The new season of the Intrust Super Cup aka Queensland Cup is not far away from kicking off, so before the season starts we thought it was a good time to do some 2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis.
For those who like their rugby league local, affordable, and on a Sunday, the 2020 Intrust Super Cup season will all those boxes, and throw in that is also acts as a shopping window for the NRL, as seen increasingly each season. We;re not going to lie, we’ll take a warm Sunday afternoon at Davies Park over a Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.
To get the full 2020 Intrust Super Cup draw you can always go straight to the source from the QRL website.
This will be the first in a few thoughts ahead of the 2020 Intrust Super Cup season, with our usual bias towards the PNG Hunters due soon.
Or for a little dive into the data for interest’s sake, we offer up our 2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis.
2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis – GAMES OF INTEREST
These are our selections as the games of interest ahead of the 2020 season. Of course you could name them all, and why wouldn’t you, but these matches in particular tickled with the launch of the 2020 Intrust Super Cup draw.
The local rivalries are there, from the delightfully names Flockbuster, to the historical Foley Shield, to our lame attempt at naming the Redcliffe and Norths match up the DDD aka The Deagon Deviation Derby.
Since the Hunters don’t really have any great rivalries yet, we have included some of their best games ahead of the season. A separate PNG Hunters draw is coming soon.
We’ve also included all Country Week games, as they are certainly very interesting, and we hope to attend our first match this season.
2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis – FIRST SIX GAMES
Thankfully the QRL sees sense in the first round containing the Grand Final replay, which is why we love the Intrust Super Cup best. Nothing like settling the score or extending the pain early. And on TV too. Super.
A good early start can make all the difference, so who has it easy, or travels the furthest, or has the home games? Find out more below.
Tough run for the Blackhawks first up, as they must head to the competition’s most northerly and southerly points along with Ipswich in the first three rounds of the season. They will finally play at home in Round 4 and 5 where they get a north Brisbane double of visitors in Norths and Redcliffe.
Both the Pride and Blackhawks travel further than the Hunters in the first six rounds.
Wynnum don’t play at Kougari Oval until Round 11, although they will play two home games at nearby Iona College and in the home of Mary Poppins, Maryborough.
Souths Logan and the Sunshine Coast Falcons are the lucky teams to avoid travelling more than 1000km in the first six weeks.
The Pride have the easiest start to the season, if counting the average position of their opponents from the 2019 ladder, as they get to play three of the bottom four from 2019. The Pride of course being the other bottom four side.
Redcliffe alternatively have the hardest run in the first six weeks, with only a trip to Mackay giving them a break from top eight sides last season. They play three of the top four in that run, two of them away from home. Second last placed PNG Hunters have the second hardest run to start the new season, a tough ask for their new squad and coach Matt Church. Although at least four of the six are at home.
Although we all know how much the squads change each year, so using 2019 ladder position is never going to be a foolproof way of determining difficulty for 2020.
2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis – LAST SIX GAMES
This six game round immediately follows the great Country Week, and at this stage it is the business end of the season, and hopefully this season we see just little more fight for the top eight positions.
Unlike the first six weeks of the season, the 2019 Opposition position tightens up a bit in the last six rounds, although once again Redcliffe manages to get the hardest run on paper, being the only team under the average opposition position of seven from 2019. Norths and the Falcons have the easiest runs.
As for distance traveled in the critical last six weeks of the season, no surprise that the PNG Hunters who fly most. The Devils are the surprise second furthest travelers in the last six weeks, ending their season in Port Moresby and Cairns.
Ipswich can do their last six games on one tank of fuel if they desire, needing only a few trips to the Gold Coast and Davies Park to finish their season. Although it might cost a bit in tolls.
2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis – THE MIDDLE
You can’t have a beginning or an end without a middle, so here are the games in between.
Notable points are the Dolphins getting a break from the hardest fixtures, Ipswich contrasting their last season distance with the third longest travel, and the relatively more local run of games for Norths and Wynnum.
We haven’t factored in the Country Week, as locations aren’t yet confirmed.
2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis – DISTANCE TRAVELED
Merely adding total numbers to those already seen in the break up of rounds.
Wynnum win the least traveled award, the only team under 5,000 total kms.
The travel for the Hunters is no surprise, but it sure does point out how well they have done in previous seasons to be so competitive with so much more travel.
Interestingly Tweed Heads go further than the Capras.
2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis – DAY/NIGHT & KICK OFF TIMES
The great thing about the Intrust Super is so much afternoon rugby league is available. Some teams get to enjoy the sun more than others, although some of the 12:10pm kicks offs in the early rounds can’t be too much fun.
No surprisingly, a team from the Gold Coast gets the most sun, with 19 of the 23 games for Burleigh starting off before 5pm. Mackay are the night owls.
12am kick offs listed haven’t been confirmed yet.
2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis – 2019 OPPOSITION POSITION
The draw seems reasonably fair when considering the 2019 finishing position of the opposition, so for pure interests sake, here is the full 2020 average list.
2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis – TV GAMES (So Far)
Not all the games have been confirmed thus far, but there certainly are some winners and losers when it comes to TV exposure.
The two grand finalists top the TV count, as they should as a reward for being the top two sides last season.
All 14 teams get some exposure in the games listed so far.
At least we don’t have to wait until the end of the season for one Hunters TV game. Previous seasons have seen next to no coverage of the Hunters, to the Intrust Super Cup’s loss.
2020 Intrust Super Cup Draw Analysis – Who They Play by Region
A final quick look at who each team plays by region.
SEQ is basically any of the three coastal teams.
Interestingly, the northern teams and Burleigh play the most games against Brisbane sides.
