Students anxious to train and play in school’s triple finals quest

“It’s exactly where we want to be - performing with the best, locking away our spot playing finals. It’s exciting.’’ See why Ipswich footballers still have plenty to play for.

Ipswich State High School rugby league players Josiah Patea and Kulikefu Finefeuiaki are masked up and ready to play when the Langer Trophy competition resumes.

WITH three Ipswich State High teams qualified for major schoolboy competition semi-finals, program head Josh Bretherton is proud of what has already been achieved this season.

Seeing the school’s Langer Trophy, Langer Reserves and Walters Cup sides in the top four builds on pleasing past progress in Ipswich State High’s successful rugby league Academy.

“Having all three teams in finals is excellent, really happy with it,’’ Bretherton said.

However, Bretherton shares the anticipation of his 60 players eager to line up for one of their three teams after the latest community sport shutdown.

The Ipswich State High teams are preparing for semi-finals set down for August 25 - after recent games were cancelled.

Ipswich is set to tackle Marsden State High in the knockout semi.

The format for the Langer Reserves is to be finalised but games are likely to be staged at the same time as other finals.

The Ipswich students have all made a valuable contribution in the elite South East Queensland competitions.

“That’s the all-important part of what we do for them as a group in the senior Academy,’’ the head coach said.

“The 10s, 11s and 12s are super happy with what they see the Academy doing - really good results.’’

Ipswich State High School rugby league players want to get back on the field after a successful camp on the Sunshine Coast before the latest lockdown.

Bretherton said his students welcomed the opportunity to continue their football development.

“The boys are all back at school. They are here and happy to be back,’’ the head coach said.

“Back in a few classes and excited about the prospect of hopefully there’s some football in a couple of weeks time, fingers crossed.

“They were a little bit itchy about wanting to be out on a field and run around. That’s what they do.’’

Bretherton said he and fellow coaches Shane Harris and Jonathan Dore saw the anticipation when the students in the Ipswich State High rugby league program returned on Monday.

“We faced a lot of questions about what can we do, what can’t we do, when are we going to be back and all that sort of stuff,’’ Bretherton said.

“It’s sort of been as soon as we get the info boys, we’ll get to work.’’

Bretherton was also playing it safe, making sure he followed the right protocols before resuming training.

The students haven’t trained together for over a week.

“We sent them some programs to follow at home, bodywork stuff, things they can do in the lounge room or the backyard or whatever with next to no equipment,’’ Bretherton said.

“To try and keep them doing a little bit of something, because a couple of them were going stir crazy.

“They tried to stay as fit and strong as they can and then hoping to get back into some training pretty shortly.’’

The semi-finals are set down for August 25 after the final round of qualifying matches and the quarter-finals were cancelled.

Ipswich State High’s Langer Trophy side snuck into fourth spot after wins over Coombabah (22-16), Wavell (14-12) and St Mary’s (36-6).

“It was nice to get those three wins in first grade to get us back into a rhythm, which has paid off,’’ Bretherton said.

“After a tough start and then getting themselves back on track . . . across the board you look at those results, it’s exciting.’’

The final placings were: Marsden 10 points (+120); PBC 10 points (+ 90); Keebra 10 points (+52); Ipswich 6 points (-52); Wavell 4 points (+32); Coombabah 4 points (-6); St Marys 4 points (-138); Mabel Park 0 points (-94).

News Corp Langer Trophy livestream schedule for August 25

Semi-finals: Marsden SHS v Ipswich SHS; PBC SHS v Keebra SHS.

The Ipswich State High senior Academy squad playing in the 2021 Langer Trophy competition.

Ipswich State High’s Langer Reserves team was in second and the school’s Walters Cup combination was in fourth when the last round was called off.

Bretherton was impressed with the efforts of both sides, including some hard-fought draws.

“They have been really solid,’’ Bretherton said.

“The Walters boys finished in that final spot which they have earnt through some really consistent performances, like those draws.

“The Langer Reserve boys have been excellent.’’

The Langer Reserve team could have finished on top if they had beaten Mabel Park in their final qualifying encounter, which was called off.

“That’s disappointing and they may have a chance to do that now. We’ll wait and see what happens,’’ Bretherton said. “We’re very proud of them.’’

Ipswich State High School head coach Josh Bretherton. Picture: David Lems

Ipswich State High’s younger aged teams in the Broncos Cup competition have also excelled.

“You look at the 7s, 8s and 9s - looking across the whole Academy - it’s a really good solid year,’’ Bretherton said.

“It’s exactly where we want to be - performing with the best, locking away our spot playing finals. It’s exciting.’’

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