Sunshine Coast rugby union 2022 grand final preview

Sunshine Coast senior men’s and women’s rugby union coaches have revealed their feelings ahead of Sunday’s grand finals. Have your say in our poll.

The battle for the major silverware has arrived with 10 teams across five divisions taking part in this weekend’s blockbuster Sunshine Coast senior rugby union grand finals.

The main matches will see the University Barbarians take on the Maroochydore Swans in the men’s A-grade while the Nambour Toads are up against the Noosa Dolphins in the senior women's final.

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

Men’s A-Grade

The Barbarians, who defeated Noosa in the 2021 grand final, have only recorded one loss this season which came in round 12 against Maroochydore.

The Barbarians will also head into Sunday’s 3.30pm match armed with home-ground advantage after a 31-19 semi final victory over Maroochydore ensured they progressed straight to the decider.

USC Barbarians A-Grade player Matt Lieder in action against Maroochydore. Picture: Contributed.

The Swans, who finished the regular season in second place with a record of 10 wins and five losses, last tasted grand final glory in 2013.

Head coaches Brad Tronc (University) and Ben Radmall (Maroochydore) gave their thoughts on who would end up 2022 premiers.

Q: What was your takeaway from the round 12 result earlier in the season?

Tronc: “We still thought we should’ve competed a little bit better than what we did in that game, I don’t think the score was a reflection on the game as it blew out in the end but we gained a lot of learnings from that,” he said.

“You gain things from both losses and wins and we’ve had some close encounters this year but did sort of put us in our place a little bit.”

Radmall: “We’ve versed them twice at their home this year now and so the first time we went down by two points with a few late yellow cards but felt as if we were in that the whole time and then in the major semi obviously we were in the game for about 60 minutes and just fell off towards the back end,” he said.

“They haven’t really lost a game this year besides our win when they had some rep players out and we had a pretty strong team so we’re not reading too much into that.”

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

Tronc: “Maroochydore play a fairly simple game plan but they’re effective, they do it well, they buy in as they try and take you through the middle and then stretch you wide so we’ve got to be up for that challenge in the middle,” he said.

Radmall: “The gain line battle between the forwards I think,” he said.

“If either team can get a good roll on we both have some good strike weapons in their backs, so if we can nullify that from University and get our big boys over the line it will be the game breaker I reckon.”

Q: Final thoughts?

Tronc: “The boys are really pumped, we’re probably in a different position than what we were in last year as it’s been a bit of a different season,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of teams challenge us this year, Maroochydore being one of them along with Caloundra and Noosa, so we know that’s kept us on our toes and made us want to be better each week.”

Radmall: “We’ve got the belief, we know that it’s up for grabs and feel as if the pressure is on them,” he said.

“Final training session on Thursday night but we might have a bit of a get together on Saturday morning for a bit of a captain’s run, some brekky, a team meeting and then we’ve got a fair few teams in the junior grand final so we’ll go out and support them.

“Hopefully give the next generation some wise words before they come to support us on Sunday and hopefully we see a bit of black and blue in the crowd as well.”

Senior Women’s

It’s a similar story for Nambour in the women’s competition, who in only their second year in the competition, finished the regular season as minor premiers with 10 wins and zero losses.

Second place Noosa were able to break the curse in the major semi final winning 12-0 and progressing straight through to the grand final.

A 41-7 win in favour of Nambour over Caloundra saw them bounce back and they will meet Noosa on neutral ground at 12.15pm on Sunday.

The Nambour Toads women's rugby union team went undefeated in the regular season.

Noosa will be looking to be crowned back-to-back premiers while Nambour will once again be hoping they can exceed their own expectations.

Head coaches Luke Zeremes (Nambour) and Damien Coghill (Noosa) gave their thoughts on who would end up 2022 premiers.

Q: What’s the feeling like among the playing group?

Zeremes: “Excitement is the key word, it’s our first grand final as a women’s side so we’re really looking forward to taking part in the big day,” he said.

“To get there in just two short seasons is really a credit to the growth of our players and our program that we’re running.

“Really looking forward to playing against Noosa too, we’ve got a good friendly rivalry there and a lot of the players are mates through representative stuff so just really looking forward to a well-spirited game.”

Coghill: “Nambour has been the standard that we have tried to reach so we did play well in the semi but our challenge is to try and repeat that or to go higher than that on Sunday,” he said.

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

Zeremes: “They are two different game styles and Noosa certainly did the job on us in the semi final a few weeks ago and they thoroughly deserved that win,” he said.

“We’ve learnt a lot since then, have addressed some things from that loss and both teams are really capable of winning the game.”

Coghill: “We’re a very direct side so we won’t be changing too much with that, we’ll be going straight ahead,” he said.

“Nambour play an expansive game so it’s going to be a challenge but interested to see how it unfolds.”

Q: Final thoughts?

Zeremes: “We’ve trained really well since that Noosa loss but in saying that Thursday’s training run was just short and sharp before a team dinner,” he said.

“Our goal this year was for the girls to have fun on and off the field so nothing changes now that it’s grand final week.”

Coghill: “The feeling is good, I think everyone is looking forward to getting that last training session under their belt so it will just be short and sharp so that we’re all switched on come Sunday,” he said.

Other grand final matches can be found below:

Friday 7.30pm – Division 3 – Nambour v Gympie

Sunday 11am – Senior Colts – Maroochydore v Noosa/University

Sunday 12.15pm – Senior Women – Noosa v Nambour

Sunday 1.45pm – Reserve Grade – University v Wynnum

Sunday 3.30pm – A-Grade – University v Maroochydore