Intrust Super Cup Wrap Up Round 17
Round 17 of the Intrust Super Cup featured an emotional homecoming for the Sunshine Coast Falcons as they returned to the same place they farewelled James Ackerman during the week for their first home game since the tragic event. A big crowd were on hand to see a brave performance that was ultimately not enough to win.
Elsewhere, there was the second draw of the season at Dolphin Oval as Redcliffe denied the PNG Hunters from a tenth straight win. The Grand Final replay went the way of last year’s premiers. And the three lop sided match ups on paper went the way of the favourites, but not by the same margins as earlier in the season.
Here’s the ladder after 17 rounds.
| Pld | W | D | L | B | F | A | +/- | ||
| Townsville Blackhawks | 17 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 600 | 214 | 386 | 30 |
| PNG Hunters | 17 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 502 | 340 | 162 | 27 |
| Ipswich Jets | 17 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 522 | 354 | 168 | 26 |
| Wynnum Manly Seagulls | 17 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 453 | 288 | 165 | 26 |
| Easts Tigers | 17 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 434 | 269 | 165 | 21 |
| Mackay Cutters | 17 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 367 | 303 | 64 | 20 |
| Northern Pride | 17 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 351 | 330 | 21 | 20 |
| Burleigh Bears | 17 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 303 | 428 | -125 | 18 |
| Tweed Heads Seagulls | 17 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 350 | 352 | -2 | 15 |
| Redcliffe Dolphins | 17 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 393 | 406 | -13 | 15 |
| Souths Logan Magpies | 17 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 351 | 488 | -137 | 12 |
| Sunshine Coast Falcons | 17 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 240 | 440 | -200 | 11 |
| Norths Devils | 17 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 218 | 494 | -276 | 9 |
| CQ Capras | 17 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 222 | 600 | -378 | 6 |
TOWNSVILLE 46 def BURLEIGH BEARS 12 @ Pizzey Park (H/T 16-6)
Burleigh welcomed the Townsville Blackhawks to the Gold Coast very keen to prove the 78-6 loss in Townsville earlier in the year was a very off day. They had their best chance of an upset with the Origin affected Cowboys and injuries affected the Blackhawks.
Despite this it was business as usual for the Townsville side as they scored within 3 minutes of the kick off, and added another two by the 31st to lead 16 – 0. Burleigh showed they were up for the fight and responded with their first just three minutes to limit the damage to 16-6 at half time.
Burleigh couldn’t stay with Townsville in the second half as the visitors scored five tries to one, including a run of three tries from the 65th minute to the 73rd to ensure they complete the double over the Bears.
Burleigh get the chance to do the double over Redcliffe next weekend at home, and the Blackhawks return to Townsville to play the Devils.
MACKAY CUTTERS 32 def SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS 14 @ Sunshine Coast Stadium (H/T 16-14)
The Sunshine Coast Falcons returned to the field for the first time since James Ackerman’s death, and in a touching memorial to the young prop they permanently retired the number 8.
It was a thankless task for the Mackay Cutters to attempt to break through the emotion and get the two points, but that is what they did, and stopped a mini slump of two straight losses.
It looked like it could be the home win all the fans wanted in the first half as the team traded tries, and at 16-14 by the end of the first half it was a real possibility.
Mackay showed their professionalism in the second half and kept the Falcons scoreless whilst putting on another three tries to run out 32-14 winner. They get the week off to rest and get ready for the final run of the season. Sunshine Coast get a slightly easier task as they welcome the Tweed Heads Seagulls who they beat earlier in the season.
NORTHERN PRIDE 24 def EASTS TIGERS 12 @ Barlow Park (H/T 10-0)
The battle between last year’s grand finalists continue in Cairns on Saturday night, with the Northern Pride looking to turn around the 1st round loss to the Tigers, and the Tigers taking solace from last year’s grand final loss with a 2015 double over the Pride.
It was the home side who looked the most likely throughout, as they skipped out to a 10-0 lead after 20 minutes, which remained the score until the half time break.
The Pride were also first to score in the second half and at 16-0 it looked as if the two points would be staying in Cairns. But the Tigers have shown tremendous character over the last month, and it was no surprise to see them claw back to 18-12, and with enough time left to complete the comeback.
Unfortunately for Easts the Pride closed out the game with the final try of the match and a 24-12 win was all theirs. The Pride can thank the Magpies for bringing their home game to Tully next week, saving them some travel. Whilst the game of the round is at Tapout Energy Stadium next week when Ipswich arrive to play the Tigers.
In a great gesture to the recent tragedies in the Intrust Super Cup, the Pride retired both the 7 and 8 jerseys for the night.
