Here are the super schoolgirls of rugby league
Meet the Super Schoolgirls of Queensland rugby league players set to take on the NSW Blues.
Local sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Queensland School Sports recently named two talent-laden Queensland teams following its annual state carnival.
The teams featured an array of prodigious talents who have NRL talent scouts looking for their next intake of potential NRLW players.
The 16-18 years team will play as a curtain raiser to the third State of Origin match at Suncorp Stadium, while the 14-15 years state side is a merit team.
Three of the very best - and Shalom Sauaso (Ipswich SHS), Janique Mili (Marsden SHS) and Lilli Lewis (Marsden SHS) - are babies of the 14-15 years squad, while Sienna Lofipo (Met East) was named Player of Tournament (16-18 years) and Eliza Lopamaua (Woodridge SHS) was the captain of the Met East winning side (16-18 years).
RELATED LINKS
TITANS SCHOOLS CUP LIVESTREAM COVERAGE HERE
DESTINY BRILL’S REMARKABLE 2021 SEASON
ADAMS, SU’A TRAIN WITH SUPER W SQUAD
All are young guns on the rise, including the 15 we feature below from the two representatives sides
Shalom Sauaso
The mighty mite from Ipswich SHS was named player of the tournament in the 14-15 years competition. Joined by Ipswich SHS class mate and edge backrower Lishiainah Ulugia in the state merit side, Sausao played No. 13 where she was as fit as a fiddle and razor sharp after spending the off-season training with the Super W rugby senior squad.
“I found it an incredible experience to find out what it was like to train with all the (senior) girls. “I really enjoyed it. The intensity is very high,’’ the Redbank Bears league junior said. “It has boosted my confidence a little bit. It makes me want to push myself more,’’ she added, saying her brother Samson was her inspiration and mentor.
Janique Mili
Mili is a prodigious natural talent from Marsden SHS, is a beautifully balanced runner who can play fullback or wing. A former national track and field 4x100m medallist, Mili is fast, and can sustain her pace over a long distance. Mili, 14, originally hails from a small tiny village Gwarumemase and Gereka in Papua New Guinea and her family migrated to Brisbane in 2014.
Kaylani Tavita
Should we be surprised that Mabel Park SHS’s Kaylani Tavita is a rugby league top gun? After all she is the cousin of Destiny Brill (Queensland Origin, Super W), who along with Keilee Joseph (Roosters NRLW premiership winner) has been a pioneer for young women from Logan City aspiring to play either league or union at the highest level. Tavita, who attends Mabel Park SHS, also has a talented older sister who is thriving in football since moving from Western Australia.
Lilli Lewis
Lewis is the daughter of schoolboy Langer Trophy prodigy Aaron Lewis, Lewis is a a halfback or five-eight. The Marsden SHS rookie has a radar for rugby league and produces instinctive plays that cannot be taught - short kicks into space, passing long or short - she has all the skills. Look out when she combines with a roaming Janique Mili (see above).
Malaela Su’a
Like Ipswich SHS’s Shalom Sauaso and Keebra Park SHS’s Skyla Adams, Mabel Park SHS Su’a spent the off-season training with the Super W women’s rugby side. “I can’t believe I am living the dream,’’ said Su’a. A No. 13 in league, she is strongly built and mobile who entered the state championship match hardened from playing inside centre in the Premier Rugby women’s competition for Easts.
Skyla Adams
The sky is the limit for Adams, supremely gifted playmaker who makes those around her look even better than they are. Another Super W academy talent, she is coming along in leaps and bounds and is one of the special talents in the female footy ranks. Adams’ journey in sport started as a prominent netballer and touch football player in Perth, before she moved to the Gold Coast in primary school. Adams said all her coaches along the way had contributed to her career so far, but her first touch coach in Queensland, Lawrence Faifua, had played a big role.
Shaylee Joseph
A Mabel Park SHS student, Joseph is the sister of Roosters premiership winning forward Keilee who made her NRLW debut with a bang this season. Like her older sister, Joseph is a mobile prop or No. 13 who does the simple things to perfection.
A QAS inductee since aged 13, the Waterford Demons junior captained the Brisbane Tigers (formerly Easts) in the Harvey Norman under 19 women’s season earlier in the year. Behind her is another batch of 14 and 15-year-olds at Mabel Park SHS, including her school colleagues Danielle Titakangahau, Carleigh Pio, Deslyn Seaumanutafa,Amanli and Mele Misa.
