RLO Newsletter 9/5: City-Country weekend, Colts Round 3
NSWRL's annual City-Country weekend ends with City, unsurprisingly, winning all four junior fixtures.
City dominate again
For the third straight year, the NSW City junior teams have defeated their Country counterparts, with the girls and women’s teams also getting in on the action for the first time.
On Saturday, the under-16 boys’ City side held their opponents scoreless with a 30–0 victory. They’ve won all three games since 2021, with an average margin of 25.3 points. Later on, the under-18 men did it pretty easily with a 30–10 victory. Their average win margin is 28 points.
Like I mentioned last week, these aren’t true City vs. Country sides, selected under Origin eligibility style rules. They’re selected based on which competition you played in – the regional Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cups for Country, and the metropolitan SG Ball and Harold Matthews Cup for City. This puts the Country teams at a big disadvantage as a) the metropolitan competitions are at a much higher level, b) there are three “Country” sides in the metro competitions (Canberra, Newcastle and Illawarra), and c) NRL sides sign country kids to their systems who play in the metro comps.
This isn’t the case in the girls and women’s games, in which both City sides still won handily anyway. On Sunday, the under-17 girls’ City side got up 16–4 over Country. These sides were selected following the regional and metro Lisa Fiaola Cup competitions. City took out the under-19 women’s game 28–8, in which they scored six tries and only converted one of them.
Colt Round 3 – De Groot good, Souths Logan surprise
Another weird and wild weekend of big score lines and insane games in Round 3 of the Hastings Deering Colts. We had three blowouts to open the round, a close game and two blowouts that somehow ended up close.
Fresh off the bye, Tweed decimated the Clydesdales at Piggabeen 56–14. Seagulls’ fullback Jaylan De Groot scored three tries, set up one and ran for 193 metres. He was named QRL’s ‘Heavy Lifter’ of the week and you can watch his highlights here. De Groot, a Cudgen junior, played three Cup games at fullback earlier this year before moving back down to Colts and playing centre in Round 1. At the Titans, he’s behind AJ Brimson, Jayden Campbell, and Keano Kini at fullback. He moved back to fullback this weekend, and like he did at centre, looks a step (or maybe 20) above this level. Maybe he’s not quite at the Cup level yet. I haven’t seen enough to say. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.
Souths Logan pulled a 42-point win out of who knows where over the previously undefeated Wynnum Manly on Saturday. The win ended a 10-game losing streak that stretches back to June last year. They dominated the traditionally strong Seagulls, finishing with nine tries to nine different try scorers. Magpies’ fullback Byron Johnson, who missed 2022 with an ACL injury, scored 18 of his side’s points.
Burleigh ended a six-game losing streak that, like Souths Logan’s, started in 2022. They beat the Capras 44–16 and scored eight tries with eight different try scorers. A game where one side scores nine tries and another where one score eight and no repeat try scorers. That is unheard of at this level. A nice moment for the Capras in a big loss came in the fifth minute when hooker Harry Barham set up his brother Jake with a chip into the in-goal.
On Saturday, Mackay leads the Pride 28–0 after 40 minutes. On Sunday, Norths leads the Falcons 28–6 after 50 minutes. In typical Colts fashion, where you either blow a side out or blow a huge lead, both sides ended up holding on for four-point wins. Colts rugby league.
The game of the round took place at Totally Workwear (ugh) Stadium with the Tigers coming home strong to beat Townsville 28–24. With 15 minutes to go, the Blackhawks were up six and playing against 12 after a sin-binning to Tigers’ edge Simon Pratt. They failed to capitalise, never really looking like scoring. The Tigers crossed shortly after and with all the momentum, and back to 13, crossed for the winner in the 77th minute. Their fullback Lachlan West, a standout most weeks in Colts, was impressive. He scored a hat-trick, which included the game-winner.
