Hastings Deering Colts Round 19 Week 1 preview

Ipswich are coming off two draws in a row (against Dolphins and Tigers), while Norths are aiming to consolidate their win over the Magpies two weeks ago.

Norths got off to a great start with Michael McGrath scoring twice in the first 10 minutes and finishing with a hat-trick just after half time.

Norths are inside the top eight in seventh, but cannot afford a slip up; the defending premiers will not want Easts to gain any ground behind them.

Ipswich had a draw with the Tigers and got off to try-scoring start, but the problem was they let the Tigers score too.

The Jets had three tries by the 30-minute mark, but let Easts have three as well. The Jets need to get the strike back factor out of their game.

Hastings Deering Colts Round 19 Week 1 teams

The Jets only had 45% of the ball so Jets coach Brendon Marshall would have loved the commitment from his side to stay around the contest.

Norths coach Kevin Neighbour said he have spoken to his side about their approach to their last game.

“Against Souths we tried to run the ball a bit wide before we did the tough stuff and we have spoken about that this week,” Neighbour said.

“Ipswich have strong ball carriers and they have well and truly earned their two draws the last two weeks.

“Two of our players who have been going really well is our half Daniel Atkinson and our second rower Terrell Sala who has just joined us.”

In recent weeks, the Magpies have lost to Norths and the Pride had a tough lesson at the hands of the Blackhawks. The Pride are still in the eight, but from here on in, cannot afford any errors.

The Pride are on 22 points with the Cutters and Norths on 21 and Tigers on 20.

A positive the Pride can take from the game against the Blackhawks was the fact they finished strongly, scoring three tries in the last 15 minutes.

Souths just missed too many chances against Norths; they will want to correct that this week. The Magpies did not score until after halftime and by then Norths were away 24-0.

Tweed lost the battle with their neighbours the Bears 44-16. However, they started well and scored three times; the problem was that in the second half, the Bears scored five times to finish all over the top of the Tweed.

In their last game, the Cutters had Garrett Smith having a day out and that gave them the foundation for their win over the Capras.

The Capras were down to 12 twice in the match and showed some ill-discipline. It was 22-6 at the break and the Cutters just stayed the course to win.

Tweed coach Matt King said he was looking for the Seagulls to compete for longer within the games.

“We just have to learn to stay in the game, most points are scored against us from 60-70 minutes,” King said.

“That was my message to the boys after the Bears game.

“We should get players back this week and that is going to set us up from here.

“A positive out of the Bears game was Callum Boomer stepped up and played Intrust Super Cup and made his debut from Colts.

“We want the guys to want to win, but also see that pathway up to (Cup).”

• Round 19 - Week 2 will be played next weekend with all other remaining clubs in action.