Round 3 Sunday wrap: Reigning premiers return to winner's circle

The reigning premiers have avoided a 0-3 start to season 2024, returning to winning form on Sunday with a victory over the Ipswich Jets for XXXX Rivalry Round.

After suffering losses in Round 1 and 2, the Tigers showed grit and resilience to  kickstart their premiership defence, notching up a 24-0 win over the Jets and earning the much-needed two points before the Easter break.

At Totally Workwear Stadium, the home team had to push past an arm wrestle of an opening stanza, going into the break up 4-0 with the sole try coming from former Jets winger Ricco Falaniko in his club debut for the Tigers.

The floodgates then opened in the second half as the Tigers piled on four tries, including a double to centre Marion Seve.

But the most impressive part of the Tigers' performance was their ability to keep the Jets to nil, especially as Ipswich tried to mount a late comeback.

Tigers captain Ryley Jacks said afterwards that things felt right after a rocky opening two weeks.

"It just felt like us again today," Jacks said.

"Those first two games just weren’t us and we knew that. We went back to our effort areas and things we were doing last year and it felt like us for the first time this year.

"We overlooked a lot of the one percenters. We touched on that this week and put a real emphasis on those little effort areas and one percenters.

"Churchie brought us back to those little things. That’s what we wanted to do today.

"Keeping them to nil is probably the best part of today. We worked for each other in defence right to the end. It makes me proud as skipper.

"We spoke before the game about getting back to that grit and that’s from defence.

"Jets are a quality team. They’ll have a really good year and they have a lot of Titans players there. To keep them to nil, it’s a really good effort from us today."

The Tigers were also celebrating veteran forward Bennett Leslie's 100th Cup game and Jack Miers' 50th.

Elsewhere on Sunday, the Wynnum Manly Seagulls also recorded their first win of the year with a 22-12 victory over the Redcliffe Dolphins.

In a tug-of-war at BMD Kougari Oval, the Seagulls managed to overcome a 12-all deadlock at halftime to bag the two points.

Sione Hopoate scored just eight minutes into the second half and in wet conditions the Dolphins were unable to respond, with Matt Milson securing the win with a late try in the 73rd minute.

The Hostplus Cup will break for the Easter long weekend before returning on Saturday, April 6, for Round 4.

For a recap of Saturday's Round 3 matches, click here.

To watch replays of Round 3, subscribe to Qplus.tv.