Sunshine Coast Football junior and senior weekly wrap

Three rising Nambour-Yandina United players have continued to impress their coaches and opposition as they climb our Sunshine Coast rankings. See who shone in our weekly wrap.

Stars of the week.

The Sunshine Coast Daily has released the full list ranking all 1222 goal scorers so far this season with an in depth focus on which junior and senior players starred for their team over the weekend.

After the opening rounds in the senior and junior competition it’s Gympie United’s Cooper Hall who sits at the top of the leaderboard, closely followed by Nambour Yandina’s Cadel Martin and St Andrews’ Zack Gurry.

Noosa’s Ynez Harrap has been in top form in the girls under-15 division with another two goals against Gympie in round 14, taking her goal scoring total to 23.

Baringa FC’s Sam Hardwick is leading the goal scoring tally in the senior competitions with a special mention going to Cooroora United’s Taylah Cardew who has been putting in some standout performances in the Division 1 Women’s competition with 19 goals from just seven matches.

Make sure to check back each week to see every junior and senior result, who has climbed the leaderboard, how your mates are performing and most importantly where you rank.

NYU trio continue to soar above expectations (Round 14)

Nambour-Yandina under-13 division two coach Ben Lockens said he hoped his team could continue to improve as they sit in third place after their opening 11 matches.

“We have two brand new players still finding their feet and then a mixed bag of experience, abilities and ages in between,” he said.

“I share the coaching with Adam Linke, a very experienced player, as I am a typical dad that grew up playing AFL and has learnt the game coaching my son through the years.

“Going to the competitive competition and playing on a full field this year has been exciting and a steep learning curve for me and the younger members of the team.”

In form NYU attacker Cadel Martin currently sits in second place behind Gympie’s Cooper Hall on the golden boot tally.

Nambour Yandina United’s in-form trio Harlan Vaughan, Loch Stevens and Cadel Martin. Picture: Ben Lockens.

Lockens said he was proud of a number of his players performances at the halfway point of the season.

“We have three stand out players who have played a huge part in our success this season,” he said.

“Cadel Martin, he has pace to burn and obviously amazing finishing skills. He often beats three opponents to get to the ball.

“Loch Stevens, our captain courageous, gives 110 per cent in the midfield each week, he’s the heart of our team and the players rally behind him.

“Harlan Vaughan, our sweeper who is always on the last line of defence and is best summed up with the line ‘Harlan, he’s always just where you need him to be’.”

Find the results from every single junior and senior fixture from July 22 to 24 below.

Woombye a class above on both sides of the ball (Round 12)

Woombye under-15 division one head coach Cameron Mason says he couldn’t be prouder of his team’s top of the table start to the season with six wins, one draw and two losses.

The team has also been lethal in front of goal scoring 27 goals and only conceding 14.

“We’re having a lot of fun, we’re having a pretty good season so far,” Mason said.

“The rain hasn’t been very helpful but the boys are pretty dedicated and I’m hugely proud of their performances.”

Mason thanked the work of his assistant David Gaskin and the efforts from Gareth Thomson’s hinterland academy.

“The work that Gareth did with these boys last year has really put the groundwork down for what we’ve have been able to build on and achieve this year,” he said.

“There’s a couple of fresh faces to our team this year but the bulk of the squad came from that team last season.

“Our whole team is playing really well at the moment as they’re dominating the possession stats, getting a lot of good passes off and defensively the boys in the backline are reading the play well and cut out opposition attack very well.”

Mason said these four players had been in standout form following the opening nine matches.

Ethan Ford: “He’s one of our central attacking midfielders and our skipper who has lead by example this season,” Mason said.

“He’s a great talker, a great organiser and a really good ballplayer and controls the pace of the game very well,” he said.

Kye Patti: “He is our main goal scoring threat at the moment and is leading the golden boot tally for the division by a fair distance,” he said.

“He’s quick, he’s good on both feet, he never stops running and is very good at putting himself in the right place at the right time.”

Oliver Madden: “Oliver is our centre back and is an absolutely rock at back for us,” he said.

“His timing on tackles is brilliant, he’s quick, covers a lot of ground, reads the play well, is very calm on the ball and a lot of our attack comes from the good work he does initially.”

Rio Mason: “He’s quick, very quick and he’s a strong player that injects himself well into the game on attack and in defence,” he said.

“He loves getting involved in all aspects of the game and brings a lot of physicality to our team.”

Find the results from every single junior and senior fixture from July 8 to 10 below.

Young Lions continue to knock on the door with top-shelf performances (Round 10)

Noosa Lions senior head coach Ben Amson says he couldn’t be prouder of his FQPL men’s and under-23s team with both sides sitting at the top of the table in their respective divisions after the opening 10 rounds.

Amson said the constant battle for positions in both grades had been a reason for the club’s recent success.

“Pretty much all of the under-23s have had runs in our prems side so each week I’m not really looking at who’s in my under-23s it’s more so who can I run in the prems,” he said.

