Here are 100+ SEQ rookies from 20 sports who are set to rock 2022
Southeast Queensland is full of up and coming athletes who are destined for big things. We’ve named more than 100-plus rookies from 20 sports who are set to rock 2022. SEE WHO MADE OUR LIST
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Sit back and enjoy an arm’s chair ride to some of the best up and coming 2022 rookies in southeast Queensland.
Last season the likes of Ashley Moloney, Riley Day (both athletics), Reece Walsh (rugby league), Tate McDermott (rugby), Meg Harris (swimming) and Sam Walker (rugby league) rose to the occasion on the big stage.
Now here are 100 more top notch athletes aged 20 years or under from more than 20 sports who you simply must keep an eye on in 2022.
ATHLETICS
TORRIE LEWIS
Queensland’s most exciting track athlete since Sally Pearson, Lewis, 16, scorched to a blistering 11.33 seconds for the 100m last month on the way to beating Pearson’s under 18 and under 20 Queensland records. Indeed her 11.33 seconds ranks her second all-time fastest under 20 Australian sprinter behind the great Raelene Boyle. That time puts the St Peters Lutheran College schoolgirl in contention for a 2022 Commonwealth Games team relay berth, but she may opt to concentrate on winning a medal at the World Junior Championships which will be held at the same time.
Wildcard Watch:Alex Beck is a beast of a 400m runner who ran a PB 45.54 seconds at the Olympics.
JUDE THOMAS
St Edmund’s College Ipswich old boy Jude Thomas (800m-5km) is in a league of his own when it comes to youth middle and long distance running in Australia. From the Peter Reeves’ co-ordinated Nanci running group, Thomas qualified for the 2021 world junior championships in the 800m, 1500m and 3000m, and broke a 42 year old state record to become the second fastest under 20 Australian 3000m runner of all time (8:00.07).
ASHLEY WONG
Nudgee College student Wong is a 100m and 200m young gun who joins Toshi Butlin (BSHS), Rory Easton (ACGS) and Kaleb Clark (BBC) in a record breaking QUT Athletics Club 4x100m relay team which last year produced a time of 40.59s - shattering the Queensland’s Club record 42.30. Lachlan Cox and Tyler Lilley are other members of the relay team.
CALEB LAW
Mayne Harriers sprinter Law is part of a superb crop of young Queensland athletes who made the Australian world junior championship merit team last year. Other national representatives included sprinter Torrie Lewis (see above), middle distance stars Reece Holder and Ky Robinson, the accomplished Ellie Beer (400m), Lyvante Su’emai (field athlete), decathlete Liam Gilbert, Olivia Matzer, sprinter Jai Gordon and Tyson Bonney (200m and 400m).
Wildcard watch: Angelina Tignani (field, throws), Hilal Durmaz (sprinter) and Ipswich pair Charlize Goody (track) and Toby Stolberg (heptathlon).
RUGBY LEAGUE
JACK HOWARTH (NRL)
Queensland NRL fans last season saw two Queensland rookies, Gold Coast’s Reece Walsh (Warriors) and Ipswich sensation Sam Walker (Roosters), hit the ground running as NRL talents. This season we are predicting Brisbane Boys College old boy Jack Howarth (Melbourne Storm) make his big league debut as a centre of edge forward.
EZRA MAM (NRL)
An Ambrose Treacy College alumni, Mam is a Goodna teenager and Souths junior with all the skills who is training as a halfback or five-eight for the Brisbane Broncos. He has an x-factor about him and is prepared to try things on a football field few have the courage to do.
Wildcard watch: The Brisbane Broncos have signed several of the best 2021 schoolboy players like ball-playing hooker Blake Mozer, multi-sport utility Cameron Bukowksi, centre Deine Mariner and towering edge back rowers Ben Te Kura and Nathaniel Tangimataiti.
DEVONTE VAIVELA (Langer Trophy)
Injured in 2021, watch for this exciting Brisbane Broncos academy centre from Marsden SHS to land in the middle of Langer Trophy action in 2002.
