The finals bus has completed its first stop and dropped two teams off in the process, with two more teams destined to tap off in this weekend’s semi-finals.
The Wynnum Manly Seagulls and Townsville Blackhawks have been gifted a second life following their week one loss, while the Redcliffe Dolphins and Ipswich Jets find themselves playing with house money following their week one victory.
Up first are the Townsville Blackhawks and Redcliffe Dolphins who will battle it out in Townsville for the chance to face the Burleigh Bears in the preliminary final.
This Saturday will mark the first time that the Blackhawks and Dolphins have played one another in a finals game.
The two teams will meet at Jack Manski Oval and their conflicting form guides present a very interesting matchup.
The Blackhawks have lost their last three finals matches, while the Dolphins have won three of their past four – with that sole loss coming in last year’s Grand Final.
The Dolphins’ latest win was a dominant showing against the PNG Hunters at Kayo Stadium.
The men from Redcliffe were in control from kick-off, never showing signs of relinquishing momentum as they cruised to a 20-point victory.
The Dolphins dominated in the middle, with their juggernaut Josh Allen running for over 200 metres and picking up a try for his troubles.
Zacariah Miles also had a day out, assisting two tries at fullback and busting six tackles.
Dolphins head coach Eric Smith was pleased with his side’s performance, though he’s well aware that a week one win means little in pursuit of a premiership.
“We are under no illusions as to what this week involved,” Smith said.
“Townsville was very good against Norths Devils, and we know what we must do this week.”
“We started well against the Hunters, and you must be physical against them because that’s what they bring.”
“Josh Allen was great, but our forwards have been great the last two weeks.”
“Townsville have big forwards and they’re at home; this is a really great challenge for us.”
Conversely, the Blackhawks had the tall order of facing the Norths Devils at Bishop Park and were unable to overcome the might of the reigning premiers.
The Blackhawks got off to a dream start when marquee man Dudley Dotoi scored his 26th try of the season in the 2nd minute.
Unfortunately for the visitors, the Devils would respond with four unanswered tries as the Blackhawks six-point lead quickly became an 18-point deficit by the 46th minute.
A 61st minute try from interchange Jackson Owen would only serve as consolation for the Blackhawks who were defeated 24-12.
Discipline and handling errors plagued the Blackhawks, who ultimately defeated themselves last Saturday.
Townsville Blackhawks coach Terry Campese has overseen the week one loss and moves on to week two with confidence.
“Penalties hurt us, it just shows that in finals those little things matter,” Campese said.
“The only way to get better at finals is to play finals and we have done that now.”
“The Premiers at home is a big task and now we get to take those learnings and go home against Redcliffe.”
“10 penalties and two intercepts are two things we don’t want to do in week two.”
Following Saturday’s action comes a mouth-watering Sunday afternoon matchup between the Wynnum Manly Seagulls and the Ipswich Jets.
It’s been 11 years since these sides last faced off in the finals, with the Seagulls taking the spoils back in 2014 with a 28-16 victory.
If the Jets are seeking inspiration, they need not look further than the 2013 Ipswich Jets outfit.
12 seasons ago the Jets travelled into the belly of the beast, knocking out the Wynnum Manly Seagulls at BMD Kougari Oval in front of a dismayed Chook Pen.
After racing out to a 20-nil lead at halftime, the Jets would only further their lead to win 33-6.
After back-to-back years of week one eliminations, this would be the first finals victory for the legendary coaching duo of Ben and Shane Walker.
This current Jets squad finds themselves on the heels of a truly famous victory for the club, after defeating the Sunshine Coast Falcons 25-24 at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
Ipswich was led by their captain Blake Lenehan, who played a brilliant game in the front row, arguably his best performance throughout his 74 games for the Ipswich Jets.
In over a century of Hostplus Cup games, this was Lenehan’s first finals victory.
It was also the first finals victory for head coach Tye Ingebrigtsen.
“It was a lot of emotions, even at 24-0 I knew that’s not a lead that is the same as it used to be in football,” Ingebrigtsen said.
“We dropped three tries over the line, and then they started coming back and that try just before half time gave them a lot of confidence.”
“We are not under any illusions on what it will take to win a finals match at Wynnum’s home ground.”
“This is big end stuff and to be honest we aren’t supposed to be here, no one gave us a hope against the Falcons.”
“It will be the same this week, Wynnum will have players like Bukowski, Farr, Sutton and Madden and they will have the Chook Pen screaming.”
“It’s just little old Ipswich town against the world in week two.”
The Wynnum Manly Seagulls faced off against the minor premiers in their week one match, and similar to the Blackhawks they didn’t do a whole lot wrong despite their loss to the Burleigh Bears.
The Seagulls will be confident that they can amend any errors they made last weekend, playing in front of an adoring home crowd.
A main falter of the Seagulls was their inability to capitalise on field position and possession, resulting in them needing to chase points in the final 15 minutes.
Despite a good first-half performance, the Seagulls only had two points to show for their efforts.
Eventually, the Seagulls found points through young gun Cameron Bukowksi, and their milestone man James Hill who scored a pivotal try in his 100th Hostplus Cup match.
Seagulls coach Mat Head is excited about week two and the prospect of playing in front of a home crowd.
“We get another chance and that’s the beauty of finishing in the top four,” Head said.
“We’ve got that Bears performance out of the way, and we get to focus on ourselves and to be ready to go back home.
“We know our community will get behind us.”
“Our forwards are really excited about this week.”
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