My arbitrary team of the week based on vibes:
1 Jaylan De Groot (Tweed), 2 Tyrese Parter (Mackay), 3 Blayden Dodd (Norths), 4 Kealhan O'Brien (Norths), 5 Israel Leota (Souths Logan), 6 Jack Field (Tweed), 7 Cody Hamilton (Souths Logan), 8 Madison Beckett (Brisbane), 9 Taimana Whakatau (Souths Logan), 10 Mou Taumaletila-Maulolo (Souths Logan), 11 Adam Christensen (Burleigh), 12 Seth Nikotemo (Burleigh), 13 Kobe Bone (Mackay).
Colt heroes
A shoutout to Western Clydesdales’ Oliver Bichel, who played his 30th Colts game this past round. It might not seem like a lot but that’s 30 hard appearances. 30 showings in a side that doesn’t usually win, or even get close. Of those 30 games, he’s won just three.
He debuted in Round 1 2021 at fullback but has played all over since then – wing, lock, centre. In 2022, he was named the club’s Colts Player of the Year. With the Clydesdales in the Queensland Cup now, let’s hope he can break through to the next level.
Another shoutout goes to Blackhawks’ winger Jesse Yallop, who I briefly mentioned last week, comparing him to Corey Thompson. This guy impresses me every time I see him play. He’s quick, does the hard carries from his end and is a great finisher – he’s got six tries in three games this year and has 32 from 25 in his Colts career. At 180cm, 74kg, he’s probably not someone an NRL club is rushing to give a development contract to but he’s a real goer. I hope, like Bichel, he can move up and kick on in Queensland Cup.
Jersey Flegg update
It was a bye round for the Jersey Flegg this past weekend but that allowed the Sharks and Dragons to catch up on their postponed Round 4 game. Cronulla won it 30–22.
The teams return to action this weekend for Round 11 with a full six-game schedule. The first-placed Roosters take on the fourth-placed Panthers in Penrith on Saturday, which should be the game of the round.
NRL Schoolboy Cup
The Victorian schools return to action in the Peter Mulholland Cup this week at Seabrook Reserve. Victoria Uni Secondary College meet Hallam Senior College, while Mt Ridley College plays The Grange P-12 College. In Round 1, The Grange defeated Hallam 22–10, while Victoria Uni defeated Mt Ridley 32–6.
The rest of the sides in the Peter Mulholland Cup (the NSW, ACT, Victoria conference of the Schoolboy Cup), will begin their seasons in the coming weeks, with Bass High facing Holy Cross Ryde on Wednesday, May 17 to start the NSW proceedings.
The draws for the Queensland competitions – the Allan Langer Trophy (south-east Queensland), Dolphins Cup (central) and Aaron Payne Cup (northern) – are yet to be released. Redcliffe State High and Caloundra State High nabbed the final two Allan Langer Trophy spots two weeks ago and will join defending national champions Ipswich State High, Palm Beach Currumbin, Keebra Park, Marsden, Wavell and Mabel Park in the competition.
Magic Round debuts
Two teenage Queensland Cup products made their NRL debuts at Magic Round this past weekend, with North Queensland’s Kulikefu Finefeuiaki and the Gold Coast’s Keano Kini both featuring on Sunday.
Finefeuiaki was signed by the Cowboys out of Ipswich State High in 2021. The Auckland-born Redbank Plains junior moved to Townsville in 2022, joining the Cowboys’ Young Guns squad. That year, he played for Queensland under-19, won a Colts Grand Final and made his Cup debut for the Blackhawks. After starting the year strong in Cup, he earned a contract upgrade with the Cowboys in April and his NRL debut not long after. The second-rower came off the bench in the 20–6 win over the Roosters, running for 51 metres and making 10 tackles, which included a nice shot on Roosters’ captain James Tedesco.
Spotted and signed by the Titans as a 15-year-old at a League Tag tournament in Auckland, Kini quickly rose through the grades in Australia. He starred for Palm Beach Currumbin at the schoolboy level, winning back-to-back Player of the Year awards in the Allan Langer Trophy. After two seasons with Tweed in the Mal Meninga Cup, he bypassed the Colts and moved straight into Queensland Cup, where he has starred for Burleigh this season at fullback. He came off the bench in the Titans’ 26–24 win over the Eels, playing 13 minutes at hooker, where he made eight tackles. In March, he re-signed with the Titans until the end of the 2026 season.
