sp hunters

The Hunters are now on 28 competition points after thumping the Easts Tigers 38-8 yesterday at the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby.

From 18 games, the Hunters have won 12 games, 6 losses and 2 byes.

The Hunters will play the Ipswich Jets this Saturday at home at the National Football Stadium.

Kick-off is at 4pm.

The top 6:

Burleigh Bears (33), Redcliffe Dolphins (30), SP Hunters (28), Townsville Blackhawks (27), Easts Tigers (24) and Souths Logan Magpies (22).

The Hunters were poised to take second place on the ladder in yesterday’s clash against the Redcliffe Dolphins but the Dolphins snatched victory in the last 10 minutes to win 24-20.

This leaves the Hunters on 26 competition points (11 wins, 6 losses and 2 byes) while the second-placed Dolphins have some breathing space, moving up to 28 points.

A win for the fourth-placed Townsville Blackhawks (25 points) yesterday would have seen them displace the Hunters and take third spot.

It was a tight opening 5 minutes with both sides mistake free.

But the home side found the line in 7^th minute when they attacked the right wing of Butler Morris.

An overlap put winger Jonus Pearson and left him one on one with fullback Bland Abavu, who he shrugged off to score.

Darren Nicholls curved his kick in from the sideline to sail the ball through the posts to add the extras.

The Dolphins continued to target the wing of Butler and looked certain to score on a number of occasions.

The first is Gulf Isapea captain, Bernard Goma, who started training with the Hunters last Tuesday while confirmation is yet to be received from Lae Snax Tigers, Junior Rop, who is expected to join the Hunters camp on Monday (tomorrow).

“Both these players have been very impressive with their respective franchise clubs.

“They join the Hunters camp to fit into our training structures and regime," said Marum.

PNG SP Hunters coach Michael Marum announced the team yesterday with great confidence that being back in the winning circle for the away games they have set a strong team to take on the Dolphins this weekend.

“We have come again with another strong team for this weekend’s game against Dolphins, however, only a few changes will be made due to injuries but otherwise we will maintain the team that beat Tweed Heads two weeks ago,” coach Marum said.

Zeming and Amean suffered serious injuries during last Sunday's 24-8 loss to the Norths Devils.

Zeming underwent an operation to his thumb while Amean is undergoing scans to his knee.

Coach of the Hunters, Michael Marum will finalize the 18 man squad this Thursday before the team departs for Australia on Friday.

The round 17 game against the Tweed Heads Seagulls on Sunday will kick off at 2pm at the Piggabeen Sports Complex, Brisbane.

Korave was placed on report during last Sunday’s match against the Wynnum Manly Seagulls for a reckless high contact tackle.

But Korave will be free to play this weekend after the Queensland Rugby League judiciary found there was no case to answer.

Amean is also set to make his return after passing a medical test. Amean has been out for the past three weekends after suffering a concussion.

The injured Ishmael Balkawa will miss this Sunday’s game and will be replaced by Edward Goma.

Hunters coach, Michael Marum said as of Tuesday afternoon, the players (Warren Glare and Ase Boas) put on report during last Saturday’s 22-20 win over the Souths Logan Magpies had not been cited by the Queensland Rugby League judiciary.

“I got word that the video arrived late in Brisbane and the review is currently being done,” said Marum.

He added a couple of players are nursing injuries and are being closely monitored.

This could force changes to the lineup.

The round 15 game will kick off at 3pm.

The squad is:

1. Bland ABAVU

The Jets took a 12-2 lead at half-time and ran in three more tries to set up a comprehensive win on home soil.

The Hunters put themselves right back into the game in the second half when Thompson Teteh scored out wide.

Noel Zeming’s unsuccessful conversion put the score at 12-6.

The Jets responded straight away through Richard Pandia, who proved too much to handle on the wing to crash over to score his second try for the afternoon.

Both sides tested each other in the opening minutes in a tussle to get early points on the board.

After gathering up some momentum, the Jets found the try line in the 12^th minute through fullback Carlin Anderson, who flew over to score on the wing.

Anderson added the extras for his own try to put the home side out for an early 6-0 lead.

The Hunters put the pressure right back on the Jets from the kick off with a good set of six that brought them within striking range to score.