Vaivela’s Marsden SHS teammates Taelon Te Whiu Hopa and Will Semu, Mabel Park SHS’s Alex Leapai along with Palm Beach Currumbin SHS pair Keano Kini and Tanu Nona are safe bets to shine in 2022 in the elite schoolboy rugby league competition.
Kini and Marsden SHS captain Chris Faagutu were the joint Justin Hodges Langer Trophy Players of the Year last season. Faagutu, a mobile middle forward, will be playing his third season of Langer Trophy.
Wildcard watch: Caloundra SHS’s Brooklenn Mundraby-Groves and mobile Wavell SHS forward Prestyn Laine-Sietu.
KEILEE JOSEPH (NRLW)
Watch for Joseph’s name to appear in the Sydney Roosters NRLW squad. After three seasons in the Roosters junior feeder systems, the Mabel Park SHS alumni and Queensland State of Origin junior rep player is set to make her debut as a mobile middle forward who does the little things to perfection.
She has a younger sister, Shaylee, who is in the Brisbane Tigers (formerly Easts) system. Also put a watch on Ipswich SHS product Riley Jorgensen and Chantay Ratu from the all-star Karyn Murphy Cup winning Keebra Park SHS side. Ratu edge running off Keebra Park team mate Sykla Adams in the grand final was one of the highlights of the rugby league season - boys or girls.
SWIMMING
LIZ DEKKERS
The quietly spoken Dekkers, 17, is one of Australian swimming’s hottest prospects. An All Hallows’ School old girl from the Newmarket Racers Club, Dekkers swam the 200m butterfly Olympic Games qualifying time on multiple occasions last year but not on the night when it counted most – at the Olympic trials when she missed the start.
TOM NEILL
Neill, 19, is the best out of the Queensland rookie bunch who swam the Australian 4x200m freestyle team into a bronze medal at last year’s Olympic Games. He is a St Joseph’s Gregory Terrace old boy who trains under Damien Jones at Rackley Centenary. His temperament is such that it would not surprise one day if he held a leadership position on the Dolphins’ team.
MOLLIE O’CALLAGHAN
O’Callaghan, 17, has set her sights on starting relay roles at both the 2022 world titles and Commonwealth Games after her tremendous heat swimming deeds which helped Australia to 4x100m and 4x200m relay medals at last year’s Olympics. The St Peters Western freestyle and backstroke rookie broke the world junior 200m freestyle record at the Games.
ELLA RAMSAY
Year 12 student Ramsay is from the renowned St Peters Western Swim Club. She has been arguably the No. 1 all ages junior swimmer across Australia for several years and last season was named in the Australian junior merit side.
SAM SHORT
Remember this name. A Prince of Peace Lutheran College old boy and Maroochydore Surf Life Saving Club representative, Short is a 1500m and 800m young gun, the best long distance prospect in the country. He has the heart of a lion and an unyielding desire and is one of Queensland’s most exciting rookie talents across any sport.
ISAAC COOPER
Cooper joined Rackley Centenary club mate Tom Neill on his first senior Australian senior team at last year’s Olympics. The 18-year-old is a Bundaberg boy who arrived at Centenary via Toowoomba Grammar School.
A backstroker, Cooper is a racer, pure and simple, who was a heat swimmer in Australia’s bronze medal winning 4x100m mixed medley relay squad at the Olympics. He joined Gold Coast breaststroker Chelsea Hodges (relay gold medallist) at his first Olympics.
KAI TAYLOR
The son of Olympian Hayley Lewis, 100m freestyle sprinter Taylor from St Peters Western Club who is now a sub-50 swimmer.
He was an Australian junior merit team selection in 2021 and is part of a small army of elite Queensland swim rookies which include: Tom Hauck, Alex Fahey, Jamie Bayliss, Thomas Hauck, Taryn Roberts, Jaclyn Barclay, Semra Olowniyi, Tiana Kritzinger, Ike Martinez, Joshua Staples, Jamie Perkins, Thomas Raymond, Robert Thorpe, Jesse Coleman, Niamh Bedggood, Jenna Forrester, Flynn Southam, Hannah Casey, Sally Vagg, Amelia Weber, Lani Pallister, Yannik Zwolsman, Thomas Nankervis, Jamie Jack, Anders Mcalpine, Thomas Connellan, Dylan Andrea, Ben Armbruster, Mia O’Leary and Finella Gibbs-Beal.