Around the grounds
For more information on all games head to 18thman.com.
Jersey Flegg Cup – Round 4
Cronulla 30 (K Dixon 2, B Lavender 2, C Barnes, M Waitere tries; M Riolo 3 goals) def. St George Illawarra 22 (K Hjaltason, L King-Togia, C Roberts, B Rumble tries; A Ward 3 goals) at Collegians Sports Centre. Referee: C Suters. Halftime: SGI 18–14. Tackles: N Tsougranis 31 (SGI), B Hosking 34 (CRO). Run metres: C Watchirs 111 (SGI), K Dixon 186 (CRO).
Ladder: 1 Roosters (18pts), 2 Bulldogs (16), 3 Sharks (16), 4 Panthers (15), 5 Rabbitohs (13), 6 Eels (12), 7 Knights (10), 8 Storm (10), 9 Dragons (10), 10 Tigers (10), 11 Raiders (8), 12 Sea Eagles (6).
Hastings Deering Colts – Round 3
Tweed 56 (J De Groot 3, J Field 2, H Fraser 2, M Donovan, R Foran, T Harry, B Stanley tries; L Radzievic 5, E Speed goals) def. Western Clydesdales 14 (K Buhse, H Finau, J Thompson tries; K Duggan goal) at Piggabeen Sports Complex. Referee: D Lawrence. Halftime: TWE 36–10. Tackles: J Stewart-Lewis 20 (TWE), D Carswell 31 (WCL). Run metres: J De Groot 193 (TWE), K Buhse 165 (WCL).
South Logan 50 (C Evans, C Hamilton, B Johnson, I Leota, M Pakai, D Samoa, L Symonds, T Tapiki, M Taumaletila-Maulolo tries; B Johnson 7 goals) def. Wynnum Manly 8 (B Anders, C Kwock-Sun Barker tries) at BMD Kougari Oval. Referee: A Rossiter. Halftime: SOU 28–4. Tackles: J Radel 48 (WYN), L Symonds 18 (SOU). Run metres: C Kwock-Sun Barker 150 (WYN), M Taumaletila-Maulolo (SOU).
Burleigh 44 (Z Alley, A Christensen, E Finau, C Lasike, S Nikotemo, H Ploegsma, J Tamepo, J Tu’inukuafe tries; B Tagg 6 goals) def. CQ Capras 16 (J Barham, S McGilvray, M Mitchell tries; H Barham, T Martin goals) at UAA Park. Referee: C Wegner. Halftime: BUR 16–6. Tackles: S Nikotemo 31 (BUR), J Barham 29 (CQL). Run metres: A Christensen 208 (BUR), J Wini 136 (CQL).
Mackay 32 (K Bone, L Love, T Parter, E Roberts, H Stocks, T Strecker tries; H Stocks 4 goals) def. Northern Pride 28 (H Davies, M Douthat, B Hammond, T Satrick, C Thaiday tries; R Herd 4 goals) at Barlow Park. Referee: J Eaton. Halftime: MKY 28–0. Tackles: C Kennedy 25 (NPR), K Bone (32). Run metres: H Davies 141 (NPR), K Simon 210 (MKY).
Brisbane Tigers 28 (L West 3, M Beckett, B Black tries; B Black 4 goals) def. Townsville 24 (D Dowson, T Santo-Messa, E Suavai, J Yallop tries; R Wavik 4 goals) at Totally Workwear Stadium. Referee: L Sutton. Halftime: TSV 16–10. Tackles: B Ashton 42 (BRI), T Gunn-James 24 (TSV). Run metres: L West 163 (BRI), J Matautia 178 (TSV).
Norths Devils 34 (B Dodd 2, K O’Brien 2, D Haydon, H Walters tries; B Dodd 5 goals) def. Sunshine Coast 30 (O Boyd, B Ginman, C Herdegen, J Ricotta, J Taufa tries; C Herdegen 5 goals) at Sunshine Coast Stadium. Referee: C Baker. Halftime: NOR 24–6. Tackles: S Day 34 (SCF), H Walters 24 (NOR). Run metres: E Smethills 127 (SCF), W Curran 174 (NOR).