“In the whole senior squad itself we have about 30 players between prems, 23s and even some younger guys that are playing thirds but are easily up to that next level as well.

“From the 23s squad that faced Buderim on the weekend there were only three players that were over the age of 20 so the majority of our squad across the board is very young.”

Noosa Lions Football Club Senior men's coach Ben Amson.

The FQPL men’s side have started the season with four wins, one draw and two losses, while the under-23s have suffered just one loss to second-placed Maroochydore.

Amson, who took over from four-time premiership mentor Kevin Aherne-Evans at the end of the 2020 season, was proud of his players’ attitudes both on and off the field.

“The one thing I like to have is good players that are good people and these young guys that are coming through are absolutely fantastic,” he said.

“They’re all top individuals but they can also be quite ruthless on the field as they’ve got that mentality of if we win the ball, we will score and if we score one, we’ll score four or five.”

He said there had been a number of key players so far this season.

“Sunny Law is one that I mentioned the other week in how classy he has been and how other teams are noticing his talent as well,” Amson said.

“He picked up another goal on the weekend so he’s been fantastic and it’s the same with Evan Ryan our striker who has been on fire with 12 goals already for the season.

“The two Savage brothers of Zac, who is making himself a real mainstay in the backline of premier grade and 23s with his pace and solid defensive attributes.

“Conor is much the same at the back, he very rarely misses a tackle, they are both good in the air and have given each other a bit of a nudge for who’s going to score more goals this season.”

Find the results from every single junior and senior fixture from June 24 to 26 below.

Elite attacking threats remain a problem for opposition back lines (Round 9)

Leading Gympie United goal scoring duo Cooper Hall and Billy Merton have proven themselves as rising stars to watch after a shared nine-goal performance in the under-13 division two competition.

The round 11 win over Coolum FC saw Merton find the back of the net on six occasions while Hall finished the match with a hat trick.

Gympie United vice president and head coach Nathan Knight said he was proud of his team’s performance.

“They’ve come a long way this season and it’s been a really good team effort all around with the lads upfront really shining,” he said.

“We play a 4-4-2 formation with Billy at left wing and Cooper at right wing and the team has gelled really well that they just know where to put the ball for the two boys at the moment.”

Cooper Hall and Billy Merton from the Gympie United under 13 division 2 competition.

Hall currently leads the competition’s golden boot tally with 20 while Merton is in third with 15.

The 10-2 result meant that Gympie United held their spot at the top of the table after an undefeated start to the season.

Knight said he hoped to continue the attacking game style.

“The under-12 team I took last year with Golden City went undefeated all season so I thought I’d try and continue it this year taking on a whole new team with some of those boys from last year,” he said.

“The boys are playing really well and hopefully they can continue their undefeated winning streak all the way to the finals.”

It was also an important result for Coolum FC’s FQPL3 side picking up their first win of the season in the annual Lachlan Wells Cup with a 3-0 victory over Kawana.

Find the results from every single junior and senior fixture from June 17 to 19 below.

Goals aplenty with rising Lion proving one to watch (Round 8)

An inform Noosa Lions junior team has shown they are the real deal in 2022 after a convincing 10-0 win over Caloundra FC in the under-14 division one competition.

The win comes after Caloundra knocked out the Lions in the 2021 semi final and went on to be crowned premiers of the 2021 season.

Head coach and Noosa Lions legend Michael Williams said he was impressed with his team’s performance.

“They played really well and as a team they’re rapidly improving every week which is really good,” he said.

Noosa Lions under-14s division one player Noah Dowling in action. Picture: Craig and Anne Clifford.

Noosa’s crafty number 10 Noah Dowling shone in the double digit affair scoring his first ever career hat trick.

“Noah is honestly gold and I’m not just talking about his performances with the ball,” Williams said.

“Every week we do the player of the week and he’s one of those players that rarely gets the award because he is always good.

“His attitude is awesome and he’s got all of the things that you can’t coach when you’re talking about a truly naturally gifted player.”

Williams, who is in his first season with the under-14s, said it was one of the biggest wins he had been a part of.

“I’m not too focused on the scoreline really because it’s about the player improvement for me and they’re all just kids so it’s good to see our boys and the opposition having a crack,” he said.

Current Noosa Lions U14 coach Michael Williams was awarded the senior men's player of the year three times between 1998 and 2003. Picture: Warren Lynam.

The three-time senior men's player of the year winner said he had enjoyed his time as coach so far this season.

“I love seeing them improve and seeing them take on new challenges whilst also creating a really good cognitive environment,” Williams said.

“I’ve coached a lot over the years and I’ll be honest these kids are all really great and the parental group is good too so I just enjoy being involved and creating that team atmosphere.”

The result followed another high scoring affair in the same division with top of the table Buderim Wanderers beating Gympie United 7-1.

Find the results from every single junior and senior fixture from June 10-12 below.