RUGBY UNION
TOM LYNAGH
Like father, like son? Tom Lynagh, the son of Queensland and Australian legend Michael Lynagh, one of our greatest Wallaby, is a new face in the Queensland Reds. Raised in England, he comes to his father’s home town with a tremendous reputation as a No.10.
Joining Lynagh as new Reds’ squad members were St Peters Lutheran College old boy flanker Lopeti Faifua and The Southport School premiership winning front rower George Blake.
KALANI THOMAS
Halfback Thomas and another No. 9, Brothers colts playmaker Louis Werchon, are two elite rookie talents who ensure Queensland’s halfback stocks will be well covered this decade. Thomas is an x-factor player, a little like ex-Reds veteran Brett Johnstone, while Werchon is a stunning natural talent who plays for the Brothers club after growing up on the Sunshine Coast.
MALAELA SU’A
The Mabel Park SHS schoolgirl is such a good player, that at aged 16 Su’a is being seriously considered for a place in the Reds Super W squad. She is a mobile middle forward but with the speed of an edge player or centre. Su’a’s Mabel Park school mate Athene Vili is another training with the Reds extended squad and is one to watch.
SKYLA ADAMS
The Keebra Park SHS alumni is a play making ace who shone in both league and union during 2021. She benefited from the experience of playing against older, more mature players in the Premier competition for Bond. Adams is one of half a dozen elite football talents from Keebra Park SHS’s 2021 squad, including Ebony (fullback) and Sky (halfback) Raftstrand.
FLOYD AUBREY
The GPS rugby club ace is a superb prospect who had a huge 2021 when he helped his club side to the colts premiership, while also making his Premier Rugby debut. A fullback, Aubrey has a sixth sense on the rugby field, and features style and flair that cannot be taught. Also note his hard working captain Nick Baker as a top prospect.
ZAC HOUGH
The Brisbane Boys College open side flanker is a cracker whose ball winning ability at the breakdown was second to none in schoolboy rugby. He played once for Easts Tigers in colts 1 rugby last season and was man of the match.
CRICKET
HUGO BURDON
Burdon is a Queensland Cricket’s teenage batting trump who was blooded briefly during the ill-fated Brisbane Heat BBL campaign. The Southport School old boy is an exciting long or short form prospect who has earned Queensland Second XI selection.
TOM WHITBY and JACK SINFIELD
Fast bowler Whitby has been joined in the Australian under 19 World Cup squad by two fellow Queenslanders, Redlands’ Jack Sinfield and Toombul gloveman Toby Snell (see below). Whitby is an Ipswich Grammar School old boy while TSS old boy Sinfield is a spin bowler and batsman who has been in the Brisbane Heat’s squad for its last two campaigns.
Wildcard watch: Fast bowlers Tom Balkin and Will Prestwidge have enormous potential, while Toombul’s Aubrey Stockdale and Norths swing bowler Noah McFadyen were both unlucky omissions from the Australian under 19 squad. Also keep an eye on Tom Campbell (Norths) and Lachlan Crump (Gold Coast).
TOBY SNELL
Queensland’s proud tradition of producing elite glovemen continued with the naming of St Joseph’s Gregory Terrace old boy Snell in the under 19 World Cup side. A Norths junior who now plays with Toombul, Snell walks in the footsteps of elite Queensland keepers like Wally Grout, Don Tallon, Lou Cooper, John Maclean, Ray Phillips, Peter Anderson, Ian Healy, Wade Seccombe, Chris Hartley and Jimmy Peirson and even. Churchie old boy Ben McDermott.
LUCY HAMILTON
Aged just 15 years, the Bundaberg schoolgirl was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, to make her debut for the Queensland Heat last month. A left-arm pace bowler and middle order bat, she plays with the Sunshine Coast Scorchers in the Katherine Raymont Shield.
GEORGIA VOLL
Voll, 18, is a batting prodigy who has progressed into the Australian T20 side, while fellow Queenslander Courtney Sippel (Gold Coast) is now an Australia A representative.
