USC Barbarians, Noosa Dolphins, Brothers and Nambour Toads to contest SCRU 2024 senior grand finals
Senior rugby union captains and coaches have broken down their grand final match-ups, key tactics and leading players as they battle it out to be crowned 2024 Sunshine Coast champions.
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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 USC Barbarians will be aiming for their fourth straight A-grade premiership while the Noosa Dolphins have re-emerged from the wilderness and will compete in their first A-grade grand final since losing to the Barbarians 10-6 in 2021.
The Dolphins will play Caloundra in the reserve grade grand final while the Nambour Toads women’s side would be aiming for their third straight grand final victory when they play Brothers.
The third grade, Friday night clash will be contested by Maroochydore Swans and the Nambour Toads at the Maroochydore rugby club from 7pm.
Sunshine Coast Rugby Union president Mike Aronsten said he was proud of how the season had gone.
“I think this has been one of the best seasons I’ve experienced in terms of the competitiveness and closeness of all senior competitions,” he said.
“The quality of the games have been great and it’s been a really even season across the board.”
Aronsten commended the rise of Brothers and Maroochydore who each achieved major wins in the senior space this season.
In just their third season as a senior body, Brothers had four teams across all four grades qualify for the semi-finals.
“That’s been a fairly quick rise for them as a senior club so it must be very exciting for them,” he said.
“Their junior ranks are also performing well so they’d be very happy with their season and the same for Maroochydore who in their first year of playing in the Cricks Volkswagen Cup have made it to the grand final.”
Aronsten said he was excited for this weekend’s matches and hoped to see a good turnout.
“I really believe that the A-grade major semi final between USC and Noosa was one of the best games of the season for me so if the grand final can come anywhere near that match it will be an absolute cracker,” he said.
“The women’s final should also be a close contest and the reserve grade match as Caloundra have been in great form through the finals.
“Hopefully the rain goes away by the weekend but the University had a test run last weekend and everything went fine so I expect a decent crowd and some excellent rugby to be played.”
For anyone that is unable to attend in person the Saturday matches will be livestream via Rugby.com.
Read below to find out what each coach had to say ahead of their do-or-die match-ups.
A-GRADE
Just three points separated Noosa and USC at the end of the regular season before the Barbarians were able to claim a 32-28 win away from home against Noosa, launching them into the big dance.
Noosa then faced fourth-placed Brothers in the elimination final and as time expired, Nat Forrest crossed to level the scores before Joey Caputo slotted a conversion attempt from the sideline to escape with a 30-28 victory.
In their other two matches this season the Dolphins claimed a 41-26 result in round six, ending USC’s 690 day undefeated winning streak, before claiming the double over their rivals with a 26-19 victory in round 13 away from home.
Head coaches Brad Tronc (USC Barbarians) and Jim McKay (Noosa Dolphins) gave their thoughts on who would end up as 2024 premiers.
Q: What have been your takeaways from the 2024 season?
Tronc: “It’s an exciting time of the year and I’m very proud we’re a part of it again. Going for four premierships hasn’t been at the forefront of what we’re about. We’ve had to grow as the season has gone on as opposed to last year where we started high and finished high. Our focus has been around playing good footy at the right time which I think is coming along quite well.”
McKay: “This whole season through our results but also across the competition there’s been a lot of close results. We’ve been involved in plenty of close games and really on their day anyone has been able to beat anyone this year. We’ve got a bit of consistency heading into finals but it’s been a hard road and every club has had their challenges in terms of injuries, availability and so on. We’ve had belief all season, we’ve grown throughout and I think we’ve earned the right to be in the grand final which is what we set out to achieve at the start of the season.”
Q: What are you expecting for Saturday’s clash?
Tronc: “Having the week off is one of the advantages, I was hoping he missed the kick and it went to another 10 minutes of extra time but that’s also the thing with Noosa is that they keep fighting to the end. They towelled us up in the first game we played them. It was quite embarrassing but we started a resurgence since then. I think all the battles we have the coaching staff and players get up for it and there’s a good amount of respect amongst the playing group. Normally you see a good, physically, clean and fast game between the two sides so hopefully that’s the same on Saturday.
