Confraternity Carnival 2025 report cards: North Queensland schools graded
The curtains have closed on another huge Confraternity Carnival and North Queensland’s coaches have had their say. Find out how every school from the region performed and which players stepped up.
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The curtains have closed on another huge Confraternity Carnival and North Queensland’s coaches have had their say.
We’ve spoken with every school after the tournament wrapped up last Friday to get the inside story of how they performed and who stood out.
Scroll down to read the report cards for all 13 school from Townsville, Charters Towers, Ingham, Burdekin and Mount Isa.
IGNATIUS PARK COLLEGE – A
2025 finish: 5th in Division 1
A nil-all draw with Confro heavyweights St Brendan’s in the opening match set the tone for the week, but Ignatius Park was bundled out of Shield contention due to a rarely-seen tie-breaker coming into effect after the school’s 10-10 draw with St Patrick’s College, Mackay, in the quarter-finals on Tuesday afternoon.
With the schools each scoring two tries, the next tie-break was the team who scored first: St Pat’s via Adam McSherry.
Ignatius Park made short work of its next two opponents to finish the tournament undefeated, settling for fifth place overall.
Solomon Terare finished as Iggy Park’s top tryscorer with seven four-pointers across the week, with winger Jerry Mipari just behind on six.
Head coach Will Jack said it was disappointing to finish fifth after being one of the form teams at the carnival.
“It was a little bit deflating on Tuesday afternoon but I couldn’t be prouder of the boys for how they fronted up there and finished the carnival on a really high note,” Jack said.
“We were undefeated and we walked out of there as one of, if not the best side there – we just got a bit unlucky.”
Attack: A-
Iggy Park scored 78 points across its last two fixtures – an impressive feat with 50-minute games for finals – to finish the week on a high note.
“Towards the end of the carnival our attack started to click. It took a little bit adding Lincoln Baker back into the frame – that was his first bit of footy for the year coming back from a surgery,” Jack said.
“It took the boys a little bit of time to get used to having him back and once that happened, I thought we looked really good with the ball for the last couple of days.
“By the end of the week, I think we scored about 80 points over the last two games, which is pretty good attacking when you’re playing the better teams there.
“That was the really pleasing for our attack. Slow start, but by the end of it we’ll take a lot of confidence into the Aaron Payne Cup.”
Defence: A+
Ignatius Park’s incredible defence was on show from the opening game when they kept St Brendan’s scoreless for a gruelling 40 minutes.
“They’re one of the toughest groups of kids I know. Super resilient and we learnt a lot about each other during the week,” Jack said.
“They stood up for each other and ripped in for their mates throughout the week. A nil-all draw against St Brendan’s and a 10-all draw with St Pat’s – they’re two of the better sides there and we didn’t concede many points to them.”
Top of class: Sitiveni Afu, Solomon Terare and Cooper Fletcher
“Shout out to Sitiveni and Solomon, they both made the merit team, which is a massive effort from those boys,” Jack said.
“Solomon is in an incredible patch of form at the moment and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do as the year goes on. He’s a young fella who we probably weren’t expecting to go there and do what he did, but he’s a super talent and hopefully he can bring that for back into the Aaron Payne Cup for us.
“Cooper Fletcher as well, he’s a carnival sort of footy player. He played big minutes throughout the week and kept giving us the same thing that he gave us in game one.”
ALL SOULS ST GABRIEL’S SCHOOL – B
2025 finish: 10th in Division 2
Three defeats through the pool stage ensured All Souls would finish in the bottom half of Division 2, but the school steadied the ship on Tuesday afternoon by beating Charters Towers rivals Columba 12-10 thanks to two tries in the last 10 minutes.
Another win against another Charters Towers school, this time a 26-10 triumph over Blackheath and Thornburgh, gave Souls a chance to top the lower side of the draw but the boys fell to St Edmund’s 18-0 on Friday.
All Souls coach Adrian Guldbransen settled on a solid B for his group overall, but couldn’t fault the boys’ desire to play good football.
“Definitely an A-plus for effort and tenacity. I give them an A-plus for effort,” Guldbransen said.
“When you’re up against big schools that have physical domination against you, it’s tough to keep backing up and backing up. And we did it. We did our school and our parents and everyone proud.
“It was really good to be part of it.
“Our team was just really gutsy, trying hard. We were in most games – some of the score lines didn’t reflect how close the games were.
“Our guys were just really courageous, really gutsy. For a small country school up against the big city boys, our guys went really well.”
Attack: B-
The attack started slow, but improved as the week went on with a highlight coming in the semi-finals when All Souls scored five tries against BTC.
“We didn’t shy away from our game plan, which for us was about not having big middles. We couldn’t just power through the middle and chew up metres,” Guldbransen said.
