Time for the annual Intrust Super Cup Country Week this weekend, where for one week the competition goes out to towns around Queensland and PNG in new locations to give a little bit of rugby league joy.
Seven new locations are in for the 2018 edition, including a first Intrust Super Cup game in Lae for the PNG Hunters.
This weekend has been going for several seasons now, and it is one that most fans of the Intrust Super Cup look forward to. It is an initiative that would be great if implemented in the NRL.
Below is a quick game by game preview, plus a little bit of information on each of the Intrust Super Cup Country Week locations.
SAT 1:10pm Redcliffe Dolphins v Easts Tigers at Gilbert Oval, Goondiwindi
Redcliffe are the new competition leaders after defeating Burleigh in a most entertaining game at Dolphin Oval, having come from behind after an early Bears blitz. The Tigers have climbed up to seventh on the back of four straight wins, They are on the same points as sixth placed Souths Logan, and only 14 points behind in for and against. They could return to the top 6 this weekend.
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Distance for Easts Tigers 343km — Distance for Redcliffe 383km
Know the Local Side: Goondiwindi Boars
Tourist Bit – There’s a statue in town for one of the country’s most loved racehorses – Gunsynd.
SAT 3pm- Burleigh Bears v CQ Capras at Eskdale Park, Maryborough
Burliegh Bears have lost two in a row, and the competition lead in the process in recent weeks, but their early blitz against Redcliffe shows they are still a dangerous prospect, if they som of their players back from injury. Central Capras came back to reality last weekend against Norths with a thumping loss, they had previously won their last two, including the all important match against Mackay, which should see them avoid last this season.
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Distance for Central Capras 382km — Distance for Burleigh Bears 343km
Know the Local Side: Maryborough Brothers
Tourist Bit – Maryborough is the Home of Mary Poppins, so what better way to spend your time and balance the rugby league. There’s also the Fairies of Bauple Mountain, and Tiaro on the way up from the South East.
SAT 4pm – Sunshine Coast Falcons v Mackay Cutters at Denison Park, Bowen
The Sunshine Coast Falcons got back into winner’s circle last weekend, ending a two game losing streak, and sit head of the teams on 18 points, but are the only ones with a positive for and against. Mackay are on a horror run of losses, eight in a row and haven’t won since Round 9. Their last three games has seen a for and against total of 16-118.
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Distance for Mackay 194km — Distance for Sunshine Coast 1061km
Know the Local Side: Bowen
Tourist Bit – Where else but to the Giant Mango could you possibly go and visit.
SAT 4pm – Northern Pride v Ipswich Jets at John Street Oval, Cooktown
After a great winning run the Northern Pride were within touching distance of the leaders of the Intrust Super Cup, but two losses in a row have seen them fall away and drop to fifth. Still good for finals football. Ipswich’s results have been hot and cold over the last month, they led Townsville in Townsville last weekend, but eventually went down. They are in the group of teams on 18 points in a constantly changing midfield pack. A few wins in a ow will mean finals football.
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Distance for Northern Pride 328km — Distance for Ipswich Jets 2023km
Know the Local Side: Cooktown Crocs
Tourist Bit – The home of the Cooktown Orchid – Queensland’s Floral Emblem.
SAT 6pm – Souths Logan Magpies v Wynnum Manly Seagulls at John Henry Memorial Oval, Normanton
Along, long way to go for these two Brisbane based sides for their Intrust Super Cup Country Week match in Normanton. Souths Logan stopped a worryingly increasing run of losses last weekend with a good win at Piggabeen, and clung onto their top 6 spots as a result. Wynnum are at the stage where they need to win every game to make the finals, playing away this weekend shouldn’t be too big a worry as all but one of their wins this season have come away from home.
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Distance for Souths Logan 2083km — Distance for Wynnum 2104km
Know the Local Side: Normanton Stingers
Tourist Bit – Ride the Gulflander train to Croydon and back. But better get up on the Wednesday for the weekly trip.
SUN 2pm – Tweed Heads Seagulls v Townsville Blackhawks at Flinders Sports Ground, Hughenden
The Tweed Heads Seagulls are proof of the openness of this year’s competition, as they head into the Intrust Super Cup Country Week on the back of three straight losses and sit 11th, this is after a glorious winning run which saw the Seagulls in the top 6 not too long ago. Townsville have lost only one of their last 6, and are currently locked in the ever-changing battle for top spot of the Intrust Super Cup ladder with Redcliffe and Burleigh.
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Distance for Tweed Heads 1699km — Distance for Townsville 390km
Know the Local Side: Hughenden Bulls
Tourist Bit – Home of the Hughenden Dinosaur Festival, and you can see a replica of a Muttaburrasaurus,, the local dinosaur.
