50+ names: The weight room giants of the Connell, Meninga, Harvey 17s and 19s junior representative competitions revealed
Who were the strongest players in the Meninga, Connell and Harvey girls competitions? Over 50 hard-hitting junior league top guns highlighted here. FULL LIST
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Who were the strongest junior rugby league players taking names in the Connell, Meninga and Harvey girls competitions?
Following our revelation of the speed demons, we canvas the weight room giants who are bumping off defenders and setting the tone in the gym.
Find out who they are below, and keep an eye out for Saturday’s coverage of round five.
Jump to: Cyril Connell Cup | Mal Meninga Cup | Harvey Norman U17s | Harvey Norman U19s
CYRIL CONNELL CUP
Western Clydesdales
Lachie Lyons
The Clydesdales under-17s team has plenty of strong youngsters, but Lyons is the cream of the crop.
The second rower is bruising with his tackles and has size too.
Northern Pride
Cayde Miller
Middle forward Miller is bolstered by headgear and works himself to a standstill each week. He is well built and doesn’t shy away from contact that is for sure.
Cooper Meares
Edge forward Meares is like Millier. Both boys are big, strong and are hungry for contact.
Halfback Elsiyah Laumata is another who lifts big weights.
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HARVEY NORMAN UNDER-17S TEAM OF THE SEASON
CQ Capras
Harrison Hill
For a player standing only 176cm tall and weighing just under 80kg, Hill’s testing results in the gym earn him the banner of the Capras strongest player. Over three reps, Hill is lifting a 157.50kg back squat, 130kg bench press and an impressive 21 max reps for prone chin-ups.
The utility lock or hooker is strong.
Townsville Blackhawks
Sitiveni Afu
Far from the biggest forward in the Cyril Connell Cup, junior Cowboys standout Sitiveni Afu has produced eye-catching numbers in the gym far beyond what is expected from his weight class.
Coach Nathan Norford didn’t hesitate when asked who was the strongest. It was middle forward ace Afu.
Dane Ransom
The Cowboys have both of the Blackhawks’ strongest under-17s players under contract, with frontrower Ransom close behind Afu in the team’s King of the Gym stakes.
Sunshine Coast Falcons
Charlie Coates
Frontrower Coates was watering his feet in the off-season and has come back a much larger lad.
Coates is a bricklayer and electrician by trade but also a fiend in the gym so he has only gotten bigger and bigger.
Wide Bay Bulls
Ryan Jenkins
Bulls prop Jenkins has great go-forward, finds his front every time and is a very tough defender. Let’s not forget he is big and strong as well.
He has been A1for the Bulls in three games so far this season.
Brisbane Tigers
Kobi Floro
This would come as no surprise to those that know this mountain man from Wavell SHS.
Signed by the Storm, towering prop Floro is one of those players that, when you line up against the opposition, makes you pray he isn’t the one to run at you during battle.
A big bopper who will be one to watch in this year’s Langer Trophy competition.
Souths Logan
Emmanuel Asomua
Asomua comes off the bench at times for the Magpies where his impact is felt immediately.
He is big, fearless and runs it hard and fast into the teeth of the defence.
Power personified.
Agapetos Lote-Felo
Wynnum Manly’s under-17s are big and strong that is no secret.
They have Jared Horne, Majah-Jose Peachey, Taylan To’a, Franck Iraguha, Cooper Young and the strongest of them all, Agapetos Lote-Felo.
Ipswich Jets
Berakah Tuifaasisina
There’s something in the water in Ipswich. Especially in the taps at Ipswich SHS because they just seem to churn out immovable forces. One of them is the hulking Berakah Tuifaasisina.
Tuifaasisina is of course a Jets representative player but he is also an A1 frontrower in rugby union where he has played for the Queensland Reds under-16s.
We couldn’t forget to mention Xzavier Timoteo, Dennis Papua and James Pau.
Redcliffe Dolphins
Henry Sologinkin
Prop Henry Sologinkin has the strength of an ox and is used in an impact player off the bench, although he is good enough to start.
The flame-haired Redliffe SHS prop is one of the most underrated in the competition and is one of the strongest.
Spare a thought for his centre Nate Berrigan who can shift tin.
Norths Devils
Dyer Akauola
Man child Akauola has impressed immensely with his carries in the middle third of the field the foundation on which Norths’ success is built on.
A Met North selection, Akauola looks a man among boys at times, on the field and in the gym.
MAL MENINGA CUP
Western Clydesdales
Malinga Likio, Matt Drews
Both forwards, Likio and Drews are leading the charge in the strength department.
Central Queensland Capras
Carter Ford
An absolute workhorse through the middle that uses his strength and size to be a very influential forward for the Capras.
Jake Peirce
A St Brendan’s product, frontrower Peirce is big-bodied forward who sets the tone in the gym alongside Ford.
Townsville Blackhawks
Hoani Harris
A capable ballplayer from dummyhalf, Harris’ biggest weapon on the field is his brutal tackling style which stems from his strength.
No opposition player is safe when lined up opposite Harris because the Rockhampton product is so strong that coaches believe he can slot in comfortably at lock, mixing it with the props.
Ethan Rains
Weighing in around 65kg, the Norths Townsville product is pound-for-pound the strongest player at the Blackhawks.
Rains doesn’t blink when asked to tackle players nearly double his body weight.
Mackay Cutters
Braedyn Roberts
For a smaller player, pound for pound what Roberts can lift in the gym is amazing according to coach Andrew Battaia.