Voll, originally from the Darling Downs but a Brisbane State High School alumni, has gone from strength to strength after playing first grade with her club Sandgate Redcliffe.
Kingaroy-raised Sippel, 20, comes from a region rich with cricketing history. Kingaroy and the South Burnett districts also produced Bulls’ legends Carl Rackemann, Matthew Hayden and Martin Love. Sippel is a right arm medium pace bowler and left handed batter.
RUTH JOHNSTON
Johnston, an 18-year-old Dalby product, joins Lucy Hamilton as a Queensland Heat young gun. Although she now plays for the Hurricanes in the WBBL, Johnston is a Queensland girl. The cousin of incumbent Heat player Ellie Johnston, all-rounder Ruth Johnston demanded her inclusion in the Heat side with runs and wickets playing for her club side Ipswich Hornets.
FOOTBALL (soccer)
JAMILLA RANKIN
The 18-year-old defender is an emerging star who has been selected in the last two senior Matildas training squads. In 2021 the Cavendish Road SHS alumni was the Young Footballer of the Year nominee.
MIA BAILEY
Originally from Cairns, the 17-year-old goalkeeper was a key player for Cavendish Road SHS in last year’s Queensland School’s Premier League competition. She has signed her first A-League Women’s contract with Brisbane Roar. Also put into your little black sporting books another Cairns’ product, midfielder Aleeah Daverne.
CHARLIE GIBSON
A 16-year-old defender, Gibson has been polishing his skills within the QAS system. He is a Junior Matildas squad member and Brisbane Roar train-on player.
SAM KLEIN
Originally from Gympie, teenager Klein made a Roar first team match day squad for the first time earlier this month when he was named on the bench for Roar’s FFA Cup Quarter Final game against Sydney FC. He is a St Joseph’s Nudgee College old boy.
LUKE BRODERICK
A Toowoomba Grammar School old boy, the 18-year-old forward burst into his first season of NPL men competition last year after originally shining at under 23 level.
WATER POLO
TENEALLE FASALA
An imposing centre forward, the 19-year-old had the honour of being drafted into the Australian Olympic team training squad in the lead-up to the Tokyo Games. The daughter of Olympic silver medallist swimmer Greg Fasala, the Barracudas’ product is an Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School old girl.
CHARLIZE ANDREWS
Andrews, 20, is a North Brisbane Polo Bears junior who is set to take her game to another level during the Australian Water Polo League. She is from the same school (St Paul’s School) as four-time Olympian Bronwen Knox which is ironic given Knox is one of her biggest fans.
AMELIA WATT
A St Rita’s College alumni, 17-year-old Watt put aside a representative career in netball to concentrate on water polo. A North Brisbane Polo Bears player, Watt is willing to learn and will be all eyes and ears around the Queensland Thunder senior players in 2022.
Wildcard watch: Queensland junior goalkeepers – Eve Gath (North Brisbane Polo Bears), Annie Cowan and Tori Kininmonth (both Mermaids), plus Mermaids trio Kate Blew, Molly Nasser and Chelsea Johnson who are some of the sport’s young guns.
WILL VALENTINE
The 18-year-old Marist College Ashgrove old boy from the Barracudas shapes as a Queensland Thunder leader in the years to come. He is already an Australian Youth Men’s Squad member and has been a fast learner across junior competition.
MARCUS BEREHULAK
Australian men’s national head coach Tim Hamil has labelled Berehulak one of the most promising junior players in the country. Aged 18, from Barracudas, the tall goal scoring centre back has broken into the Queensland Thunder senior squad. Also put a watch on his Barras’ club mate Noah Bright, a Brisbane SHS alumni and goalkeeping young gun.
NETBALL
MIA STOWER
Stower, 21, comes out of the successful Cougars operation whom she helped win last year’s HART Sapphire Series. The goal attack or goal shooter is a Queensland Firebirds representative and Australian under 21 player.
REILLEY BATCHELOR
Originally from Helensvale SHS, Batchelor, 19, is a goal attack ace who has been recognised by the Australian under 21 selectors. She plays for Sunshine Coast Lightning in the Suncorp Super Netball and for QUT club in the HART Sapphire Series Club.