McKay: “We’ve had some good ding-dong battles with USC and I tip my hat off to them for their run the past few seasons. They’ve done extremely well and have been the hunted again this season. We should get a couple of players back for Saturday as I still adjust to player availability each week and things like that. Some guys work away for a week or weeks at a time, others have family commitments and then injuries always play a part as well. We should get some guys back for the final which will be great but on that note, I think a massive applause should go to the guys that stepped up in our elimination final last weekend. Two older guys of our club in Jake Serex and Nat Forrest were fantastic against Brothers. Jake played a solid 30 minutes against a good forward pack and Nat scored our winning try in the corner. Then on the other side we had two guys make their A-grade debuts in Will Miller at nine and Conrad Trotman at 13. It’s really been a next man up approach and that’s been a big win for us this season.
Q: What’s the feeling like among the playing group?
Tronc: “You don’t win grand finals in March so we’ve bought ourselves a seat at the table now, we’ve got some good cattle back at the right time and last week’s rest came at the perfect time. To have a home grand final is massive, I think you get an advantage out of that for sure. Hopefully we can put on a good show for the people that turn out.”
McKay: “We still have a lot of work to do but I’m quite pleased, particularly in our reserve grade side making the grand final as well. The finals series is almost like a new competition so we did it tough but made it through and are now looking forward to the big dance.
WOMEN’S
It’s a similar story in the women’s competition as the minor premiers Nambour are met with a fresh-faced rival in the Brothers women’s team.
Nambour would be aiming for their third-straight title after beating out Caboolture and Caloundra in previous years.
This season, a new-look Brothers outfit has been the key contender as just two ladder points separated the teams at the end of the season.
Interestingly enough Brothers, who finished with eight wins, two draws and zero losses were pipped by Nambour on bonus points as the Toads recorded eight wins, zero draws and two losses this season.
In round four, Brothers claimed a 15-14 victory before following that up with a 24-12 result at home in round 11.
The major semi-final was played at a neutral venue but the crowd didn’t phase Brothers who comfortably overcame Nambour with a 31-0 scoreline.
Head coach Geoff Flood (Brothers) and captain Phoebe Bloomfield (Nambour) gave their thoughts on who would end up as 2024 premiers.
Q: What have been your takeaways from the 2024 season?
Flood: “I’m really happy for the people that have made the grand final, not even the players but the juniors, coaching staff, volunteers and everyone behind the scenes. They started as a junior club about 10 years ago and only seniors for the past two or three so to get to the grand final it’s a big effort. I came to the club at the start of the year and we had a two year plan in lifting the standards and achieving certain things and the girls have already been able to blow those expectations out of the water.”
Bloomfield: “It’s a bit of a new team compared to last year so we’re still trying to build our connections and combinations but we’re really hoping to get three premierships in a row.”
Q: What are you expecting for Saturday’s clash?
Flood: “It’s the weird way the points system works, we finish undefeated but end up second on the table. It doesn’t really mean anything to us, it’s all about earning your right to be in the final. It’s good to see Nambour there in the final, I obviously came from Nambour after being there the past few years and having some good success. I know all the girls, they’re a great bunch and it’s a club with plenty of history. We’re now the new club that’s fresh on the blocks so it sets up for a great grand final and both teams have different strengths and weaknesses.”
Bloomfield: “The final ladder went of total points with bonus points and everything but I do think Brothers deserved the minor premiership for all their wins. They worked really hard to go undefeated so it is a strange one. We know we have to go in fast and on edge. They played a really good game in the major semi final with their tactical kicking so we have to work harder defensively. There’s definitely improvement to come so I think we’ve got it if we work hard together.”
Q: What’s the feeling like among the playing group?
Flood: “The women I’m working with have done a fantastic job. We’ve got players in their 40s to others who are 17-years-old so to get them to connect as a group has been magical. The players definitely deserve to be there on Saturday. It’s up to them now to determine how our season ends but I’m really looking forward to it.”
Bloomfield: “Having some experienced players in our side on Saturday will definitely help. We’ve got so many girls that are still in school so they’ll to them on the day but also enjoy their first time playing in a senior grand final.”
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