The hooker also wins nearly every wrestle.
Hunter Harris
A younger player, Harris’ strength in the gym is undeniable and he is a very hard player to pull down with the ball in hand.
He plays centre.
Northern Pride
Narason Moorcroft-Kose
Look no further than the above picture to conclude how strong middle forward Moorcroft-Kose is.
The Mareeba SHS student is a wrecking ball.
Sunshine Coast Falcons
Tyrell Hopkins
Second rower Hopkins isn’t the biggest fella but has the strength of ten men.
He has developed and matured into a really aggressive edge forward in recent years.
Souths Logan
Dirhys Sefo, Bailey Trew, Mou Taumaletila-Maulolo
The Magpies are men in the engine room.
Sefo, a prop, is a tall timber who has scare factor. His prop partner and captain Taumaletila-Maulolo isn’t quite as tall but is muscular and fearless.
Into the backs there is hulking winger Trew, a tall but by no means skinny outside back who is developing nicely at the Broncos.
Trew was a junior league prodigy, a player always bigger and stronger than his opponents.
He is in the Corey Oates build.
Brisbane Tigers
Tigers prop Elijah Keung took the chocolates at Tigerland. He is powerful, compact and at some angles painful to tackle.
Wynnum Manly
Beni Allen
Prop Allen is a big boy that is for sure. He is tall, athletic, strong, and has put on a ton of muscle over the last 12-16 months since leaving school.
He has the build and mobility to be a forward in the NRL.
Cayleb Johnson, Cooper Day and Harry Armstrong also lift serious tin.
Ipswich Jets
Isaac Togia
An Ipswich SHS product, Togia enjoys bulldozing his way over defenders.
He is a proud Ipswich Jet, having played in the club’s Connell Cup side in 2022.
Maaro David and Mafiou Cherif are other Jets forwards who are 1. strong in the weight room and 2. defensive brutes on the field.
Redcliffe Dolphins
LJ Nonu
There is strength across the board when it comes to this Recliffe team. From big forwards Lewis Symonds, Zac Garton, Elijah Rasmussen, Michael Waqa and Larry Siala to outside backs Jeremiah Havea and Prestyn Laine-Sietu, lifting heavy weights is a given with this bunch.
But the ace in the pack was centre, wing or fullback Nonu who landed at Ipswich SHS a few years ago when he made the move up from Melbourne.
Strength in the gym is something those Ipswich SHS boys have in common.
Norths Devils
Lauloto Salei
The Wavell SHS product is a terrific all-rounder who plays lock and has captained the team the last two seasons.
Salei is a ballplayer, he is tireless and goes all right in the gym.
HARVEY NORMAN U19S
Mackay Cutters
Shaylee Hazeldine
The Cutters under-19s vice captain and edge forward is a tough player who flourishes in defence.
She also lifts heavy in the gym.
Gracie Watt
Watt’s greatest attribute is her strong carries in defensive territory.
The Cutters prop is coming off a ripping pre-season with the club’s BMD side.
Townsville Blackhawks
Lhylla Williamson
Williamson’s application to work in the gym has seen the backrow weapon top all of the Blackhawks’ pre-season strength testing numbers.
In terms of raw strength backrower Williamson has no equal in the team.
Brandy Yallop
Pound-for-pound, fullback Brandy Yallop can lay claim to being the Blackhawks’ strongest player.
The speedy custodian missed two seasons with an ACL reconstruction but stayed committed to her work in the gym, building a baseline of strength that has turned her into a Newtonian force of nature for her team.
If force is mass multiplied by acceleration, ball-of-muscle Yallop will pack plenty of force from the back in 2024.
Sunshine Coast Falcons
Allira Rose Purtell
The second rower catches people by surprise despite having already caused a few defenders some real trouble.
it’s best to avoid defensive ace Purtell.
Northern Pride
Odette Richter
The Pride outside back has an abundance of strength which can be used at fullback, on the wings or in the centres.
Ipswich Jets
Sifa Leapai
The Jets’ under-19s forward leader Sifa Leapai is the strongest. Her barnstorming carries givgivehooker Gaby Anderton and her halves space to operate.
Redcliffe Dolphins
Armarni-lea Auvae
The Dolphins’ Queensland and Australian Schoolgirl selection is a machine in the weight room and it isn’t hard to tell by the way she carries herself on the field.
Prop Auvae is often in everything, defending and playmaking.
She’s never too far away and can find the tryline with her strength.
Souths Logan Magpies
Jaydah Tofae
The Magpies have been led in the forwards by spearhead Tofae, a lock or middle forward who is the team’s strongest.
Norths Devils
Jacinta Neemia
The Devils’ pack is fierce and strong and the head of the snake is prop Neemia.
She is a handful to tackle and a regular in the gym. Around her, Haraliza Ilau, Yasmin Toa Toa and Skylahparadise Heke are hard hitters.
Brisbane Tigers
Tiresa Elika
It was hard to settle on just one from Tigerland.
There is young gun Lishainah Ulugia who is the first name on a long list. Hunny Taingahue is destructive on the edge, and Patricia Wani, Shaylee Joseph and Alice Shannon have also turned heads with their power running.
But there was something about Elika. You guessed it, she’s an Ipswich SHS student who has represented the Australian Schoolgirls (2022).
The Future Titan is a high IQ player who doesn’t go easy on anyone.
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