“We had to shift the ball and use our support play and our interlocking short passes when we got that game on – and it did trouble teams.
“Unfortunately, with that high risk, high reward play, sometimes we made errors, and those errors were hard to cover up.”
Defence: A-
All Souls conceded a respectably low 50 points through the first three games, and improved into the finals to keep two cross-town rivals to just 10 points in 50-minute games.
The 18-0 loss to St Edmund’s on the last day wouldn’t have been the end they wanted, but it wasn’t a bad result.
“They were courageous the whole time, coming up against bigger bodies,” Guldbransen said.
“We had four or five year 10 boys who are still 15, so for them it’s a big learning curve.”
Top of class: Tyler Osborne, Willis Froloff, Billy Elliott, Landon Hughes
“Our edge forward, Tyler Osborne, No.12 he played for us. He was our Confraternity Player of the Carnival,” Guldbransen said.
“Willis Froloff was very good. Billy Elliott was good. Landon Hughes, our captain was excellent as well.
“All the boys stood up. We didn’t have a bad player for the week, everyone played to their potential or better.
“That’s what you’re aiming to do, and those senior players that I just mentioned, they led the way on the field and off the field.”
BLACKHEATH AND THORNBURGH COLLEGE – B-
2025 finish: 12 in Division 2
Blackheath and Thornburgh College began the week with back-to-back losses on Monday, falling to St Columban’s 20-10 before losing to St Teresa’s 26-18.
The BTC boys came out firing on Tuesday though, beating Aaron Payne Cup side Holy Spirit 22-4 thanks in part to a double from Karhys Kennedy.
Another big win in Tuesday’s afternoon game – a 24-4 triumph over St Thomas More College with another Kennedy double – set up a tough game against Charters Towers rivals All Souls in the semi-finals.
All Souls took the spoils 26-10, before BTC finished its carnival with a 24-16 loss to Holy Spirit on Friday in the second meeting of the two North Queensland schools.
All Souls coach Will Urquhart said he was proud that his team was able to improve as the week went on.
“It was a really good week for us. We went into the tournament without too much success on the field and were able to come away with a few wins and a couple of close results as well,” Urquhart said.
“It was a really good experience for the group. They found the intensity in their game and they were able to improve both the attack and defence.
“I’d probably give the week a B-minus. We did some really good things at times, but if you’re grading it like a report, generally if you’re getting an A, you’re very consistent throughout.
“We lacked consistency, but based on the group that we had, we probably performed better than expected so definitely above a C grade.”
Attack: A-
Blackheath and Thornburgh didn’t have any trouble finding the tryline, with an attack that knew how to break down a defensive line.
Urquhart credited a couple of his spine members for getting the team into good attacking positions.
“Chase Tansey was a really dominant ballcarrier for us, and was able to get us forward and on our front foot,” Urquhart said.
“Our young No.9, Travis Turakava, who hadn’t played much there at nine for us this year, really value-added around the ruck and made teams think around that marker space. It was really good in attack.”
Defence: C
BTC’s defence let the team down at times, but the side performed well in the context of the carnival and playing in Division 2.
“Defence as a whole was much-improved from throughout the season, we’d lost a number of games in the Blackhawks Trophy by 20-plus points, but throughout Confro we didn’t really let teams get away from us too far,” Urquhart said.
“So I know they’re much shorter games, but we were able to manage defensively and use some really good line speed and decision making at times.”
Top of class: Chase Tansey, Karhys Kennedy, Rylie Cashion and Travis Turakava
“Karhys Kennedy was one of our better players and we also had Chase Tansey and another boy called Rylie Cashion – who may not have scored a lot of tries but he was very instrumental in setting them up,” Urquhart said.
“Rylie on the edge was excellent defensively, and in attack too. He ran with quite some intent and managed to find some space on a number of occasions.
“Chase was awarded the Spirit of the Carnival out of all of the 72 teams in attendance. He also won our first four man of the matches, voted by independent selectors so they didn’t actually realise they’d done that.
“He was a dominant performer for us throughout the week.”
COLUMBA CATHOLIC COLLEGE – B
2025 finish: 13th in Division 2
A slow start to the carnival saw Columba’s high hopes dashed by Monday afternoon following back-to-back defeats, first to eventual Division 2 champions St Laurence’s 16-6, and then 14-10 at the hands of Clairvaux MacKillop – who finished third overall in the division.
A 20-6 triumph over St Joseph’s, Toowoomba, on Tuesday morning was a much-improved effort but another disappointing loss to Charters Towers rivals All Souls St Gabriel’s School in the afternoon ensured a low finish for the school.
Columba won its next game 40-6 and finished the carnival with a 14-0 win against Assumption College.
