Historic rivalry headlines Round 2

The visitors are coming off a loss to the Wynnum Manly Seagulls 26-24, and despite the Devils starting well by scoring three tries in the first 30 minutes, the Seagulls found flight to score four tries in 24 minutes.

Norths coach Kevin Neighbour knows what the Devils have to do this round to get the win.

“I think the good thing out of the loss to Wynnum was that our players now know that this isn’t a junior competition,” Neighbour said.

“You’re not just rolling out and running around anymore. I think they found out first hand last week just how strong the Mal Meninga Cup is in 2021."

On what needs to be rectified, Neighbour wasn’t looking next door but in his own backyard.

“We just need to tighten up our marker defence... a few times we jumped out and engaged runners we shouldn’t have been," the Devils coach said.

“That then left our A defenders exposed and vulnerable.

“We will be fixing that, but on the whole, our winger George Henry Monaei was good for us as was our front rower Felix Faatili.”

Last week, the Tigers swam with the Dolphins but got mauled by Flipper.

The Tigers only had 39 per cent of possession and that makes it hard to win any games of football. They were also made to tackle a mountain of work with 81 more tackles than their opposition.

Conceding 11 penalties, the Tigers put themselves under too much pressure.

Leading the newly-rebranded club away from starting the season with two losses will be Tigers legend Isaac Kaufmann, calling on his 158 games of Intrust Super Cup experience to help his young side.

“I think we learnt a valuable lesson in Round 1. We have a young team and had some lessons to learn,” Kaufmann said.

“We kept giving them possession and ball in good position and the Dolphins are too good not to take advantage of that.

“Our discipline let us down. We started the game with three penalties against us.”

The rest of the round will see plenty of Auswide Bank Mal Meninga Cup action across the state, with the Sunshine Coast Falcons taking on Wide Bay Bulls.

Round 2 brings together two teams that didn’t have the best first round experience.

The Falcons didn’t enjoy their road trip to Bundaberg. With only 45 percent of the ball last start, the Coast will need to fix their 64 missed tackles.

Wide Bay had a similar week and will be looking to overturn a 58 percent completion rate that just kept giving the ball to the Mustangs.

Wynnum Manly take on the Dolphins after a come-from-behind two-point victory.

The Seagulls started the season slowly but moved on quickly with a powerful 25-minute period, but standing in their way will be the Dolphins who were exceptional last weekend with a 38-6 win over the Tigers.

Their defence was extraordinary only missing 27 tackles and taking full advantage of the 11 penalties the Tigers handed them.

Up north, the Pride face Townsville Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks dealt with the Cutters in a savage way to start their competition with a big 48-10 win, but the Pride will be fresh from a bye.

Townsville had the scoreboard attendant working hard early with four tries in the first 25 minutes to give them a 34-4 half-time lead and being more fast and powerful with the ball, the visitors were given plenty of chances to show their skills with a full eight minutes more holding onto the ball.

Round 1 winners Western Mustangs and Central Queensland Capras will face off at Wandoan.

It's set to be a battle of the half centuries with both the Capras and Mustangs raising their bat for 50 in Round 1 - the Capras having a glorious win over the Falcons and the Mustangs rattling the fence against Wide Bay.

The Capras made great ground with the ball making 559 more metres than the Falcons as well as nine line-breaks.

The Mustangs only had 47 percent of the ball but what they did with it counted, scoring nine tries from 10 line-breaks.

The Ipswich Jets will be aiming for a win when they take on Burleigh Bears.

The Jets were so close to taking down the Seagulls but just couldn’t get there in the end. losing by a mere two points.

Ipswich had 49 percent of the ball and made two more line-breaks than the Seagulls, but missed two more tackles.

The Bears hosted Souths Logan on the Coast and came away with a 38-28 win, making eight line-breaks and their kicking game gained them momentum.

The Magpies and Tweed Seagulls will close the round on Sunday with the match broadcast live on QRL.com.au and the QRL Facebook page.

The Magpies did a lot right in Round 1, except for winning on the scoreboard.

They dominated the ball with 53 percent and had the ball two minutes more than the Bears, but the difference was five line-breaks to eight.

The boys from the Tweed took care of Ipswich at home, winning by two points.

In what was an even game, the Seagulls just did the little things right at the right time.

The Seagulls missed less tackles and gave away less penalties, showing great discipline.