Jets crash out as Eagles push on

The Ipswich Jets Colts’ finals chances were extinguished when they lost to the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles on Saturday.

Claudia Baxter

THE season is over for all Ipswich Jets teams after the Colts side missed out on a finals berth when they lost to the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles on Saturday night.

The Jets Colts lost 26-14 to the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles at the North Ipswich Reserve, which effectively ended their season.

The Jets could have still made the playoffs if the Souths Logan Magpies beat Redcliffe Dolphins by 13 points or less.

But the Magpies won by 14 points.

The Jets Colts ended their season in sixth spot on 20 points.

The Colts were again flat in the first half against the Sea Eagles who sliced through their defensive line on several occasions and took an 8-0 lead into the break.

NRL-bound Jets prop Zac Lemberg was excellent in the opening 20, running angled lines around the ruck for regular 10m gains.

But the team continually pushed passes in tackles which lead to easy turnovers.

However, in typical Jets Colts fashion, the boys came out in the second half on fire with lightning-fast winger Chris Naidu scoring a minute into the second period when he latched on to a pin-point Callum Waldrum bomb to the corner.

The Sea Eagles scored again but then the orange boot-clad Naidu bagged another try 10 minutes later with some sharp footwork a few metres out from the line.

Then fullback Eric Alefosio sliced through the Sea Eagles’ defence on a silky 30m run to score and give the Jets’ faithful hope their season would continue into next month.

The scores were locked at 14 all for more than 10 minutes but as the clock wound down, Sunshine Coast hit back and grabbed a 20-14 lead.

With two minutes remaining, the Jets kicked off and opted to punt the ball long, hoping to force a mistake.

But the Sea Eagles were calm under pressure and remarkably threw the ball around in the final seconds to score another four-pointer as the siren rang out.

Colts coach Mark Bishop said the Sea Eagles simply wanted the victory more than his team.

“It’s shattering that we didn’t turn up,” Bishop said.

“It hurts, but the boys will learn from this and they will get the point that you need to be switched on to win a game of footy.

“That’s a disappointing end to the season.”

Meanwhile, the Queensland Cup Jets team had a much-needed victory in their final match of the year, smashing the Central Comets 40-20.

Ramon Filipine and Esi Tonga scored two tries each in an entertaining match.

Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles 26 (Dean Olzard, James Sumpton, Brett Doherty, Sam Bernstrom, Sam Porter tries; Rowan Klein, Trevor Collett, Matt Chapman goals) def Ipswich Jets 14 (Chris Naidu 2, Eric Alefosio; Eric Alefosio goal) at North Ipswich Reserve.