Round 2 provided a hell of a lot of action across both games and this tournament is heating up!
To recap:
- NSW defeated SA 38-23 at Port Adelaide SA
- QLD defeated VIC 34-18 at Coparoo QLD
This week, Queensland will host South Australia who are looking for their first win of the campaign. And on the other side of the country, a well-rested Western Australia will host a traveling Victorian squad in the second game of the day. NSW will sit out this week with the bye.
- QLD Sun Devils (1-0) vs. SA Sharks (0-2)
- April 28th. Langlands Park, Cooparoo, QLD. 12:30pm Kick off
The Sun Devils are coming off a strong showing against the Victorian Eagles last week at home, whilst the Sharks have suffered 2 defeats in a row and are looking to snap the losing streak this weekend. QLD benefitted from a strong ground game by Darius Holliday-Miller and both their QBs in Thomas Corwin and Ben Stokes. They looked timid in their secondary as the Eagles were able to exploit holes and gain some significant yardage through the air, so HC John “Hollywood” Roe would have definitely touched on that in this week’s training sessions. The secondary will need to be on point this week, as the Sharks come into this one with a QB who, when tested, can air it out and find his receivers downfield. Michael Tedmanson has not had many opportunities to air it out in SA’s last 2 games but when he has, he links up well with his weapons in the form of WRs Sebastian Burford and Andre Benjamin. The biggest issue for SA though, is their D. They have a great D, nothing against them, but they have had issues in the last 2 games of missing tackles and not completing tackles. This is a MUST for their D to lock down, otherwise, Holliday-Miller will run all over them and this game will be dominated on the ground.
- WA Raiders (1-0) vs. Victorian Eagles (1-1)
- April 28th. Curtin University, Perth WA. 2pm Kick off
In a hotly contested match, the Eagles suffered their first defeat of the campaign last week, to the defending champion QLD Sun Devils. The Eagles also suffered an injury to starting Centre Hayden Brown so it is no argument that this will be a tough slog for them. Particularly the flight to WA and back in the same day will really test the Eagles, so fatigue will be a key point to watch in this one. The Raiders are coming off a week off after defeating the Wolfpack in NSW in week 1. The last time the Raiders and Wolfpack met, the winning deficit for the Raiders was 40 points; this time around it was 2. So, the Raiders will need to get their gears back into motion to continue their dominating run like they had last time around. This meeting could be crucial as the Eagles will have one game left after this one. Should the Eagles beat the Raiders, the Raiders will need to hope that NSW beat Victoria if they want any chance to challenge for the number 1 spot. Watch for players like Raiders LBs Jonathon Bielawicz and Jarrod Bennetts to make life difficult for Eagles RB Luke Jackson in this one. Cracker of a game, can’t wait for this clash!
