Round 5

The premiers opened the round with an epic 17-16 loss to the Eels in a match that went down to the wire and beyond while the Raiders had a Sunday afternoon to forget as they gave up a 14-8 half-time lead to go down 24-14 to the Knights.

Compounding matters for the Raiders was the sin binning of five-eighth for high contact on Jackson Hastings, with the star No.6 charged on Monday and facing a two-game ban.

In this weekend’s Round 5 matches, Powers will be chasing after another victory. They are the “new-kids-on-the-block” passionately established this year by the students from the Port Moresby Technical College to test their AFL skills.

Power with unknown quantity with an untapped wealth of football talent, but they have made an impressive start to the season, winning four games in a row to remain unbeaten and lead the ladder together with the Eagles who also have yet to taste defeat. 

Isou after conceding their first loss in five weeks at the hands of Vipers last week will be keen to make amends against Muruks.

There will be no love lost when third placed Gulf Isou and sixth spot Mendi Muruks meet at the Santos National Football Stadium.

Isou coming off their first loss last week will be looking for a big improvement in their game especially on the defensive front.

Head coach, Roger Laka lamented that complacency took the better of his boys in last week match and they need to start strongly on Sunday.

Only minutes into the opening half when the flamboyant central boys shifted into top gear with speed machine and Man Of the Match Douglas Pirika from an interception deep inside Eagles half, showed a clean pair of heels as he set sail down the right flank before offloading to his centre and Captain Walen Tau Loi to score in the corner untouched.

Eagles on counterattack made an error inside Dabaris half, proved costly when the Baimuru flyer made another clean break on the left flank and raced 80 metres to score.

Vipers scored all their 28 points in the first half with tries to Manu Soli, William Tirang, John Stanley and Peter Mondo, Yunny Patrick kicked 4 goals from 5 attempts.

Isou's first points came from a converted try by Jerry Teme just before halftime.

After the break, Isou came out of the tunnel showing a lot of resilience in the 2nd half to score two tries in back to back fashion through Woods Kawage and Teme, while David Joseph’s 3 from 3 kick cut down the deficit by 10 points at 18-28 Vipers.

While it’s been a rollercoaster ride for the some of the benchmark teams since the 2022 Digicel Cup season started, least expected the Gulf franchise PRK Gulf Isou have maintained their undefeated run record (4 from 4)  so far in the country’s  national rugby league competition.

This Sunday their resolve will be put to the test when they face the might of  5^th place and one of the foundation clubs in the competition Moni Plus NCDC Port Moresby Vipers in the clash of a local derby at 1pm.

The Burleigh Bears started their 2022 campaign with consecutive wins over Wynnum-Manly, Townsville and Redcliffe before falling short to the Tweed Seagulls in Round 4.

After a week off over the Easter long weekend, the Bears will be looking to bounce back from that loss with a strong showing on Monday.

The PNG Hunters are looking to add to their Round 1 win over Mackay after a string of tough losses to three of the competition heavyweights in the opening month of the season.

The Red V got some momentum during the pre-season trials and carried that into a strong first-up win over the Warriors but losses to Penrith, Cronulla and Parramatta have set them on their heels.

The Rabbitohs pushed the Storm to golden point in round two and then outclassed arch-rivals the Roosters in round three but they were no match for the Panthers in last weekend's grand final rematch.

The Storm took the honours in both games in 2021 but the Raiders have fond memories of two emotion-charged wins in enemy territory at AAMI Park in round three, 2020 and also the 2019 qualifying final.

Based on last weekend's form it's hard to see the Raiders troubling the Storm, who dismantled the Bulldogs 44-0 a day after the Green Machine stalled in a 25-6 loss to Manly.

Roosters five-eighth Sam Walker landed a sideline conversion to put his team ahead 18-16 just six minutes from fulltime after they had trailed 10-0 at the interval and then laid on the match winning try for second-rower Sitili Tupouniua.

Roosters centre Joey Manu scored two individual tries to get his team into the match, while Brisbane centre Kotoni Staggs was equally as inspirational for his team.