SUN 3pm – PNG Hunters v Norths Devils at Lae Rugby League Oval
The PNG Hunters title defence is hanging in there, a win last weekend over the Northern Pride has them on 18 points with four other teams, two points shy of sixth place. But if they want to seriously push for finals they will need more consistent wins, both home and away. They have alternated win and loss each weekend since Round 12. Norths Devils meanwhile are back in form and up to fourth on the back of three straight wins including away win at Burliegh and flogging Central at home. The Devils did beat the Hunters in PNG last season.
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Distance for PNG Hunters 45min flight — Distance for Norths 6 hour flight
Know the Local Side: Lae Snax Tigers
Tourist Bit – The Kokoda trail is between Port Moresby and Lae, perhaps do the trek whilst you’re in PNG.
THE TIPS
BRENDAN O’FARRELL – CEO INTRUST SUPER
REDCLIFFE DOLPHINS
BURLEIGH BEARS
SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS
NORTHERN PRIDE
SOUTHS LOGAN MAGPIES
TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS
PNG HUNTERS
ADRIAN VOWLES – FOG
coming soon
SHANNON MEYER – ISC CONTRIBUTOR
REDCLIFFE DOLPHINS
BURLEIGH BEARS
SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS
IPSWICH JETS
SOUTHS LOGAN MAGPIES
TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS
PNG HUNTERS
THE TEAMS
Redcliffe Dolphins v Easts Tigers
Redcliffe Dolphins
1. Josh Beehag 2. Jonus Pearson 3. Tom Opacic 4. Moses Pangai 5. Jeremy Hawkins 6. Bryce Donovan 7. Cameron Cullen (c) 8. Nathan Watts 9. Hugh Pratt 10. Sam Anderson 11. Toby Rudolf 12. Aaron Whitchurch 13. Jamil Hopoate 14. Scott Schulte 15. James Taylor 16. Tom Geraghty 17. Sheldon Pitama
Easts Tigers
1. Scott Drinkwater 2. Linc Port 4. Marion Seve 3. Shane Neumann 5. Jarrod McInally 6. Billy Walters 7. Conor Carey 8. Dave Tyrrell 9. Chris Ostwald 10. Brett Greinke 11. Jake Foster (c) 12. Patrick Kaufusi 13. Jack Svendsen 14. James Salter 15. Kelma Tuilagi 16. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui 17. Albert Vete 18. Jarred Tuite
Burleigh Bears v CQ Capras
Burleigh Bears
1. Kurtis Rowe 2. Troy Leo 3. Henare Wells 4. Joshua Berkers 5. Toby McIntosh 6. Dylan Phythian 7. Josh Rogers 8. Luke Page (c) 9. Pat Politoni 10. Matt White 11. Hayden Schwass 12. Matthew Robinson 13. Sam Coster 14. Jeff Lynch 15. Darius Farmer 16. Tyler Sparkes 17. Kai O’Donnell
CQ Capras
1. Zeik Foster 2. Junior Kirisome 3. Connor Broadhurst 4. Nathan Bassani 5. Chanel Seigafo 6. Maipele Morseau 7. Blake Goodman 8. Oliver Percy (c) 9. Billy Gilbert 10. Jerry Key (c) 11. Bill Cullen 12. Dave Taylor 13. Jamie Hill 14. Dave Cowhan 15. Luke George 16. Aaron Flanagan 17. Brad Lupi 18. Jack Madden 19. Wade Carra
Sunshine Coast Falcons v Mackay Cutters
Sunshine Coast Falcons
1. Ryan Papenhuyzen 2. Matt Soper-Lawler 3. Justin Olam 4. Sandor Earl 5. Iliesa Ratuva 6. Caleb Daunt 7. Rhys Jacks 18. Lachlan Timm 9. Harry Grant 10. Lachlan Roe 11. Dane Hogan (c) 12. Christopher Lewis 13. Thomas Eisenhuth 14. Sam Burns 15. Jye Ballinger 16. Louis Geraghty 17. Martin Cordwell 19. Nick Timm
Mackay Cutters
