Sunshine Coast Falcons coaches 2023 season review
The Sunshine Coast‘s young rugby league guns have completed a grueling 2023 representative season. Now their coaches have highlighted the standout players for the year.
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The representative season has come to a close for Sunshine Coast Falcons Cyril Connell (U16s), Mal Meninga (U18s) and Women’s U19s sides.
Each side punched well above their weight for another season, securing top five places across all three grades.
Following the end of the seven round competition, majority of players would now return to their local clubs.
The Hastings Deering Colts, who play a 16 round season, begin at home on April 23 against the Souths Logan Magpies.
Read what head coach Cameron Boaza had to say ahead of kick-off and who he named as key players to watch.
Cyril Connell Challenge (U16s)
Cyril Connell head coach Tim Baldwin coached his side to a second-place finish with five wins and one loss.
“It was a really good positive vibe throughout the season for the boys,” Baldwin said.
“The longer the season went the better they got and they all really bought into what we were doing.
“A lot of them enjoyed the season and I think they’ll all miss that team culture that we built.”
Baldwin said he was proud of the growth his players showed.
“For a lot of them it was their first time in a professional environment and they all experienced a few situations where they were under pressure but they all learnt and took different things on board which showed in our results,” he said.
He said a number of players were standout performers and a large majority developed their skillset to another level throughout the course of the season.
“It’s definitely hard to narrow it down to certain players because there were a number of standout performers but in terms of where players were at the start and how much they’ve improved it’s hard to go past our captains Jackson Koina and Ellyjah Birve.
“Tyler Conquest at fullback was also really good and same for our hooker Tyson Fallon-May who stepped up in a number of crucial moments.
“I could probably rattle off another six players that are all really close but overall I was really impressed with the entire squad this season.”
A head knock in round five sidelined Birve for the final two games of the season.
The star halfback has already stamped his foot among the state’s top rising talents, signing with the Melbourne Storm Academy and shining in the Queensland under-15s team in 2022.
Mal Meninga Cup (U18s)
Mal Meninga head coach Danny Gray ended the seven-round season with four wins and two losses, missing out on playing finals by one spot on the ladder.
He said it was a challenging year for his side.
“To be honest we probably under-achieved this year with some of the players we had in the squad,” he said.
“We debuted a number of younger guys which had its hiccups but overall we were probably really inconsistent which was a big thing we struggled with.
“We played three games in a row on the road which was tough, in saying that we only lost one of those matches which was against Ipswich and it’s a game we probably should’ve won.”
“They’re a great group, I think once a few of them start to understand how important the consistency stuff is, their preparation and all that I think a lot of them will go on to bigger and better things.”
Gray said he was pleased with the growth his younger players had shown throughout the season.
“Finn Lawson was fantastic for us every week and did a really good job,” he said.
“Another young lad that came down from Murgon in Joseph Meikle was really effective as well.
“For those bottom age players that debuted and played every game, we didn’t have any real expectations for them.
“Two that stood out were Beau Lucien and Mitch Bebbington in the forwards which is a promising sign for next year.”
He said a further six or seven players from his squad would now move into the Hastings Deering Colts side for the remainder of the season.
“They’ll now be genuine options for our under 21s so players like Jett Thorpe Elich, Mason Kira, Chase Paterson, Finn Lawson, Jo Meikle, Jayden Smith and Tully McLellan,” he said.
“It’s awesome to see and it’s a great opportunity for them.”
Harvey Norman Women’s (U19s)
Women’s head coach and 2022 Maroochydore Swans premiership leader Dennis Moore finished the season with four wins and two losses securing fourth place.
This was the first year the women played a seven-round season.
“It was a definite change to coaching men but it was a challenge I was looking for and the girls finished up really really well,” Moore said.
“It was a lot of fun and a good experience for me too as I really enjoyed interacting with the girls.”
Moore said a number of players developed their skill sets further throughout the season.
“There was a lot of improvement from day one in terms of their skill and the understanding of how to train and how to play the game,” he said
“The girls were really upbeat after the last game, the feedback was good and our results were a good indication of our performances I think.”
Moore said he was impressed with a number of players.
“There were quite a few but Nancy Sullivan was outstanding, Takoda Thompson was really good and Lila Parr came through really well as a halfback,” he said.
“They were probably the standouts but the rest of them all improved and should be very happy with their efforts.”
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