Eliza Lopamaua
Woodridge SHS’s Eliza Lopamaua is a Titans 17s academy player who captained the Met East side to win the state championship against South Coast. Lopamaua announced herself in 2019 by being named MVP when she represented the Metropolitan East Girls side at the state championships, and then made the Met East Rugby 7’s side. The edge backrower has not looked back since.
Montaya Hudson
Hudson was a real wildcard of the tournament who could easily have forced her way into the starting 13 for the Queensland Merit 16-18 years side. She has come down from Townsville to be schooled at Marsden SHS where she continues to evolve into an eye-catching halfback who can also ball play from fullback.
Tavarna Papalii
Meet little Miss Versatility who can play anywhere from fullback to second row - and everywhere in between. A South Coast representative, the Keebra Park SHS utility has been another long term inductee in the QAS pathways program. She is a Nerang Roosters junior.
Ebony Raftstrand-Smith
This kid is an absolute gun. She lit up the Harvey Norman 19s playing for Burleigh Bears and is one of the most dangerous players in the Titans Cup.
Running off her Keebra Park SHS teammate Skyla Adams (see above), Raftstrand-Smith is an even great force of footballing nature.
Sienna Lofipo
It says everything about her ability that Lofipo was named player of the tournament in the 16-18 age group. She was outstanding at No. 6 for Met East and she will be a big threat to the NSW Blues in the clash on July 13 at Suncorp Stadium.
Theophelia Mosby-Nona
From the tiny Torres Strait atoll of Yorke Island, the Kirwan SHS student is a go forward front rower with mobility and pace. She is one of the most destructive runners in her age group and has set a wonderful example to her community that with hard work.
Tiresa Elika
An Ipswich SHS product, Elika has been named No. 13 in the Queensland team to play NSW in a State of Origin curtain-raiser. “Tiresa constantly leads from the front,’’ said Elikia’s school and Queensland 18s coach Veronica White. “She is a strong defender and middle forward, and her work ethic encourages her teammates to dig deep at the most challenging of times.’’
One of Ipswich High’s key players, Elika continues to represent at all levels, having been selected for the Queensland Reds academy and the Titans under 17s female academy last year.
“Tiresa was selected as lock for the under 18s Qld Schoolgirls team,’’ White said. “She is dedicated to improving her overall performances participating in extra training and gym sessions.’’
Lishainah Ulugia
Another Ipswich SHS student, Ulugia has been selected for the under 15s Queensland schoolgirls team after some inspirational performances at the recent state titles. She has played in the halves alongside teammate Shalom Sauoso, and is a strong defender who has scored numerous tries this season. She will partner Shalom in upcoming Titans schoolgirls matches.
THE SQUADS
The 16-18 years Queensland team: Luca Howarth (Capricornia), Reina Hosa (Met West), Mariah Brown (Darling Downs), Fleur Ginn (South Coast), Ebony Raftstrand-Smith (South Coast), Sienna Lofipo (Met East), Skyla Adams (South Coast), Lillian Yarrow (Capricornia), Marissa Nicholson (Sunshine Coast), Eliza Lopamaua (Met East), Shaylee Joseph (Met East), Tavarna Papalii (South Coast Coast), Tiresa Elika (Met East), Aerielle Hobbler (Peninsula)
Theophelia Mosby-Nona (Northern), India Seeto (Met East), Malaela Su’a (Met East),
Nancy Sullivan (Sunshine Coast), Montaya Hudson (Met East).
Qld School Sport 14-15 years merit side: 1. Nazlyn Waaka-Rhind (Met North), 2. Deslyn Seumanutafa (Met East), 3. Shar-lene Nati (Met East), 4. Jamierouquai Carleigh-Pio (Met East), 5. Janique Milli (Met East), 6. Danielle Tukakagahau, 7. Lillianh Lewis (Met East), 8. Amanlii Misa (Met East), 9. Kaylani Tevita (Met East), 10. Porche John (Met East), 11. Mameie Misa (Met East), 12. Lishiainah Ulugia (Met West), 13. Shalom Sauaso (Met West), 14. Candence Fouracre (Cap), 15. Lorren Leli (South Coast), 16. Eve Steers (Sun Coast), 17. Kaiontae Ross (Northern).
Queensland U17 cricket team report card
Report card: Queensland cricket’s best junior prospect crowned dux of the Maroon’s U17 national championship campaign, but who also received honours and distinctions? Revealed here.
Search for the next Konstas: The guns flying at U17 nationals
NSW Metro skipper Yash Deshmukh spun his side to victory in a player of the match display in Thursday’s under-17 male national cricket championships final over Queensland. Get the full wrap up of the tournament at Launceston here.