Coaches' call: Hostplus Cup Round 19 preview

Souths Logan Magpies v Burleigh Bears

Souths Logan Magpies coach Karmichael Hunt: Round 18 against Tweed was a decent crash down for us from the week before against Wynnum Manly. We're still understanding what it takes to perform at this level of footy. We have a handful of guys that are seasoned Cup guys. But the week we played Tweed we had to make a few changes and bring in guys that are trying to find their feet. It's not unusual circumstances for a group of young men to overlook teams but they learnt a really valuable lesson against Tweed that when you play senior level footy like Cup, you have to respect every team. If you don't turn up, you will get beat. This week we're expecting a typical Burleigh performance with a team of a core group that know how to play at this level. It's a fantastic opportunity for us to get back in the right direction and be tasked with a challenge of playing a top four team. 

Burleigh Bears coach Luke Burt: I always going like into a break after a win but we finished in a really frustrating way with our Round 18 draw against Townsville. We weren't disciplined enough or happy with our performance. You're always keen and eager to get back out there and make amends for it. We addressed it again on Monday and moved onto Souths for this weekend. If you look at their game against Wynnum in Round 17 with their key ins with Tristan Sailor and Va'a Semu, they're both NRL players who were missing against Tweed, who played fantastic. Souths welcome those two back this weekend and Sailor in particular is a class act. He'll be one to worry about. We haven't looked much at their loss to Tweed. They were really impressive against Wynnum and that's what we've looked at.

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Mackay Cutters v North Devils

Mackay Cutters coach Adam Cuthbertson: I'm excited for this weekend. There's obviously been a bit going on at the club with the coach moving on, myself getting the role and the CEO moving on as well. But Country Week is always a good week, the boys have a lot of fun with it, and we get out into the community and we really try to make it somewhat of an event. I want to see us go play a  brand of footy that excites the people of Bowen. For me coming in, it's about not reinventing the wheel but simplifying a few things and giving them a real focus as a group. Norths have been very consistent all year and that's the reason why they're at the top of the ladder. They have a great side and it will be a healthy contest. The boys are fully aware of what's expected and it's really important we get up there and we don't get too distracted.

North Devils coach Dave Elliott: We saw last week as a last opportunity for us to give the players a physical and mental freshen up before the back five games and - if all goes well - finals as well. But the next five is all we're focusing on for now. The priority doesn't change for us. We spoke about it early in the week that we're still chasing improvement in areas of our game. We're starting to look at subtle variations moving forward into the back end. Everyone has played nearly every team now so we have a really good understanding of what teams are like and how they go about playing their game. From Mackay this weekend, you'd expect the same gritty team that comes out every week that are always in the contest. They are still on the cusp of the eight. Knowing some of those guys there personally, I'd say they'll really dig in and look for a big performance for them going forward. I'm sure none of them, despite changing coaches, have given up hope of playing finals, that's for sure.

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Northern Pride v Wynnum Manly Seagulls

Northern Pride coach Eric Smith: Going into the bye, it was our longest straight block of games for the year. In our performance against the Tigers in Round 18, it showed. We were a little flat and lacked a little bit of energy compared to where we've normally been. I was still really happy with the way we were able to fight and find a way to win, especially against the defending premiers. In the past that may not have been the case with the Pride. After that win, it was good to have a weekend off. I gave the boys four days off and nearly everyone is back on deck and we're pretty healthy at the moment. Wynnum is the last team we haven't played yet this year. For the first half of the season, they were going really well. They were entrenched in the top four and playing really good football. The last month probably hasn't been what they would like but they've shown enough class to let everyone know they're a team and force you don't want to take lightly. Cory Paix is playing really good football at the moment and they have a big, hard-working forward pack. They're a really strong outfit and they've done more than enough work to show me they're a strong team and a finals team. As much as the results haven't gone their way, they've had two weeks to prepare for this game. We've got to expect everything is going to click for them and they'll have plenty of energy. For us, it's probably a bad time to get them so we're expecting a really good game of football from a side that is going to be deep in the finals at the back end.

Wynnum Manly Seagulls coach Mat Head: Comments to come.

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Brisbane Tigers v Townsville Blackhawks

Brisbane Tigers coach Matt Church: In the Pride game with 15 minutes to go we were leading by six points and we almost got the ball down in goal. If we had done that, it would have almost been game over. So there's a lot of confidence out of that performance. We just didn't nail our opportunities to put them away but the in the past five games we've battled top four sides and been in every contest. Being able to nail our opportunities, that's a lack of experience for us because of our injury toll. Turning our attention to this weekend, in our most recent performance against the Blackhawks, they did a really good job in controlling the ruck speed and making it messy for us. We have to be mindful to play the way we want to play but hopefully negate their spoiling tactics.

Townsville Blackhawks coach Terry Campese: The break came at a good time for us. We had a few blokes that were carrying injures so to get a week off, everyone is well rested. This upcoming block of games is what we've been talking about for the last eight weeks. We know we can't look too far down the track and be focused on the byes we have left to help our results. We needed to take it a week at a time and we need to keep building. We have a tough game this week. It's almost do-or-die for the Tigers and they'll come out firing and want to make up for the last game we played against each other. We need to focus on this one. They'll come with a lot of energy, line speed and aggression. We need to take in what we did against Burleigh - we were clinical and had a really good grind and we need to learn from that.

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Central Queensland Capras v Redcliffe Dolphins

Central Queensland Capras coach Lionel Harbin: Comments to come.

Redcliffe Dolphins coach Ben Te'o: Comments to come.

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Western Clydesdales v Tweed Seagulls

Western Clydesdales coach Jason Alchin: A lot of the young fellas needed the rest last week. They haven't played at this level before and they were feeling a bit mentally and physically tired. It came at a great time. The young fellas really liked the break and have come back fresh. We trained a couple of times and gave them four days off. We're off to Country Week this week and I think it's great to take our game to the regional areas. This is our fourth time doing so this year - we've  also played at Warwick, Chinchilla and Tully. Dalby is in our catchment and region and the boys are looking forward to getting out there. Playing against Tweed, they had a really good win in Round 18 against Souths Logan so they'll be hoping to get back-to-back wins. We'll try to stop them and give it all our best. The young fellas are really keen for this weekend.

Tweed Seagulls coach Dave Penna: It was hard going into the break after such a big win but I'm happy for the boys. It was a tough six or seven weeks with a lot of injuries and new players so it was nice to get some boys back and play with a bit of confidence. I hope that carries through this week. It's not going to be an easy game against the Clydesdales. They're a quality side and have some players back now. There wasn't much in it when we played them last time. For us, it will be nice to have the same team two weeks in a row, which makes a big difference. Hopefully we can play a bit better and you never know what can happen.

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Bye: PNG Hunters

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