Neil Cadigan
Gold Coast Titans forward Darius Farmer has the opportunity to put an early stamp on the fortunes of the Campbell Construction Co. Tweed Seagulls after being handed a starting position for the first time when the Gulls take on Ipswich Jets at North Ipswich Reserve on Saturday (6pm kick-off).
Farmer, who has played four times off the bench for Tweed this season with good effect but has averaged only 29 minutes playing time, comes into the lock position after Braden Robson has withdrawn because of a knee injury.
The 104kg 22-year-old Junior Kiwis representative is yet to make his NRL debut but will be encouraged by the elevation of Sam McIntyre and Herman Ese’ese into the Titans side in recent weeks off the back of good form for the Seagulls.
KPM Photography
He now gets his chance to make an impact against the unpredictable Jets and put himself on the roadmap, alongside consistent prop Jai Whitbread who must be knocking on the door for a recall to the Titans’ side.
Centre Treymain Spry will return to action for the Seagulls in a further backline change. The 21-year-old, who made five NRL appearances for the Titans last season, has not played since the round one victory over Central Queensland Capras. He comes into the centres with Brayden McGrady switching to the wing and Rowland Jacob dropping back to the bench.
Even though the Jets have won only one of their first five games, they continue to be a threat to any team by playing the unconventional style that includes shallow kick-offs, wide shifts of the ball from any side of the field, chip kicks and second phase offloads aplenty that they were renowned for under the coaching of Ben and Shane Walker.
The Seagulls have a new halves combination gelling together for the first time in Toby Sexton and Will Brimson with Lindon McGrady dropping to fullback to cover the unavailability of Jayden Campbell, who has been in brilliant form.
Yet despite the changes, Woolf is confident his side will maintain their momentum against the Jets who they have beaten in three of their past four visits to Ipswich.
To do that though, says coach Ben Woolf, they have to keep their discipline and effort in defence against a Jets side that has dominated the possession and line-break stats in the first five rounds yet come up with only one victory, 40-24 against the Capras, in their last outing.
“If you allow the Jets to do what they set out to do with their unconventional style, they can suddenly put a lot of points on you,” said Woolf.
“We need to improve our completion rate, which still hasn’t been above 70 percent this season. One positive thing from that has been we’ve learned to win with less possession than our opponents and hopefully, that will put us in good stead against a side like the Jets.
“We’ve got a few players who have come up against them in the past few seasons so they know what to expect. And that’s to expect the unexpected and understand they’ll get some repeat sets against you and put you under pressure.
“We’ve got a few changes which we can expect will take a little time to click. But the main thing is we continue to dig in on our line defensive, be physical and scramble.
“Darius has been good for us off the bench but this is his chance to have a presence early and get more game time.
“I think we have been building in confidence and character and the win against Redcliffe last round was our best this season. But you never know how the week off is going to affect you so we have to be ‘on’ from the start.”
The Campbell Construction Co. Seagulls team:
Tweed Seagulls: Lindon McGrady, Talor Walters, Lee Turner, Brayden McGrady, Will Brimson, Toby Sexton, Jai Whitbread, Liam Hampson, JJ Collins, Lamar Liolevave (capt), Joe Vuna, Darius Farmer. INTERCHANGE: Brent Woolf, Rowland Jacob, Kirk Murphy, Luke Burton.
Ipswich Jets: Jayden Connors, Ratu Jope Rotavisoro, Ben White, Jordan Carriera, Richard Pandia, Josh Cleeland, Julian Christian, Tyson Lofipo, Kierran Moseley, Nathaniel Neale (capt), Tyler Coburn, Zac Hetherington, Seb Pandia. INTERCHANGE; Ono So’oialo, Todd White, Blake Lenehan, Wilson Malaesilia.
Round Details:
- Ipswich Jets v Tweed Seagulls, Saturday May 8 at 5pm
- North Ipswich Reserve, 43 The Terrace, North Ipswich
- COVID safe practices will be enforced
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