Ipswich captain Keiron Lander commanded centre stage in the victorious Jets’ dressing room and proudly announced that you don’t come to Redcliffe and get the two points without earning it.
Lander expressed how proud he was of his teammates and attributed the 30-14 to sheer hard work.
Lander’s message is one that doesn’t always need to be stated, as all visiting teams know that when you cross the Houghton Highway and onto Peninsula turf, things will not be given away and this match had been no different.
The Ipswich Jets travelled to Redcliffe determined to start well and not be chasing points. For the third time this year Lander led the way and scored the first try of the game, getting his side off to the best possible start by bulldozing his way over to the left of the posts.
The Dolphins struck back with some enterprising play when Stewart Mills offloaded to Liam Georgetown, who found Marty Hatfield on the inside to score and make it 4-4 after 22 minutes.
A Dolphins’ error saw the Jets counter attack switching it quickly to the left hand side and finding Nemani Valekapa, who ran 60 meters to score a fantastic try showcasing all his skills with his pace and fend on show before placing the ball in the left hand corner and taking the Jets to 8-4 after 29 minutes.
The Jets consolidated the lead with Wes Conlon taking the two points twice right on half-time to take the Jets to 12-4 at half time.
The Jets had run Redcliffe’s bigger pack around in the first half and on a hot day the Jets would look to capitalise by using more ball movement and switches of play back inside to keep the Dolphins moving. The Jets were confident that the gaps would appear but Ben and Shane Walker stated at half time that the right would have to be earned by starting the 40 minutes again.
Ipswich Jets front-row iron man and XXXX man of the match Rod Griffin played the whole first half contributing his normal amount of brutal defence, footwork, and attacking lines that constantly test defence. Griffin’s current form must have Queensland Residents selectors finding it impossible to keep him out.
The message at half time was heard and acted on when Jets winger Tautalatasi Tasi smashed his way over from dummy half on the left hand side to extend the Jets lead to 18-4.
Redcliffe’s Liam Georgetown touched down in the right hand corner soon after to put the Dolphins back in the back.
But the Jets ripped the game away from Redcliffe once more when Matt Parcell, Nemani Valekapa and Wes Conlon were involved in the lead up work to see Barba turn on the after burners and sprint down field to score and take the Jets out to 24-8 with 13 minutes to go.
From the start of the game Dane Phillips had peppered the Dolphins with bombs and a variety of kicks that seemed to have the home team guessing where they were going to land. Phillips received his reward when he kicked for himself and scored under the posts to ice the Jets’ win with 10 minutes to go.
Mills scored a consolation try in the closing stages, showing again that Redcliffe keep going until fulltime.
IPSWICH JETS 30 (Nemani Valekapa, Tautalatasi Tasi, Dane Phillips, Keiron Lander, Marmin Barba tries; Wes Conlon 5 goals) def REDCLIFFE DOLPHINS 14 (Stewart Mills, Marty Hatfield, Liam Georgetown tries; Adrian Davis goal) at Dolphin Oval.
Final teams
Redcliffe Dolphins: 21. Stewart Mills 2. Paul Byrnes 3. Aaron Whitchurch 4. Marty Hatfield (c) 5. Liam Georgetown 6. Zach Strasser 7. Adrian Davis 8. Jon Green 9. Tom Rowles 10. David Hala 11. Sarafu Fatiaki 12. Joe Bradley 13. James Ackerman 14. Cameron Cullen 15. Jared Cherry 16. Martin Cordwell 17. Jake Marketo
Ipswich Jets: 1. Javarn White 2. Kurt Capewell 3. Nemani Valekapa 4. Brendon Marshall 5. Tautalatasi Tasi 6. Josh Cleeland 7. Dane Phillips 8. Kurtis Lingwoodock 9. Troy O'Sullivan 10. Rod Griffin 11. Josh Seage 12. Sam Martin 13. Keiron Lander (c) 14. Tariki Peneha 17. Marmin Barba 19. Wes Conlon 22. Matt Parcell
