Big milestones in 2019
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The 2019 Intrust Super Cup season is set to deliver a record-breaking year for Queensland Rugby League, teams, individual players, coaches and clubs in terms of milestones and achievements.
QRL Media have collated the top milestones and achievements to note in 2019.
McDonald on track to play 200th game
Sunshine Coast Falcons prop Liam McDonald is five games away from celebrating 200 Intrust Super Cup games.
The 30-year-old, who has also played at Souths Logan Magpies, Mackay Cutters, Burleigh Bears and Easts Tigers during his rugby league career, is sitting on 195 games. McDonald took to the field for the Falcons 17 times last year.
Whitchurch nearing his 150th game
Redcliffe Dolphins gun Aaron Whitchurch, a fan favourite at the club and former Peter Leis Medal winner, is closing in on 150 games, having played 136.
The 26-year-old winger, who has scored 49 tries, needs to play 14 games this season to reach the 150.
Ten players closing in on 100 games
Ten current Intrust Super Cup players are closing in on the coveted tonne.
PNG Hunters outside back Adex Wera, who has been named at this year's captain, is closest to celebrating the milestone.
Wera has celebrated 100 games with the Hunters, including the 2017 Intrust Super Premiership game against Penrith Panthers, but will celebrate 100 games in the Intrust Super Cup in Round 1 when Hunters take on Tweed Heads Seagulls on Sunday.
Blake Leary, who is playing in France but will rejoin the Burleigh Bears mid season, has played 97 Intrust Super Cup games since 2011.
Leary, who has also played for Northern Pride and Townsville Blackhawks, played 13 games for the Bears last year.
Sunshine Coast Falcons star Todd Murphy, who has also played for Redcliffe Dolphins, Easts Tigers and Norths Devils, only needs to play four more games to reach the 100.
Townsville Blackhawks' Sam Hoare and Shaun Nona have both played 95 games, so needs to play five each this season to reach the milestone.
Others not far off are Norths Devils' Zac Strasser (94), Ipswich Jets' Carlin Anderson (93), Norths Devils' Luke Archer (92), Burleigh Bears' Jamal Fogarty (90) and Sunshine Coast Falcons' Tom Geraghty (90).
Neumann chasing 100 tries
Easts Tigers centre Shane Neumann has scored 95 tries during his rugby league career; he needs to score five tries this season to reach 100 tries.
The 31-year-old scored eight tries for the Tigers last year, so if he can match that he will surpass 100.
Only seven other players have previously scored 100 tries; Wynnum Manly Seagulls' Daniel Ogden has scored a whopping 155 tries, Nathanael Barnes 135, Donald Malone 119, Nick Parfitt 113, Ryan Cullen 112, Liam Georgetown 107 and James Wood 107.
Clubs to celebrate big milestones
Burleigh Bears, guided by coach Jim Lenihan, will celebrate 500 games in Round 1 against Norths Devils at Bishop Park.
During the club's 22 years, they have won three Intrust Super Cup premierships; in 1999, 2004 and 2016.
Match: Devils v Bears
Round 1 -
home Team
Devils
5th Position
away Team
Bears
10th Position
Venue: Bishop Park, Brisbane
Central Queensland Capras have played 494 Intrust Super Cup games, so will celebrate the milestone in Round 6 against PNG Hunters.
Match: Capras v Hunters
Round 6 -
home Team
Capras
14th Position
away Team
Hunters
12th Position
Venue: McIndoe Park, Emerald
Clubs chasing scoring records
It looks like Redcliffe Dolphins will be the first Intrust Super Cup club to bring up 15,000 points; so far in the competition, Dolphins players have amassed a huge 14,978 points.
The biggest points scorers for the Dolphins over the years have been Liam Georgetown (1247 points), Damian Richters (1010 points) and Michael Roberts (555 points).
Central Queensland Capras are not far behind, having scored 14,905 points; they have just 95 points to go to reach the 15,000 points milestone.
The biggest points scorers for the Capras over the years have been Nat Bowman (542 points), Heath Egglestone (398 points) and Graham White (383 points).
Coaches with room to celebrate
Ipswich Jets coaches Ben and Shane Walker are only four games off celebrating coaching 200 games.
The brothers have coached 196 games, which a 58.4 per cent win rate, so will celebrate the big 200 in Round 4 against Northern Pride.
Match: Jets v Pride
Round 4 -
home Team
Jets
13th Position
away Team
Pride
8th Position
Venue: North Ipswich Reserve, Ipswich
The only coaches to have reached the 200-game milestone before this are Wayne Treleaven, who coached 218 games with a 45 per cent win rate; and Rick Stone, who coached 209 games with a 70.8 per cent win rate.
Burleigh Bears coach Jim Lenihan is not far behind, having coached 192 games with a 53.9 per cent win rate.
Lenihan will celebrate the milestone in Round 8 against PNG Hunters.
Match: Bears v Hunters
Round 8 -
home Team
Bears
4th Position
away Team
Hunters
13th Position
Venue: Pizzey Park, Gold Coast
Competition chasing record tries
The Intrust Super Cup competition, which has seen clubs battling it out on the field since 1996, is closing in on a whopping 30,000 tries.
To date, 28,668 tries have been scored; last year players crossed the try line 1300 times.
Tipping is a go
The Intrust Super Cup tipping game is underway, with Round 1 kicking off Saturday.
Tipping is free to join and there’s more than $7000 worth of prizes up for grabs, including Maroon Memberships. Let the fun begin!
Intrust Super Cup app taking the game digital
The Intrust Super Cup app, launched for the 2019 season, means Intrust Super Cup fans have easy access to news, draws, live scores and statistics.
The app is available for Apple and Android products.
Back on Sunday
Televised Intrust Super Cup matches return to the fan-friendly Sunday afternoon slot in 2019.
The Round 1 clash between last year’s semi-finalists – the Ipswich Jets and Townsville Blackhawks – opens Channel Nine’s Sunday afternoon coverage of Queensland’s premier statewide competition.
The Sunday match-day broadcast will be spread across Nine and 9Gem throughout the regular season.
As part of the new and improved broadcast schedule, FOX Sports will also broadcast games in the opening two weeks of the finals, in addition to the coverage across Nine and 9Gem.
