THE Northern Pride will begin their quest for a second Queensland Cup premiership on March 10 with a home clash against fierce rivals the Ipswich Jets at Barlow Park.

The Queensland Rugby League released the draw for the 2012 competition yesterday, only two months before the opening round.

But the short notice of the draw hasn’t impacted how Pride coach David Maiden and his squad have attacked the preseason, with players to begin opposed sessions next week.

A tough round-one opponent was always on the cards, but there’s sure to be extra feeling in the season opener given the Pride eliminated the Jets from last year’s finals series at the same venue.

Maiden said the Pride and Jets had developed an intense rivalry the past few seasons.

"It’s always good to start off at home and we always seem to have hard battles with Ipswich," he said.

"They’ve got a good roster and they’ve also recruited well, so we’re going to have to be on our toes to make sure we get the points in front of our crowd."

A new feature in this season’s draw is Country Week (July 14-15), which was introduced after the Pride’s successful staging of a competition fixture against Souths Logan in Bamaga last year.

All games in round 17 will be hosted in country areas, but venues are yet to be finalised.

Maiden hopes the Pride’s match, which will be against Souths Logan again, can be played somewhere in the Cape. In other early season match-ups, the Pride head south for their North Queensland derby against Mackay in round two (March 17).

They face their 2009 grand final conquerors Sunshine Coast in the Men of League Rivalry Round at Barlow Park (April 28), followed by a home game against reigning premiers Wynnum Manly (May 5). All Northern Pride home games will start at 5.30pm, not 5pm as indicated on the draw. See full draw at www.qrl.com.au website.

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