The SP PNG Hunters have not made minor change to their line-up against Townsville Blackhawks in this Saturday’s match at Bycroft Oval.
The Hunters and Blackhawks are each on six competition points with Hunters keen to go in front with a home victory at their Runaway Bay Seagulls base to put them back within the top eight.
Hunters coachSP PNG Hunters coach Matt Church has had the luxury of making only one change to his team for Saturday’s Intrust Super Cup clash.
Prop Epel Kapinias is the sole change from the team that lost to Redcliffe Dolphins last Saturday night, picking up an ankle syndesmosis injury that will sideline him for at least two months.
The Hunters, however, are fortunate to be able to call up the experienced PNG international and former Penrith Panthers signing Stanton Albert from the bench to start in the No.8 jersey.
Edwin Ipape retains the No.6 jersey in a backline unchanged from the team that ran in three unanswered tries last Saturday night during a fightback against the Dolphins.
“It’s great to have a bit of stability around team selections for the first time for a while,” Church said.
“And it comes after we competed for the full 80 minutes against the Dolphins, something we hadn’t done in the previous two games. So hope we can keep that going.
“We didn’t control the ball well enough first half last week but, once we did, we put a fair amount of pressure on Redcliffe,” he said.
Church said last week’s slow start was down to poor options and individual mistakes more than anything but once they started to mount some consistent pressure into the second half the Hunters managed to come up with a few tries and held them scoreless.
“We need to take that into the Blackhawks game.” The Hunters are still without fullback Terry Wapi (knee) who was in fine early-season form, winger Brendon Gotuno (fractured forearm) and centre Brandon Nima (pectoral tear).
The Blackhawks sit outside the top eight after losing five of their last six matches. However, the Intrust Super Cup heavyweights have lost each match by eight points or fewer in a sign of their competitiveness.
The Blackhawks also named their team tonight, including PNG internationals Kyle Laybutt and Moses Meninga along with the likes of former NRL players Josh Hoffman and Cameron King.
The PNG Hunters to play Townsville Blackhawks is: 1. Norman Brown. 2. Junior Rau. 3. Emmanuel Waine. 4. Jokadi Bire. 5. Solo Wane. 6. Edwin Ipape 7. Solomon Pokare. 8. Stanton Albert. 9. Wartovo Puara Jnr. 10. Samuel Yegip 11. Benji Kot 12. Keven Appo. 13. Ila Alu (c). Interchange: 14. Judah Rimbu. 15. Sylvester Namo 16. Enock Maki 17. Mark Piti. Coach: Matt Church.