Ipswich Jets v Easts Tigers at North Ipswich Reserve on Sunday, September 13 – 1.35pm (Channel 9 / WIN / NBN)
Ipswich Jets: 1. Carlin Anderson 2. Marmin Barba 3. Richard Pandia 4. Nemani Valekapa 5. Brendon McGrady 6. Josh Cleeland 7. Dane Phillips 8. Josh Seage 9. Matt Parcell 10. Rod Griffin 11. Sam Martin 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Keiron Lander (c) 15. Kurtis Lingwoodock 16. Billy McConnachie 17. Liam Capewell 22. Fakahoko Teutau
Coach: Ben Walker and Shane Walker
Easts Tigers: 1. Donald Malone 2. Brandon Downey 3. Shane Neumann 4. Michael Kai 5. Richard Kennar 6. Shaun Nona 19. Brentt Warr 8. Liam McDonald 9. Tommy Butterfield (c) 10. Felise Kaufusi 11. Dayne Weston 12. Jake Foster 13. Troy Giess 14. Mathew Pitman 15. Matthew Zgrajewski 16. Francis Tualau 17. Billy Walters 18. Foisa Peni
Coach: Craig Ingebrigtsen
Overall head to head: Easts 20 Ipswich 19 Drawn 1.
In 2015 these teams have clashed twice for one win each, both winning at home.
IPSWICH JETS 32 (Kurt Capewell 2, Marmin Barba, Josh Cleeland, Sam Martin tries; Carlin Anderson 6 goals) def EASTS TIGERS 24 (Eddie Tautali, Richie Kennar, Tommy Butterfield, Jake Foster tries; Shaun Nona 4 goals) at North Ipswich Reserve.
EASTS TIGERS 18 (Shane Neumann 2, Michael Kai, Mahe Fonua tries; Shaun Nona goal) def IPSWICH JETS 16 (Richard Pandia, Brandon McGrady, Billy McConnachie tries; Carlin Anderson 2 goals) at Tapout Energy Stadium, Langlands Park.
Finals History
2002 Qualifying Final – Langlands – Ipswich 28 (M.Chalk, M.Jack, A.Bulow, B.Lindsay, R.Bird tries; R.Bird 4 goals) def Easts 22 (B.Liston 2, G.Allan 2, J.Bulgarelli tries; S.Thorburn goal)
2007 Elimination Final – Nth Ipswich – Ipswich 18 (R.Dodd 2, D.Malone, J.Bulgarelli tries; J.Lewis goal) def Easts 16 (S.Beattie, K.Stephensen, A.Boyd tries; M.Lockyer 2 goals)
Jets and Tigers last clashed in the finals on August 25, 2007 in a wet old school finals’ classic at the North Ipswich Reserve. The Jets came away with a last second 18-16 win in driving rain after a Josh Lewis 40/20 set the Jets up for one more crack. Lewis again stepped up to set up the winning try with a pin point kick and then kicked the conversion from the sideline to win the game and for the Jets to progress to week two against Tweed.
Week two finals; 2015
This weekend the Tigers will be coming off a tough road trip to Wynnum. Easts led 26 – 6 at half time and they quickly turned that into 32 – 6 just after the break. However in a 10 minute period the Seagulls then went from 6 to 24 points and put all the pressure back on the Tigers.
The Tigers held on in the end but Wynnum gave them a fright before full time.
Similarly the Jets started on fire in their elimination final against the Pride and after 15 minutes had made the Pride make 60 tackles compared to the Jets 6. The Jets had taken advantage and were up 18 – 0 before the Pride struck back to go to half time 24 – 16. In the second half the Jets racked up points and ended putting 50 on the premiers.
This brings us to week two, and the Jets and Tigers playing off to see who will take on the loser of the Hunters v Blackhawks game for the spot in the Grand Final.
These two teams are rich in history and a healthy dislike of each other. Contrasting styles the Tigers are the Storm like clinical precision that has seen them make the last two Grand Finals. While the Jets play to their strength and style which is backing their skills with plenty of football.
