A Guide to the Australian Secondary Schools Championships
See the stars of tomorrow, today! (sorry)
The 2023 Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League Championships begin this weekend (July 1) at Redcliffe’s Kayo Stadium.1
The under-18 boys competition will run for the 41st time, while the girl’s competition will be held for the very first time. Following a week of games the 2023 Australian Schoolboys and Schoolgirls teams will be announced.
While winning is nice, the ultimate goal of the championships is to make the Australian side. But if you’re interested in the winners: Queensland Secondary Schools (QSS) have won two consecutive titles and seven overall.2 The two usual dominant sides, New South Wales Combined Catholic College (NSWCCC) and New South Wales Combined High Schools (NSWCHS) have won 16 each. ACT won their only championship in 1994.3
For a good few years, the games were streamed on YouTube. Unfortunately, like all secondary school rugby league in 2023, you’ll need a News Limited subscription to watch on KommunityTV. If you can’t watch, you can follow the scores HERE.
Schedule - 18s Boys competition
Saturday, July 1
10:15am QSS vs. NSWCCC (Pool A)
11:35am NSWCHS vs. NSWCIS (Pool B)
Monday, July 3
2:10pm NSWCCC vs. CAS (Pool A)
3:30pm NSWCIS vs. ACT (Pool B)
Wednesday, July 5
11:00am QSS vs. CAS (Pool A)
12:20pm NSWCHS vs. ACT (Pool B)
Friday, July 7
9:00am Pool A 2nd vs. Pool B 2nd (Selection match)
10:20am Pool A 3rd vs. Pool B 3rd (Selection match)
1:00pm Pool A 1st vs. Pool B 1st (Championship Final)
3:00pm Closing ceremony and naming of Australian Schoolboys team
Pool A
Pool A will be contested by the Combined Affiliated States, NSWCCC and Queensland. No disrespect to the CAS but Saturday morning’s NSW-Queensland fixture will more than likely determine who finishes first.
Combined Affiliated States
Titles: None
Australian Schoolboys in the NRL: Richie Kennar
Victorians dominate the 20-player CAS squad heading to Redcliffe, with sixteen players selected. The state has become the strongest of the Affiliated States at the junior level in the last 15 years. Three players come from out west, while Jett Doyle is the lone Northern Territorian in the squad.
Seven of the Victorian sixteen played for Melbourne in the SG Ball Cup this season. Fullback Hugo Peel played 4 games, kicking seven goals, and was a member of the Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby academy last year. Prop Suli Pole is the younger brother of Wests Tigers lock Fonua. The Sunbury junior stands at 198cm and weighs 117kg. Another to keep an eye on is towering winger Nisifolo Fauonuku, who played six SG Ball games this year.
They are coached by former Parramatta lower grader Tim Auremi, the Australian Schoolboys captain back in 2008.
NSW Combined Catholic Colleges
Titles: 16
Australian Schoolboys in the NRL: Kieran Foran, James Tedesco, Mitch Moses, Nat Butcher, Latrell Mitchell, Blayke Brailey, Nathan Cleary, Campbell Graham, Spencer Leniu, Stephen Crichton.
Roosters prop De La Salle Va’a headlines a strong NSWCCC squad. The Toowoomba junior is the only player in the squad with Jersey Flegg Cup experience, having played two games so far after making the step up from SG Ball.
Heath Mason was set to join him last weekend, being named to make his debut for the Wests Tigers before being ruled out. Mason started at five-eighth in the Magpies Harold Matthews Grand Final win last before switching to fullback in 2023. He’ll move back into the halves this weekend.
Knights quarter Logan Aoake, Wil Rosenbaum, Jack Hilliar and Cody Hopwood all took part in May’s Junior Rep Grand Final day. Aoake started at centre in Newcastle’s SG Ball loss to Parramatta, while Hilliar and Hopwood started in the front row and Rosenbaum was on the wing in their Harold Matts loss to Canterbury.
Parramatta duo Jezaiah Funa-Iuta and Zaidas Muagututia bring plenty of Schoolboy experience to the side. The pair, who were still 16 at the time, were key members of last year’s Patrician Brothers’ Fairfield team who finished runners-up in the National Final.
Recent Sharks signee Riley Pollard is one of five St Dominic’s players in the squad. He represented the Australian Emus U18 touch side last month. His St Dominic’s classmate Jaxen Edgar was named the 2023 NSWRL Harold Matthews Player of the Year.
They are coached by Damien Quinn, who won a Queensland Cup premiership with Toowoomba in 2001 and also spent time with the Crusaders in the Super League.
Queensland Secondary Schools
Titles: 7
Australian Schoolboys in the NRL: Ben Hunt, Jason Taumalolo, Reuben Cotter, Payne Haas, Tanah Boyd, David Fifita, Tom Dearden, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Sam Walker, Reece Walsh.
A week after making his Queensland Cup debut for Redcliffe, John Fineanganofo will line up for Queensland in his adopted hometown. The former Auckland Grammar student moved to Australia last year and scored 12 tries in eight Mal Meninga Cup games this season, including one in their Grand Final win over Townsville. He’s joined by four teammates from that day.
One is winger John-Paul Donevski, a highly-rated Panthers junior who was snapped up by the Dolphins this year. Another is centre Prestyn Lane-Sietu, who coincidentally is contracted to Penrith. He scored nine tries in eight games this season.
