both sides, Falcons love a tricky blind side play. The Cutters did the same thing last week week and scored a try. Chance for a big bounce back this week, both teams in similar up and down form and looking to string some wins together.