The great coach Duncan Thompson coached to keep the ball alive.
He called it ‘contract football’ – the player does not die with the ball. The 2014 Ipswich Jets have dug into Thompson’s coaching philosophies and are playing the game to their strengths.
Yesterday against the Mackay Cutters, the Ipswich Jets showed how well their attacking style is working.
Ipswich got away to a good start when in the fifth minute, birthday boy and veteran Brendon Marshall scored in the right hand corner after great width was provided by the Jets’ halves Dane Phillips and Josh Cleeland.
Javarn White provided an excellent last pass to Marshall who scored his 56th Intrust Super Cup try for the Jets. The sideline conversion from Kurt Capewell missed to the left of the posts.
In the 20th minute, the Ipswich Jets attacked the Cutters’ right hand side through captain Keiron Lander who found a flying Kurt Capewell back inside. Capewell beat three defenders before offloading to Dane Phillips who showed great patience to pass to an unmarked Nemani Valekapa for an 8-0 lead.
Seven minutes later, Mackay attacked the Jets with a little kick in behind the line which was fielded by Phillips who showed good awareness to get the ball to a motoring Marmin Barba.
The Ipswich speedster took off down the left hand side and ran the 50 meters to score without a hand being put on him. The successful conversion extended the Jets lead to 14-0.
The Jets bench has been pivotal this year in their attacking structure, with their little men providing so much impact. Matt Parcell provided a highlight before half time when he took off from dummy half and exposed a tiring defensive line to score next to the posts.
XXXX man of the match Phillips continued his golden run with the boot when he ended the first half by kicking for a flying White, who off loaded to Kurt Capewell for a try under the posts.
The Jets had produced a completely commanding performance to be up 26-0 at half time and with 61% of the ball, the Mackay Cutters were struggling to contain the Jets ball movement and support play.
The Cutters got away to a better start in the second half when both teams didn’t contest a kick which bounced into the hands of Josh Benjamin, who despite a valiant chase from the Jets’ Josh Cleeland, offloaded to unmarked winger Chris Ulugia.
The Jets struck straight back when Josh Seage pulled off a copy book hit to jolt the ball loose from Liam Taylor.
Phillips was on the spot to score and the Jets kept coming, with Marmin Barba completing a brilliant one on one steal to cross in the corner soon after.
The Cutters scored the last try through Zac Santo who grounded the ball from a grubber kick just inside the dead ball line.
Next week the Ipswich Jets play the Wynnum Seagulls, while the Mackay Cutters will play the Easts Tigers.
IPSWICH JETS 36 (Marmin Barba 2, Kurt Capewell, Nemani Valekapa, Brendon Marshall, Dane Phillips, Matt Parcell tries; Wes Conlon 4 goals) def MACKAY CUTTERS 12 (Zac Santo, Chris Ulugia tries; Liam Taylor 2 goals) at Stadium Mackay.
Final Teams:
Mackay Cutters: 1. Zac Santo 2. Liam Taylor 19. Michael Koko 4. Chris Ulugia 5. Josh Benjamin 6. Jason Schirnack 7. Tom Rouse 8. Sam Hoare 20. Ryan Kinlyside 10. Karl Davies 11. John Asiata 12. Chris Gesch 13. Tyson Martin (c) 14. Kelvin Nielsen 15. Mitch Day 18. Brent Warr 17. Doug Hewitt
Ipswich Jets: 1. Javarn White 2. Kurt Capewell 3. Nemani Valekapa 4. Brendon Marshall 5. Carlin Anderson 6. Josh Cleeland 7. Dane Phillips 8. Kurtis Lingwoodock 9. Troy O'Sullivan 10. Rod Griffin 11. Josh Seage 12. Sam Martin 13. Keiron Lander (c) 21. Martin Kennedy 18. Marmin Barba 19. Wes Conlon 22. Matt Parcell