A familiar surname in the squad is Townsville’s Kaiden Lahrs. The son of two-time Australian Schoolboy Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Kaiden is a barnstorming front tower like his dad and has been making waves up north. Formerly contracted to the Broncos, he signed a three-year contract with the Cowboys in January.
Mabel Park’s Alex Leapai is one of five players with Hastings Deering Colts experience in the squad, playing three games for Souths Logan.4 The 193cm, 114kg prop spent time with the Roosters before signing with the Titans recently. His dad Alex Senior is a former professional boxer and his uncle is Josh Papalii.
Taking charge of the side is Palm Beach Currumbin’s Geoff Eggert, who steered Queensland to the title in 2022.
Pool B
Pool B will be contested by the ACT, NSWCHS and NSWCIS. This should be NSWCHS pool to lose. An upset by NSWCIS on Day 1 would make things very interesting.
Australian Capital Territory
Titles: 1
Australian Schoolboys in the NRL: Michael Chee-Kam, Jack Wighton, Nick Cotric
Erindale Colle-, sorry, the ACT Schoolboys will be heading into the championships looking to cause some upsets. Local powerhouses Erindale College, who won back-to-back National Titles in 1997–98 and have produced 30 Australian Schoolboys, supply 95% of the squad.
Erindale is currently undefeated in the Peter Mulholland Cup, beating Illawarra Sports High 38–8 earlier this month and Matraville Sports High 50–0 just last week. One of the stars of their side is halfback Jonah Anderson, who was named the Raiders’ Harold Matthews Player of the Year in May.
11 of the squad represented the Raiders in either the SG Ball or Harold Matthews this year. Hooker Xavier Cacciotti played four SG Ball games and also spent time with Monaro in the regional Laurie Daley Cup, where he scored 12 tries in five games. Four of them came in their Grand Final loss to Illawarra South Coast.
Centre Mark Tuialii joined the Raiders this season, moving to the club from Brisbane. He played for Wavell State High in the Allan Langer Trophy last year. He played seven SG Ball games for Canberra, scoring four tries.
Canberra’s current Jersey Flegg head coach Ash Barnes will coach the side. He previously coached the Raiders Flegg side to the Grand Final in 2019 and won an SG Ball premiership with the club in 2021.
NSW Combined High Schools
Titles: 16
Australian Schoolboys in the NRL: David Klemmer, Junior Paulo, Jake Trbojevic, Clint Gutherson, Alex Johnston, Luciano Leilua, Scott Drinkwater, Reuben Garrick, Zac Lomax, Reece Robson.
Giant Dragons’ front rower Loko Tonga brings Jersey Flegg experience to the Combined High Schools side, having played five games after moving up from SG Ball. He joined the club in 2023 from Ipswich State High, where he was a member of their National Title-winning side.
Lock Sheldon Abbey also brings title-winning experience to the squad, he played 11 Harold Matts games for Canterbury this past season, including their Grand Final win over Newcastle. Four members of last year’s Harold Matts-winning Magpies side are also in the squad – Luke Laulili’i, Lachlan Galvin, Denzel Schaafhausen-Mino and Sosefo Finau.
Illawarra Sports High’s Palu Tausala started at lock in Illawarra South Coast’s Laurie Daley Cup Grand Final win over Monaro. He’s joined in the side by another regional player in Westen Rams five-eighth Fletcher Hunt, who hails from Nyngan.
Kiama High’s Hayden Buchanan scored nine tries in eight games for Illawarra in the Harold Matthews. Once the season ended, the 17-year-old returned to Gerringong, playing first grade in the Group 7 competition.
Their coach is Illawarra Sports High’s Brett Kelly, who spent time in the NRL with Cronulla and Canberra.
NSW Combined Independent Schools
Titles: None
Australian Schoolboys in the NRL: Cameron Murray, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Isaiya Katoa
14 of the Combined Independent School’s squad played in the under-17 Harold Matthews Cup this season, the most of any team at the Championships. That includes the entire spine of Mitchell Woods, Alex Conti, Toby Rodwell and Jaxson Allen.
Woods played halfback in the Bulldogs’ Grand Final-winning Matts side and is highly regarded by the club. He’s also a member of the Sydney Swans academy, who are keen on his signature. Roosters duo Rodwell and Allen were the standouts for their Matts team in 2023. Allen was named the club’s Player of the Year and Rodwell the Best Back. Conti represented CIS in 2022 as a 16-year-old and is coming off a season captaining Balmain’s Matts side.
Another to watch is centre Casey McLean. This year, the Newington College student scored six tries in eight games for Penrith’s Matts side. His older brother Jesse is in the Panthers’ NRL squad and was an Australian Schoolboy last year.
CIS suffered a big loss earlier this week with Port Macquarie junior Blake Steep not being medically cleared. Contracted to the Roosters, Steep ruptured his ACL last season and was set to make his return this weekend before being ruled out. His replacement in the forward pack is Canterbury’s Patrick Young, son of former Wallaby Bill Young.
They will be coached by former Eels, Roosters, Cowboys and Sharks winger John Williams.
Yes, the ASSRL.
2019 and 2022. The 2020 and 2021 championships were cancelled due to the pandemic.
A side that featured the likes of Luke Priddis, Jason Ferris and current Raiders SG Ball coach Peter Marrapodi.
The others are Mutua Brown (2 games), Mason Kira (7), Fineanganofo (2) and Lauloto Salei (3).