ASHLEIGH ERVIN
Ervin, 18, is a USQ Jets club player in the HART Sapphire Series. A goal defence ace who is gathering experience as a member of the Queensland Firebirds, Ervin is a member of both the Queensland and Australian under-19 squads.
AVA BLACK
A wing defence and centre with USA Thunder, 18-year-old Black is a teammate of Ervin in the Queensland and Australian under 19 squads. The Toowoomba product is a part of the Sunshine Coast Lightning training squad.
LEESA MI MI
The imposing Leesa Mi Mi hails from the sporting rich region of Logan City. As a wing attack and centre, the 21-year-old Mi Mi stamped herself on the HART Sapphire Series last year when named MVP (Most Valuable Player). An Australian 21 squad member, Mi Mi is a member of the HART Sapphire Series premiership winning Cougars club.
AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL
HARRY SHARP
The St Laurence’s College old boy can swap his school books for AFL boots in 2022 after completing schooling. Sharp had a taste of the big league in 2022 and watch for him to get better with the more experience he gathers both on the training pitch and during matches.
SAMSON RYAN
The towering Ryan (205cm) made his AFL debut in round 15 against St Kilda at the historic MCG. The Toowoomba Grammar School old boy was an elite cricketer but concentrated on Australian football where he polished his skills at Sherwood Districts before making his NEAFL debut with Redland.
Wildcard watch: Another Toowoomba product, centre halfback Jack Briskey, is a fine talent alongside wingman Bruce Reville, a Maryborough product who plays the house down for Sherwood Magpies. Also note the names Abby Hewett and Cooper Anderson.
WILL MARTYN
The boy from Aspley Hornets got his AFL career up and running in 2021 after making a round 4 debut for Richmond against Port Adelaide. A former Brisbane Academy skipper, Martyn is the son of Windsor Zillmere key position player Andrew who was a state player and premiership winner with the Eagles.
JED FOGGO (schoolboys)
Palm Beach Currumbin SHS educated and raised in the Tweed Valley, Foggo is the leader of the pack of outstanding schoolboys who emerged in last season’s QAFL School’s Cup.
Marymount’s Max Hudson and Miami’s Finlay Gray were other outstanding players, while St Laurence’s College student Ben McCarthy (Lions academy) played in Morningside’s top QAFL team which made the semi-finals.
Wildcard watch: Massie Harmer (Maroochydore) and Sam Hilton-Joyce (Surfers Paradise).
SOFTBALL
RILEY JAMES
Queensland is brimming with elite softball talent spearheaded by 19-year-old Riley James who, alongside pitcher Lincoln Walk (Toowoomba) and Redlands teammate CalebVandegriendt, were members of the 2020 silver medal winning Junior World Championship team. The trio are all 2022 Queensland Patriot selections.
JESSICA RHODES
Ipswich softball utility Jess Rhodes is part of an exciting crop of Queensland’s next generation of elite players.
Other thrilling rookie prospects in softball include Australian under 16 squad members and Queensland Heat teammates, Redcliffe’s first base Tallulah Civoniceva, Brisbane’s Emilee Solomon, Hervey Bay’s Chelsea Zunker and Redcliffe’s Zali Summers (National under 18 squad).
Wildcard watch: Pitcher Corrie List and Chantelle Finaley
CYCLING
DECLAN TREZISE
The 19-year-old Toowoomba cyclist from the ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast team is a road and track high achiever who, in 2020, was crowned under 19 criterium and road race national champion.
ISABELLE CARNES
Carnes, 17, this month claimed the individual time trial national championship after a brilliant performance. Hermit Park State School alumni is from the ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast team.
TOM TUCKER
BMX racing specialist Tucker, 16, is a nine-time world champion. From the Moreton Shire, he has been recognised by Cycling Australia as an AusCycling Emerging Athlete.
TEYA RUFU
The 15-year-old Maryborough product is another BMX Racing star in the making who last year snared two major events in the girls’ divisions – she was junior superclass women national champion and the 15 years girls national champion.
