The Wynnum Manly Seagulls and Ipswich Jets will face off this Sunday, both motivated after suffering disappointing defeats the previous weekend.
The Seagulls will be ruing last weekend’s defeat to the Mackay Cutters, conceding a heartbreaking try on the final play of the game after leading by 10 points in the 62nd minute.
For the Jets, they were dominated in front of a home crowd by an electric Norths Devils side, who exposed a lack of defensive resilience through the middle.
A silver lining that the Seagulls will take from an otherwise disappointing Round 5, is the continued brilliance of young halfback Tayla Sykes, who left Mackay with an impressive stat line of one try, one try assist and 110 run metres, the third most of any Seagull on the day.
However, the Seagulls will enter Sunday’s bout without Azalleyah Maaka and Lauren Dam.
The former has been one of their most consistent players this season, while Dam in her first outing this season was immense at second row.
Silver linings are hard to find from the Jets' round 5 performance, though Ipswich fans will be hoping that their second consecutive 42-10 defeat will have lit a fire beneath them, especially after starting the season in such a strong manner.
The Jets' main attacking outlet has been Ella-Jaye Harrison-Leaunoa, who has returned to fullback this week after playing centre the weekend prior.
Harrison-Leaunoa is at her damaging best when she’s on the ball, and the Jets will likely be trying to give her early ball as much as possible this weekend, allowing her to expose gaps in the defensive line with her elite acceleration and balance.
To catch all the action from Round 6’s feature match, tune into Qplus.tv this Sunday at 12:05pm for live and free coverage.
