After four wins and a draw from their six matches in the Intrust Super Premiership in 2016, the Newtown Jets have every reason to be confident ahead of their trip south to WIN Stadium in Wollongong this weekend to take on the Illawarra Cutters.
The Jets overcame an 18-point deficit in beating the Bulldogs at their last start, but while positive about their chances this weekend should they hope to come home with the points will need to be on their game against an extremely competitive Cutters outfit.
The win over the Dogs saw the Jets move into second position on the ladder however their opponents the Cutters also come into the game in good form after a last start win over the Wests Tigers.
The Cutters, a team featuring a handful of players with NRL experience including fullback Adam Quinlan, centre Peter Mata’utia and lock Jake Marketo, are currently fourth on the ISP ladder after four wins and two losses to date this season.
As for the Jets, again they are set to field a side with a 10-man contingent of Sharks NRL squad members in the side.
At the back Captain and fullback Brown has impressed in recent matches for the Jets and has been ably assisted by the likes of five eighth Josh Cleeland and fellow former Ipswich teammate Kurt Capewell, both making an impact for Newtown so far this season.
Coach Greg Matterson will be looking to the likes of Junior Roqica and Jesse Sene-Lafao to get the Jets on the front foot, while bench forwards Kurt Dillon and Malakai Houma brought energy and aggression when entering the game last Friday night, with a similar effort going a long way towards steering the Newtown team to a victory.
The Jets v Cutters game is scheduled to get underway at 3.00pm at WIN Stadium in Wollongong on Saturday.
llawarra Cutters v Newtown Jets
WIN Stadium, Saturday 16th April - 3pm
LIVE commentary at Steele Sports - www.steelesports.com.au
Newtown: 1 MITCH BROWN (C) 2 TRAVIS ROBINSON 3 JORDAN DREW 4 MATT EVANS 5 JACOB GAGAN 6 JOSH CLEELAND 7 FA'AMANU BROWN 8 JUNIOR ROQICA 9 MATT MCILWRICK 10 JESSE SENE-LEFAO 11 ANTHONY MORAITIS 12 KURT CAPEWELL 13 JASON SCHIRNACK 14 KURT DILLON 15 KURT KARA 17 MALAKAI HOUMA 18 ARANA TAUMATA 19 JALINE GRAHAM COACH GREG MATTERSON
Illawarra: 1 ADAM QUINLAN 2 TOM CARR 3 PETER MATA’UTIA 4 TAANE MILNE 5 COREY BROWN 6 SHAUN NONA 7 DREW HUTCHISON 8 SHANNON WAKEMAN 9 SAM COSTER 10 SEBASTINE IKAHIHIFO 11 TYRONE MCCARTHY 12 JACOB HOST 13 JACOB MARKETO 14 BLAKE WALLACE 15 JACOB HIND 16 DAMIAN SIRONEN 19 LEVI DODD 20 ANDREW MCCARTHY COACH JASON DEMETRIOU
