Grand final coaches and captains highlight key match-ups, game plans

Senior rugby union captains and coaches have broken down their grand final match-ups as they take to the field to be crowned 2023 Sunshine Coast champions. Read more and vote in our poll.

Sunshine Coast senior rugby union 2023 grand finalist coaches and captains. Pictures: Eddie Franklin, Patrick Woods and Adrian Bell.

The battle for the major silverware has arrived with eight teams across four divisions taking part in this weekend’s blockbuster Sunshine Coast senior rugby union grand finals.

The Caloundra Lighthouse have secured a spot in the men’s A-grade and senior women’s grand final where they will meet the USC Barbarians (A-grade) and Nambour Toads (senior women’s).

It’s a similar scene for the Noosa Dolphins who will take on the USC Barbarians in the reserve grade final plus the Nambour Toads in the third grade showdown which will be played on Friday night.

After round 13 we revealed the leading players and grave our end of season predictions.

Read below to find out what each coach had to say ahead of their do-or-die match-ups.

Men’s A-Grade

Sunshine Coast rugby union A-grade 2023 grand final matchup. Nicola Anne Photography and Adrian Bell Photography.

After defeating Noosa in 2021 and edging out Maroochydore in 2022, the Barbarians are aiming for their third A-grade premiership in a row but will have to do it against a new competitor this season in the Caloundra Lighthouse.

A 22-22 draw in round 12 was as close as these two teams have come this season before USC guaranteed themselves home ground advantage after defeating Caloundra 38-20 in the first week of the finals.

Caloundra would head into the decider with eight wins, one draw and three losses while USC are yet to lose a match this season.

Head coaches Brad Tronc (USC Barbarians) and Dan Atkins (Caloundra Lighthouse) gave their thoughts on who would end up as 2023 premiers.

Q: What has been your takeaways from the earlier match-ups this season?

Tronc: “Being the hunted was a little bit difficult to come to terms with early on in the year but it means we’ve had to keep improving and working hard at training each week. I think every time you play Caloundra they’re dangerous. I think it was good for us to take some learnings out of that game without a loss, we were down to 13 men for the last 10 minutes but scored a try to draw it. That showed me a lot about the boys and the team that we’ve got.”

Atkins: “From the semi final that we played against them I think they played quite a strategic game plan against us. They kicked the ball short and high and ran quite hard so we’ve got to nullify those things and we should be right.”

Q: Where do you think the game will be won or lost?

Tronc: “I think there’s moments in grand finals that you need to be up for. I’m sure those moments will come and we’ve just got to make the best of those opportunities. I feel like our discipline and our defence have to be on and if we get those sort of things right I feel like we’ve got enough rugby in us.”

Atkins: “Set pieces we took a lot away out of that. We probably could’ve won more of our own which we’re hoping to lock down on Saturday and nullify anything they have for their set pieces as well.”

Q: Final thoughts

Tronc: “This is our reserve grade’s fourth grand final in a row as well. That just shows the testament of the club and what we’re doing behind the scenes. We don’t have to recruit a lot as our retention is pretty high so when you look at that you know you’re doing something right.”

Atkins: “As a club we set out to get four teams into the semi finals which we achieved and are very very proud of. To now have two into the grand final it’s just super. The boys and ladies are pumped, really pumped.”

Senior Women’s

Sunshine Coast rugby union senior women's 2023 grand final matchup.

It’s a similar story for Nambour in the women’s competition, who in only their third year in the competition, finished the regular season as minor premiers with 13 wins and zero losses.

It is also the second straight year that Nambour have progressed through to the grand final without losing a match.

They will meet Caloundra, who despite finishing in third place with seven wins and six losses, have been Nambour’s biggest rival this season.

In round five the scores finished 12-5 while it was 14-12 in round 12.

Head coach Luke Zeremes (Nambour Toads) and captain Maddison Janke (Caloundra Lighthouse) gave their thoughts on who would end up as 2023 premiers.

Q: What has been your takeaways from the earlier match-ups this season?

Zeremes: “Our two closest games this season have been against Caloundra so we know we’re going to have a really difficult game against them. They have a style of footy that really suits them and challenges us so we’re looking forward to the battle.”

Janke: “For sure we take some confidence out of those other games. Considering the points differences against the other teams they’ve played and then how they’ve fared against us there’s only been a few points between us. I think we just have to stick to what we know and push on to another level to get that win against them on Saturday.”

Q: Where do you think the game will be won or lost?

Zeremes: “I think it will just be at those crucial moments. The way that the breakdown is policed and officiated will certainly have a huge impact and that’s something we noticed when we met them earlier in the season. They’ve also got some speed on the edges which is a bit like us and they’re very aggressive at the breakdown which can spoil us in attack. We just need to make the most of our opportunities which I think would be the same for them as we take pride in our defensive effort and don’t just hand over tries. If we can manage the field position or the territory side of the game it would go a long way in serving us well.”

Janke: “They’re really quick and they have a lot of talent. I think most of them played rugby 7’s so it’s a lot more running then we’re used to at 15 a side. We’ve just got to shut them down out wide. To not give them that option or opportunity on the wings and just stick to our game plan.”

Q: Final thoughts

Zeremes: “It’s been a great year and we’ve had a lot of fun. We train just once a week as opposed to two times a week which we feel we get the most out of that one session. We’re still managing loads at the moment as our squad is still quite young so they’re bouncing between school and representative rugby. It’s been a fun year and we see that reflected on the field which will happen again on Saturday. The girls just want to play, they aren’t burnt out at this stage of the season so it’s exciting to see them keen to rip in.”

Janke: “We’re really excited for it. I’ve been blown away considering we’ve built this team from scratch. Half the girls in our team had never played a sport, let alone a contact sport but they’ve taken to it real easy and we’ve now made it this far. The numbers definitely help this year too when games roll around. In past seasons we were sometimes playing without substitutes so those extra numbers and having girls that are excited to play is great.”

Grand Final Schedule

Friday 7.30pm – Third Grade – Nambour v Noosa at the Nambour Rugby Union Club

Saturday 12pm – Senior Women – Nambour v Caloundra at the Sunshine Coast University

Saturday 1.45pm – Reserve Grade – University v Noosa at the Sunshine Coast University

Saturday 3.30pm – A-Grade – University v Caloundra at the Sunshine Coast University