Round 5 of the Queensland Rugby League's Junior Statewide Competitions will see football on the radar and not rain following last week's postponements due to Cyclone Alfred.
In Mal Meninga Cup presented by Ford it doesn’t come any more local or proud than Bulimba Cup rivals Ipswich and Toowoomba.
Ipswich are coming off a 48-nil win over the Clydesdales in Round 3 and haven't lost to their Toowoomba foes since 2023.
In their last three games ,the Jets are ahead 116-to-12 on for-and-against which means on average a 38-to-4 scoreline.
Both teams didn’t get to play last week so there is no advantage there but which team can reclaim the first four weeks quicker?
Neither team will be pleased with their start to 2025 with the Jets having one win from three starts and Clydesdales yet to make a deposit in their account.
In Round 3, Ipswich had all the ball and found plenty to do with their 60 percent of possession.
It was the clean sheet in defence that will please the Jets - they missed a minuscule 11 tackles as they kept turning the Warrego Highway brethren away time, and time again.
When you hear the Jets played well you expect to read the surname Coburn and that’s exactly what happened here when Lachie Coburn made 27 tackles.
Then it was time for Patrick Krause to make three-line breaks, 204 metres and score two tries.
The Western Clydesdales will have to improve a lot in this game and this is where the week-off might come in handy.
If they can analyse and cope with the loss quickly and then repair the rupture, things can improve.
It will be through Jacob Mundy and Tait Cameron that change will come.
Lock Shaun Elara hasn’t fired yet this year but he’s vital to their attack.
The Brisbane Tigers Harvey Norman U19s powerful game was on show against the Dolphins and will be again this week against the Tweed Seagulls.
The Tigers had all the ball and with 67 percent of possession the stopping of the Tigers was minimal.
The Tigers again kept the Dolphins to not a single line break which is great defence and from there the Tigers were able to run and offload their way to 38 points.
Tigers centre Fleur Ginn got the party started in the fourth minute with a try and finished the day with 172 metres.
Second row tackling tyro Orianna Clark made 14 tackles.
If you rewind two weeks and check the Tweed Seagulls form you might be thinking wow.
Tweed 60 Sunshine Coast Falcons 12 is a form line worth taking note and unpacking further just like the Tweed unpacked the Falcons defence and boxed it up.
11 tries is pretty convincing.
The Tigers are going to have to bring that great defence to contain these Seagulls.
This game has a combined 98-12 score line last game.
Tweed were so good holding the ball that their top tackler only made nine tackles.
Tweed hooker Mackenzie Croyston kept the middle safe for her attacking arrows to fire.
The Sunshine Coast Falcons were the 'no defence lapse queens' of the Harvey Norman U17s competition with their 36-nil win over the Wide Bay Bulls.
Possession will always win football games and with 58 percent the Falcons were riding the wave of attack before they even got to defend.
When it did come time to defend, the Falcons were ruthless with zero line breaks.
30 more tackle breaks, sets that went 20 metres more and just 10 missed tackles - the Falcons did nearly everything right.
Grace Brain was smarter than the rest with 156 metres and Zhyra Lohse scored three tries with two being in the first 12 minutes to well and truly set up the win.
This is what the Wide Bay Bulls are going to have to contend with again this week when they get their re-match.
The Bulls have to get their defence in order so they’re not chasing so many points.
If they can keep the Falcons to 20, they can attack with more energy and find results on the back of efforts like Chelsea Wardlaw and Sienna Slattery.
Last round, the Cyril Connell Cup presented by Ford competition didn’t have a defence shut-out but Burleigh kept the Magpies scoreless until the 60th minute.
The Bears were up 18-nil and had no ball, so it was defence that was keeping them in the game and leading.
Burleigh only missed 19 tackles and the Magpies had to make 43 less tackles than them.
This week the Bears will be looking to ravage the Seagulls with both teams having had a disrupted season with cancelled games making it hard, but with Round 5 this week, we're more than halfway through the season and you need to string wins together.
Wynnum have been doing just that and haven’t lost a game yet, and this top of the table clash could be an epic match that gives us a glimpse of finals action early.
When we last saw Wynnum it was efforts like Majah-Jose Peachey with 214 metres and Adam Wilson with 29 tackles that caught the eye and the win over Norths.