1. Lachlan Coote 2. Yamba Bowie 3. Nathan Saumalu 4. Blake Atherton 5. Johnny Faletagoa’i 6. Kyle Laybutt 7. Nicho Hynes (c) 8. Jordan Grant 9. Jayden Hodges 10. Nicholas Brown 11. Kellen Jenner 12. Brenden Treston 13. Bennett Leslie 14. Cooper Bambling 15. Lona Kaifoto 16. Jack Brock 17. Jye Andersen 18. Sam Murphy
Northern Pride v Ipswich Jets
Northern Pride
1. Matthew Musumeci 2. Jonico Hardwick 3. Brett Anderson 4. Javid Bowen 5. Shawn Bowen 6. Jordan Biondi-Odo 7. Jack Campagnolo 8. William Bugden 9. Ryan Ghietti (c) 10. Sheldon Powe-Hobbs 11. Graham Clark 12. Ethan Lowe 13. David Murphy 14. Connor Jones 15. Emry Pere 16. Darryn Schonig 17. Troy Kapea 18. Jack Murphy 19. Jared Allen 20. Tom Hancock
Ipswich Jets
1. Michael Purcell 2. Marmin Barba 3. Ben White 4. Isimeeli Hafoka 5. Richie Pandia 6. Chris Ash 7. Dane Phillips 8. Tyson Lofipo 9. Jayden Connors 10. Nat Neale (c) 17. Billy McConnachie 12. Seb Pandia 13. Ben Shea 11. Rowan Winterfield 15. Sam Caslick 16. Huskie Teutau 18. Wes Conlon 19. Mitch Carpenter
Souths Logan Magpies v Wynnum Manly Seagulls
Souths Logan Magpies
1. Javarn White 2. Benaiah Bowie 3. Lenny Magey 4. Dan Russell 5. Corey Allan 6. Guy Hamilton 7. Sam Scarlett 8. George Fai 9. Travis Waddell (c) 10. Thomas Flegler 11. Brendon Gibb 12. Simi Fatafehi 13. Rhys Melville 14. Manaia Cherrington 15. Sam Lavea 16. Daniel Tamou 17. Sam Elliott
Wynnum Manly Seagulls
1. Patrick Templeman 2. Tumoana Halkyard 3. Edward Burns 4. Delouise Hoeter 5. Daniel Ogden 6. Shaun Nona 7. Michael Dobson 8. Stedman Lefau 9. Mitch Cronin 10. Keenan Palasia 11. Alex Barr 12. Adam Tuimavave-Gerrard 13. Max Elliott 14. Jayden Berrell 15. Mitch Frei 16. Patrick Carrigan 17. Lachlan Lee 18. Aaron Rockley 19. Jeriah Goodrich 20. Junior Pita 21. Til Vea
Tweed Heads Seagulls v Townsville Blackhawks
Tweed Heads Seagulls
1. Alex Grant 5. Kiah Cooper 3. Talor Walters 4. Ryland Jacobs 2. Tevita Folau 6. Lindon McGrady 7. Kane Elgey 8. Kalani Going 9. Eli Levido 16. Maia Sands 11. Lamar Manuel-Liolevave (c) 12. Bryce Cartwright 13. Ryan Simpkins (c) 10. Jarrod Morfett 14. Jack Cook 15. Reece Summer 17. Rory Lillis
Townsville Blackhawks
1. Zachary Santo 2. Jonathon Reuben 3. Shaun Hudson 4. Justin O’Neill 5. Carlin Anderson 6. Zach Clay 7. Jaelen Feeney 8. Joe Boyce 9. Krys Freeman 10. Cade Maloney 11. Jake Marketo (c) 12. Levi Dodd 13. Temone Power 16. Daniel Beasley 17. Andrew Davey 19. Brent Woolf 22. Sione Lousi
PNG Hunters v Norths Devils
PNG Hunters
1. Edene Gebbie 2. Junior Rau 3. Thompson Teteh 4. Adex Wera 5. Brendon Gotuno 6. Ase Boas (c) 7. Watson Boas 8. Enock Maki 9. Wartovo Puara 10. Moses Meninga 11. Nixon Putt 12. Willie Minoga 13. Stanton Albert 14. Charlie Simon 15. Wawa Paul 16. Mekenzie Yei 17. Dilbert Issac 18. Silas Gahuna 19. Ila Alu 20. Butler Morris
Norths Devils
1. Jack Ahearn (c) 2. Herbie Farnworth 3. Luke Pollock 4. Gehamat Shibasaki 5. Paul Ulberg 6. Zach Strasser 7. Troy Dargan 8. Jamayne Taunoa-Brown 9. Alex Bishop 10. Riley Leota 11. Oshae Tuiasau 12. Brandon Lee 13. John Palavi (c) 14. Guy Williams 15. Sam Tagataese 16. Carne Doyle-Manga 17. Moses Noovao-McGreal 19. Jack Miers
https://nothingbutleague.com/2018/07/19/weekly-wrap-intrust-super-premiership/