JOEL DODDS
Yet another rookie sport from the Ipswich district who, as a XCO Mountain Bike exponent, claimed the 2021 under 19 national championship. In 2020 Dodds, 17, was crowned under 17 national champion.
GYMNASTICS
LIDIIA LAKOVLEVA
It was one of the moment’s of the Tokyo Olympic Games when Lakovleva arrived at the Games village with her mother, Iuliia, as her coach. The achievement capped a milestone moment in Lidiia’s career which started in Russia, and continued in Brisbane at the Robertson-based Aspire Gymnastics Academy.
ALEX ARISTOTELI and co
Premier Gymnastics had the extraordinary distinction of sending an array of athletes to the Tokyo Olympic Games. They were Moreton Bay College old girls Alannah Matthews and Himeka Onoda, along with fellow Premier Gymnasts Alexia Aristoteli, Emily Abbot and Felicity White. And another Premier athlete, Alexandra Eedle, was named reserve.
DIVING
CASSIEL ROUSSEAU
The 20-year-old bayside resident is a special talent who finished eighth in the 10m at the Tokyo Olympic Games – all this after only switching to the sport four years earlier after representing Australia as an acrobatic gymnast. Watch for his name whenever a Commonwealth Games or Olympics swing around because this rookie is an amazing athlete. He is part of an exciting group of SEQ-based divers which includes Kiarra Milligan (18), Sam Olivier (17), Liam Davis (17), Alysha Koloi (20) and Lachlan Cronin (20).
GRIDIRON
ZACHARY NEILSEN and CALDER SHANKS
Neilsen and Shanks were Brisbane Rhinos young guns who injected an enormous shot in the arm for the support when they signed contracts to play in the USA. Neilsen was scouted to play with University of Tulsa in Oklahoma (NCAA Div 1) while Calder was recruited to Dickinson College in Pennsylvania (NCAA Div 3).
HOCKEY
KYRA LIVERMORE
A Queensland under 18 representative, Livermore won the 2021 Brisbane Women’s Hockey Association Premier League premiership with Ascot Hockey Club. She and Claire Colwell (Mackay raised, now with University of Queensland), Madeline Kenny (Maryborough), Ryley Bobart (Gladstone), Diarmid Chappell (Norths), Zac McCoombes (Commercial) and Ryan Wilcox (University of Queensland) are all national senior Futures Squad members
Wildcard watch:Lily Richardson was named Girls Just Hockey Player at the under 15 national titles last year while Georgina West (Kedron-Wavell) is a junior Futures Squad member and Hannah Cullum-Sanders from Maryborough is another elite junior playing for Redcliffe.
BASEBALL
DOMINIC FRENCH and JAMIE FOX
These Queensland young guns highlight the talent of baseball in the SEQ. The teenage French, originally a Pine Hills junior who then spent his formative years at Windsor Royals, is a Queensland under 16 and under 18 state player who will play USA college baseball in Texas. Redlands Rays talent Fox, 18, an Mudgeeraba Redsox and Coomera Cubs junior, is off to the Southeastern Community College in Iowa. He follows in the footsteps of fellow Queensland catchers John Lemm committed to New Mexico Junior College and Tim Preston to Clarendon.
TENNIS
TAHLIA KOKKINIS
Kokkinis won the 12 years and under 2021 Australian Junior Claycourt Championship and late last year claimed the women’s AMT at the Tennis Townsville North Queensland Open. Wildcard watch: Gold Coast’s Hayden Jones.
ROWING
SOPHIE MALCOLM
Rowing Queensland have nine brilliant young Queensland rookies who would have been strong chances to represent Australia had the under 19 world championships gone ahead in 2021, plus Sophie Malcolm who won the state singles sculls in under 21, under 19 and under 17. The other nine are Lachlan Wright and Mackenzie Branch (both Griffith University Surfers Paradise RC), Max Taylor and Fergus Cummins (University of Queensland Boat Club), Jaeve Proberts and Ella Smith (Pine Rivers Rowing Club), Sophia Wightman, Ellyn Hill and Nancy Duncan-Banks (all University of Queensland Boat Club).