Ladder: 1 Redcliffe (6pts), 2 Tweed (6), 3 Brisbane Tigers (6), 4 Mackay (6), 5 Burleigh (4), 6 Wynnum Manly (4), 7 Norths (4), 8 Townsville (2), 9 Sunshine Coast (2), 10 Souths Logan (2), 11 CQ Capras (2), 12 Western Clydesdales (2), 13 Ipswich (2), 14 Northern Pride (0).
NSWRL City-Country Weekend
Under-16 Boys
City 30 (H Lemoto 3, H Makasini 2, D Hagan, O Large tries; K Blair goal) def. Country 0 at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium. Referee: B Warren. Player of the Match: H Lemoto (City).
Under-18 Mens
City 30 (C McLean 2, L Fainu, L Galvin, S Leuluai, E Roberts tries; R Penisini 3 goals) def. Country 10 (X Cacciotti, J Treweek tries; C Baldock goal) at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium. Referee: B Hunt. Player of the Match: T Da Silva (City).
Under-17 Girls
City 16 (M Fasavalu-Faamausili, K Gray, A Toia-Alaimalo, B To’o tries) def. Country 4 (S Thomas try) at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium. Referee: R Boag. Player of the Match: O Toia-Alaimalo (City).
Under-19 Womens
City 26 (L Fusi 2, C Jackson, L Smythe, L Tui, G Weekes tries; T Finau goal) def. Country 8 (C Eather, G Willey tries) at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium. Referee: N Hillier. Player of the Match: L Fusi (City).
Super League Academy
Leeds 52 def. Castleford 0 at Headingley Stadium
Hull KR 26 def. Huddersfield 20 at Sewell Group Craven Park
Wigan 32 def. Hull FC 14 at University of Hull
Warrington 54 def. Wakefield 4 at Victoria Park
Bradford 44 def. London 16 at Horsfall Stadium
St Helens 110 def. Newcastle 4 at Kingston Park
Ladder: 1 St Helens (10pts), 2 Warrington (8), 3 Hull FC (8), 4 Leeds (6), 5 Wigan (6), 6 Bradford (4), 7 Huddersfield (4), 8 Wakefield (4), 9 Castleford (2), 10 Hull KR (2), 11 London (0), 12 Newcastle (0).
Upcoming fixtures
Times are local and everything is subject to change, this is junior footy.
Jersey Flegg Cup – Round 11
13/5 Penrith vs. Sydney – St Marys Leagues Stadium, 11am
13/5 Newcastle vs. St George Illawarra – Cessnock Sportsground, 12pm
13/5 Canterbury vs. Melbourne – Belmore Sports Ground, 2pm
13/5 Canberra vs. Parramatta – GIO Stadium, 3:40pm
14/5 Manly vs. Cronulla – 4 Pines Park, 11:50am
14/5 South Sydney vs. Wests Tigers – Mascot Oval, 3pm
Hastings Deering Colts – Round 4
13/5 Mackay vs. Burleigh – BB Print Stadium, 12:45pm
13/5 CQ Capras vs. Redcliffe – Browne Park, 2pm
13/5 Western Clydesdales vs. Northern Pride – Clive Berghofer Stadium, 3pm
13/5 Souths Logan vs. Tweed – Logan Metro Football Fields, 3pm
13/5 Wynnum Manly vs. Ipswich – Hammel Park, 4:30pm
14/5 Norths vs. Brisbane Tigers – Bishop Park, 12:15pm
NRL Schoolboy Cup
Peter Mulholland Cup (NSW, ACT, Victoria) – Round 2
11/5 Victoria Uni Secondary College vs. Hallam Senior College – Seabrook Reserve, 12pm
11/5 Mt Ridley College vs. The Grange P-12 College – Seabrook Reserve, 12pm