Bear alert at the North Ipswich Reserve

The Bears will be back in Ipswich again on Saturday to try to pull apart the Jets fortress.

THE Burleigh Bears are like that relative who comes over and their kids destroy your house.

The Bears will be back in Ipswich again on Saturday to try to pull apart the Jets fortress.

The Jets have beaten the Bears once since 2013. That was last year 18-12 in Ipswich.

The Bears then returned serve at the Coast with a 44-0 hammering; the first time the Jets had been held scoreless since 1997.

The Jets have lost five out of the past six games against the Bears and the past three out of four at the North Ipswich Reserve.

The Bears have come to Ipswich before and handed out some punishment to the Jets.

In 2014, the Jets found themselves 36-0 down at half-time. It did not get a whole lot better in the second half, with the Jets losing 50-12 in what was their biggest loss for 2014.

That was also their biggest ever loss to the Bears, beating the previous 42-8 loss in 2001 and the Jets' worst home loss since a 58-4 defeat to Townsville in 1998.

The Bears are top of the table with nine wins from 11 games. Their only two losses this season have been away from home to Norths and Townsville.

The Bears are coming off a win over the Cutters.

The Jets have fallen to seventh spot on the ladder after a frustrating day at Davies Park against the Magpies. The Jets just could not get moving.

Trying to find form against the Bears will be like trying to find runs against the West Indies at their best. But that is what the Jets have to do.

Bears hooker Pat Politoni is a danger for the Jets.

Politoni gets his hands on the ball more than anyone else in the Intrust Super Cup and loves engaging markers and then exposing them.

Politoni does it all running, kicking and tackling like a demon in the middle of the park.

Ex-Jets threat

WAITING for the Jets this week will be ex-Jets in Luke Page and Bears coach Jimmy Lenihan.

Luke Page was Jet number 526.

He is the Bears' fearsome front rower who played 21 games in Ipswich.

Page offered his thoughts on why the Jets have a tough record against the Bears.

"I think every team just has one of those records against someone,'' Page said. "We always seem to struggle against Central Queensland."

Recovering from a quad injury, Ben Hannant is Jet number 551. He played one game for Ipswich in 2014. Now he is also a Burleigh Bear.

Lenihan was Jet number 215.

"Souths haven't done us any favours and that's a red flag for us now,'' Lenihan said.

"The Jets would normally do well against big teams like Souths because they run them around. We will be treating the Jets with respect and preparing for their tricks."

Ipswich's Origin connection

IT'S State of Origin time again and this year the Queenslanders have some new players and will be missing some pretty big names from the past 12 series.

Jet number 93 and Queens-land coach Kevin Walters offered some thoughts to Jets Buzz on his way to Queens-land's first training session.

"It's like coming back after holidays and seeing all the guys and staff, it's a great week,'' Walters said.

"We will turn the legs over in about 30 minutes and have a quick run then it will be a few functions and increase our prep as the week goes on."

Asked if the game in Melbourne changed his preparation, Walters answered: "No, we will just treat it like an away game in Sydney. We will have one session on the MCG on Tuesday when we get down on Monday."

Origin time also means that Ipswich and the Jets have to step up and carry the state.

Walters was Jet number 93. He was also Ipswich Jets coach from 2007-2008.

Queensland assistant coach Allan Langer was Jet number 68.

Queensland halfback Ben Hunt was Jet number 582.

Maroon second-rower Gavin Cooper was Jet number 473.

Assistant coach Trevor Gillmeister was Ipswich Jets coach from 2003-2006.

Other key people with Ipswich connections are Maroon physio Luke Anning and QRL media manager Mick Hillier.

Cooper's stat

THIS week will be the Jets' 500th game in the Intrust Super Cup.

The Jets have won 227 Intrust Super Cup games.

Magic milestones

NAT Neale will play game 115 for the Jets, putting him equal with Kerion Lander. Nat will be equal ninth form most games for Jets with Lander.

Wes Conlon is on 447 points for the Jets and would be the fifth Jet to crack 450 points.

A cold beer with . . .

John Lang has been around Queensland league his whole life. A Tigers legend in the 70s, then coach in the 80s and 90s, Lang went to Cronulla before winning a premiership at the Panthers. We pulled up a stool and talked Jets:

You coached against the Jets, what Jets player stood out that had to be stopped? Five-eight Jason Hetherington.

Easts didn't mind taking some players from along Ipswich Road in the day: Remember Jeff Denman, Des Morris, Rod Morris, Kev Stephens, Howard Fullerton, Jeff Ashe, Peter Meehan, Larry Brigginshaw, Darren Wolens and Brett Kaatz? When I first started playing senior football at Easts there was two carloads coming down for training including our long-term trainer Neil Bradley. We had many great players from Ipswich over the years including two premiership-winning captains in Des Morris and Larry Brigginshaw.

Is Chris Beattie your favourite ever Shark? I recruited Beats to the Sharks but my all-time favourite was another front rower big Danny Lee.

You were one of only two Queenslanders on the 1973 Kangaroo Tour. Who stands out from the 70s and pre-Origin that did not get the shot they should have in their career? Des Morris. He was probably too strong a character for some of the people running the QRL at the time.

Did you play Bulimba Cup against Ipswich? Yes. Probably the last year or two of the competition. I also played a curtain raiser for Brisbane schoolboys against Ipswich the day they opened the Ipswich Reserve.

Originally published as Bear alert at the North Ipswich Reserve