MOTOR SPORT
CAMERON SWAIN
Swain, 13, a Craigslea SHS student, has been selected to race in the Asia Talent Cup alongside MotoGP. This was as a result of him winning the Oceania Junior Cup in 2021. He will also be racing in the 300 class of the Australian Superbike class this year.
BASKETBALL
KATIE DEEBLE
The 18-year-old star point guard is already on a WNBL roster with the Sydney Uni Flames but is set to feature under the bright lights of US college basketball later this year after signing with one of the top schools in the country in Wake Forest. Deeble, a North Gold Coast Seahawks junior who has represented both Queensland and Australia, has also been rumoured to be making an appearance in the NBL1 North competition this season.
MAX MACKINNON
Following in the footsteps of his dad, Australian basketball legend Sam Mackinnon, Max is currently a development player for the Brisbane Bullets after years of dominating in Queensland for the Brisbane Capitals and at St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace. Having helped lead Queensland to an Under-20 National Championship last year and after earning a scholarship to the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence, 2022 will be a massive year for the 18-year-old.
JESS PETRIE
With numerous state championships under her belt representing Gold Coast Basketball, including capping-off her juniors with another gold medal earlier this month, Jess Petrie is one of the top young basketball talents in the country. The daughter of NBL and WNBL players Anthony and Sarah Petrie, Jess has spent most of the past season at the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence, where she will be again in 2022. She will also aim to lead Queensland South to a national title at the under-18 championships later this year.
ROCCO ZIKARSKY
Having already been touted as an NBA prospect, the 218cm 15-year-old Rocco Zikarsky is one of the most exciting prospects to come out of Queensland in years. Zikarsky recently featured in the Northside Wizards Under-18 State Championship victory, his second gold medal in a row, and will be another Queensland talent heading to the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence.
JOSHUA HUGHES
Another talented big man to come out of Queensland, Joshua Hughes is part of a long list of athletes from the state to be moulding his skills at the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence. The 16-year-old originally from Brisbane’s north recently led the Northside Wizards to an under-18 state championship on the Gold Coast and 2022 is set to be another big one for Hughes on the court.
GOLF
JEJU FUENTES
One of the youngest sports stars in the country, Juju Fuentes is an absolute golfing prodigy. The seven-year-old Kelvin Grove resident burst onto the scene almost three years ago after playing in senior competitions around Brisbane and the Bulimba Golf Club member has continued his rise ever since. Fuentes recently won the Club Championship for the junior category at the Pacific Golf Club, the youngest to do so and competed in the par three Australians v Internationals event at Bulimba, where he won his single match and foursome in the adult category. His goal is to be off scratch this year and go one step further than 2021 and win the US Kids Australian Masters in April.
HORSE RACING
JADEN LLOYD
The son of champion jockey, Jeff Lloyd, Jaden is currently third in the Queensland Metropolitan Jockey Premiership with 26 wins. He also leads the Queensland Metropolitan Apprentice Premiership and won the Listed Queensland Cup aboard Honorable Spirit in October. The 19-year-old Gold Coast-based jockey’s statistics for season 2021/22 include a win strike rate of 12.3 per cent and a placing strike rate of 43.4 per cent.
ZAC LLOYD
Brother of Jaden and son of Jeff, Zac Lloyd, from the Gold Coast, leads both the Provincial Jockey and Provincial Apprentice Premierships in Queensland with 39 wins. The 18-year-old, who had his first race ride in November 2020, sits sixth in the overall Queensland Jockey Premiership. His statistics for the current season include a win strike rate of 17 per cent and a placing strike rate of 48.3 per cent.
JASMINE CORNISH
The 19-year-old Cedar Grove product is having an impressive season on the track, sitting fourth in the Queensland Jockey Premiership with 42.5 wins. Cornish is second in both the Provincial Jockey and Provincial Apprentice Premierships behind Zac Lloyd. She also won the Racing Queensland Student of the Year Award at the recent 2021 TAB Queensland Thoroughbred Awards. Her statistics for the 2021/22 season feature a win strike rate of 15.8 per cent and a placing strike rate of 43.1 per cent.
***These are the youngsters we have come across in the last 12 months. But there are others. Email your suggestions to andrew.dawson@news.com.au***
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