Easts have played 31 finals in the Intrust Super Cup for 15 wins and 16 losses. The Jets have played finals 17 times since 1996 and won 7. Under the co-coaching of Ben and Shane Walker it is 3 from 7 finals games since 2011.
Against Wynnum the Tigers started well with Tom Butterfield, Shaun Nona and Brent Warr all attacking with runs that asked plenty of questions and finding options.
The Tigers love to attack to the right and Richard Kennar the big winger is a prime target and is the Tigers’ leading try scorer this season with 13.
Nona and Warr set up on that side with runners sweeping around to create the extra man and give Kennar some space, however the big winger doesn’t need too much.
The other Tigers’ danger man is hooker Tom Butterfield. He is like an extra half on the field and will take control of the ball and the attack. If the Jets assume the ball is gone then Butterfield will be as well. When defending against Butterfield on their own line the Jets will be determined to not allow him any space or time.
The Tigers will also go to the line and look for big bodies like Kaufusi and Foster to crash over.
Shaun Nona is another player the Jets will look to pressure and make sure he has to take options he doesn’t want to. Nona is the Tigers’ leading point scorer this year with 156 points.
The Jets started on fire against the Pride and dominated the opening 15 minutes. The Jets had three more sets at half time than their opposition and from there the Pride never recovered.
The Pride had three more penalties and that allowed them to gain field position.
The game ebbed and flowed but whenever the Pride gained some momentum it was taken away again by the Jets. By the end of the game the Jets had had 55% of the ball and four more sets which they made full use of scoring 9 tries.
The Jets get plenty of attention for their attack but the last three weeks have seen the Jets’ defence record season lows for mis-tackles, against Tweed 19, Sunny Coast 17 and Pride 16.
That is nearly half of their season average of 33 mis-tackles per game. The Jets’ defence is firing at the right time of the season.
The Jets’ first halves are getting them off to a great start. The Pride game was the Jets 17th time this year they’ve led at half time and of those 17 games the Jets have gone onto win 14. The Jets have lost to Wynnum, Townsville and Burleigh after leading at half time.
While the Jets’ focus will be Butterfield, the Tigers will be watching Matt Parcell. Parcell was the XXXX man of the match against the Pride and was outstanding scoring two tries and making 39 tackles without a miss.
Butterfield v Parcell will be the greatest clash of the hookers since Pretty Woman.
Parcell was matched by Billy McConnachie, Rod Griffin, and Carlin Anderson. McConnachie is a surprise packet. At times you think he’s an old school hard hitting forward who does his job but then he scores a try like he did on Sunday by stepping past three defenders and you’re reminded of the great skill level he possesses. McConnachie is not only skilful but shows that skill running lines that no one will. No stat shows you the hits he puts on or the courage he shows every week.
McConnachie contributed 16 tackles and no misses, 1try, 1 line break and 110m from 11 hit ups.
The biggest mountain in PNG is Mount Wilhelm and they might need to rename it Mount Griffin after Rod Griffin’s mountain effort against the Pride.
On Sunday he played 66 minutes, for 308 m, 21 hit ups, 3 offloads, 26 tackles, and 0 misses. Griffin is the Jets’ forward leader.
One of the two certainties we forecast about last week’s game was that the Jets would score a try for the ages andCarlin Anderson now owns a try that they will talk about for years to come. Anderson is a footballer pure and simple. He reads the play and he puts himself in the right spot and acts on things instinctively.
Anderson’s 9 goals was the second time a Jet has kicked 9 goals in an Intrust Super Cup game with Chris Lawler also completing the feat in 2000 v Souths.
Anderson’s 26 points through 9 goals and 2 tries also brought up his 200th point for the year and he now sits on 204 points for the year.
This is finals football and will be nice and firey. The last time these two sides clashed the Tigers sledged the Jets calling them nothing but touch football players.
The Tigers will be favourites for this game as they have the finals’ experience that the Jets lack and they want to make the last two years right. The Tigers play the style that convention says wins finals and while the league community is intrigued by the Jets they still question if the Jets can hold on when finals are close.
If you require further information please contact Wayne Wendt on 0411 517 495.