REDCLIFFE DOLPHINS 28 drew PNG HUNTERS 28 @ Dolphin Oval (H/T Red 18-16)
Redcliffe really turned up and gave it to the PNG Hunters who gave back and a 28 all draw was a fair result that kept everyone entertained.
Read our full match report here – https://nothingbutleague.com/hunters-and-phins-play-out-entertaining-draw/
Redcliffe can make it three games without loss down at Burleigh next weekend, whilst the PNG Hunters get the weekend off.
IPSWICH JETS 52 def SOUTHS LOGAN MAPGIES 34 @ North Ipswich Reserve (H/T 30-10)
Leading into this game you were going to expect points, with 152 scored in the previous two meetings between the sides. And it was the case again with another 86 scored in Ipswich in Sunday afternoon, with the winning margin not quite doing the Magpies justice.
It was Indigenous Appreciation game at Ipswich on Sunday, but it was also attacking rugby league appreciation day with 16 tries in all.
Souths Logan appeared to be in the mood to ruin the party when they scored first, but four tries in a row to the Jets had their lead up to 24-6 with their usual array of attacking football. The Magpies scored with 5 minutes to go until half time, but there no time to savour the try as the Jets hit back to lead 30-10 at half time.
The start of the second half was all about the Magpies as they piled on three tries in seven minutes to get within six points of Ipswich. However the Jets still had more tries in them, and they put on another two to extend their lead back out 40-24. Souths Logan did hit back not long after to reduce the gap to ten with 20 minutes to go. It looked at this stage that the end total of points could be close to 100.
Souths Logan hung in there in the final parts of the game as the teams swapped tries, but ultimately Ipswich had just a little more and got the extra tries to give them an 18 win. The Jets will play Easts next weekend in the TV game, and the Magpies take their home game against the Pride to Tully.
WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 40 def NORTHS DEVILS 16 @ Bishop Park (H/T 16-6)
Norths were looking to turn around a 62 point loss suffered at BMD Kougari Oval earlier in the season, but like a lot days at Bishop Park this year it wasn’t to be their day as the Wynnum Manly Seagulls continue their march to yet another finals campaign.
It looked like it could be a very bad day for the Devils as Wynnum scored three unanswered tries to lead 16-0, but the Devils hit back before half time to ensure it was only a 10 point deficit at the break.
The teams traded tries in the second half as the Devils showed there’s some promise left for the rest of the season, but the Seagulls proved they are a class above the current Norths side as their four tries were enough and more to counter the home side’s two.
Wynnum Manly return home for an easier game on paper against the luckless Capras next weekend, whilst it doesn’t get any tougher for Norths as they go to table topping Townsville.
TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS 46 (Samsen O’Neill 2, Zac Santo, Kyle Feldt, Mosese Pangai, Jonathan Reuben, Tom Humble, Jack Kelleher tries; Kyle Feldt 7 goals) def BURLEIGH BEARS 12 (Jamie Anderson, Dimitri Pelo tries; Khan Ahwang 2 goals) at Pizzey Park.
MACKAY CUTTERS 32 (Buchanan Rawhiti 2, Sam Clune, Jordan Pereira, Justin Tavae, Josh Chudleigh tries; Liam Taylor 4 goals) def SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS 14 (Young Tonumaipea, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Sam Young tries; Ryan Hansen goal) at Sunshine coast Stadium
NORTHERN PRIDE 24 (Linc Port, Justin Castellaro, Luke George, Keelan White tries; Justin Castellaro 4 goals) def EASTS TIGERS 12 (Michael Kai 2 tries; Shaun Nona 2)
REDCLIFFE DOLPHINS (Jon Green 2, Josh Beehag, Josh Rudolph, Anthony Cherrington tries; Luke Capewell 4 goals) drew PNG HUNTERS 28 (Wartovo Puara 2, Stargroth Amean, Israel Eliab, Oti Bland Tony tries; Noel Zeming 4 goals) at Dolphin Oval
IPSWICH JETS 52 (Nemani Valekapa 2, Brandon McGrady 2, Carlin Anderson, Landon Hayes, Sam Martin, Kurt Capewell, Haydan Lipp tries; Carlin Anderson 8 goals) def SOUTHS LOGAN MAGPIES 34 (Tim Brooks 3, Scott Doyle, Rhys Jacks, Andrew Edwards, Joe Boyce tries; Scott Doyle 3 goals) at North Ipswich Reserve.
WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 40 (John Te Reo 2, Peter Gubb, Matthew Grieve, Patrick Templeton, Matthew Seamark, Brendon Gibb tries; Matthew Seamark 6 goals) def NORTHS DEVILS 16 (Joel Bailey 2, Michael Lucas tries; Liam Tyson 2 goals) at Bishop Park.