Five tries from exciting winger Blake Wallace topped his school’s charts, closely followed by backrower Zach Campbell, who scored four.
Head coach Rohan Dixon lamented his team’s slow start to the week.
“While the overall placing would suggest otherwise, we had the overall division winner and third place in our pool and we were in both of those games until the final minutes,” Dixon said.
“This pushed us down the placings. We finished with a 3-3 record, losing two of those games in the final minute after leading.
“We could not fault the boys’ effort.”
Attack: B-
Only scoring 16 points through their opening two games hurt the team – a trend Dixon was all too familiar with in 2025.
“Our attack has been our Achilles’ heel the entire season,” Dixon said.
“We can keep teams below 16 points in most games, but have not been able to get our attack flowing.
“Having said that, we scored some great team tries in our final games and perhaps were starting to find our game a little too late.”
Defence: B+
“We never conceded more than three tries in any of the games,” Dixon said.
“Our defence has been a standout all year and something the boys have worked really hard on.”
Top of class: Cooper Nibbs, Callum Bartschat, Tom Scholes, Tom Kirkwood, Jesse Lavery, Zach Capmbell and Blake Wallace
“Lock Cooper Nibbs deservedly received our Player of the Carnival and Player’s Player,” Dixon said.
“Our prop, Callum Bartschat received our other major award, the Spirit of the Carnival, for leading from the front despite a shoulder injury.
“All of our other three year 12 veterans in Cooper Thomas, Tom Scholes, Tom Kirkwood and Jesse Lavery led the younger brigade all week.
“Rookies Zach Campbell and Blake Wallace ended the week as our leading tryscorers, so I’m looking forward to them further developing in coming years.”
ST TERESA’S COLLEGE, ABERGOWRIE – A-
2025 finish: 8th in Division 2
Two wins and one defeat through the pool stage – including a 20-8 win against Aaron Payne Cup side Holy Spirit – put the Warriors through to the top half of the draw, where the boys from regional North Queensland suffered three heavy defeats.
St Teresa’s was first belted 42-6 in the quarter-finals by eventual Division 2 runners-up Villanova College before another heavy defeat to Xavier Catholic College, 38-12.
A 54-16 loss to St James in the final game rounded out a disappointing end to a week that started with a lot of promise, but it was still a commendable performance from St Teresa’s College, finishing the carnival as the highest-ranked Division 2 school from the region.
Ignatius Park College was the only school in the Townsville region with a higher finish in Rockhampton.
Attack: A
St Teresa’s attack flowed freely on Monday, scoring 10 tries across the two wins, but things dropped off from there, scoring 42 points across the next four fixtures.
The boys from Abergowrie did manage to score at least on try in each game, which is no easy feat.
Defence: B-
Impressive defence at the start of the week fell away as the carnival went on, resulting in some pretty heavy defeats.
Top of class: Fredrick Pearson
Fredrick Pearson finished as the side’s leading tryscorer, finding the line on four occasions over the week, including a double against Xavier Catholic College on Thursday.
GILROY SANTA MARIA COLLEGE – C+
2025 finish: 15th in Division 3
A win, loss and draw in the pool stage relegated Gilroy to the bottom half of Division 3 for finals, where the boys from Ingham were defeated twice before rallying on the final day of the carnival to secure a win.
Captain and middle forward Shaun Devietti scored twice in that final as Gilroy beat Chisholm Catholic College 18-12 – bringing his total for the week up to a team-leading six tries.
“We ended with two wins, one draw and three losses, which is not too bad. It all really depends on when you win them as well,” head coach Matt Spina said.
“We just missed getting out of our pool. We just missed out because we drew our third game.
“But it was a tough week. We got hit pretty badly with injuries early on, and basically from Tuesday onwards we only really had one person on the bench.
“I was really proud of the boys with some of the tough efforts they showed, but we just didn’t really get the results we wanted.”
Attack: B
Defence: C-
“Our attack was probably a little better than our defence. I’d say our attack was a six or seven out of ten while defence was probably only a four or a five – it let us down a bit,” Spina said.
“But again, with not many troops on the bench, it’s always a big ask to get them to continually defend sets.”
Top of class: Shaun Devietti and Connor Matsen
“He (Devietti) was one of our best. He’s always quality for us and probably every game, he had one or two big plays that either won us or kept us in the game,” Spina said.
“So we would have been in trouble without him. He’s a tough kid and he was really handy.
“Connor Matsen was also tough at dummy half. He played every minute of every game in the middle and he was really one that just showed some good character.
“In the last game, we’re only up by six points with only a few minutes to go, and I think they tried to do a chip and chase off the scrum, and Connor was just about the only kid chasing, and he dived on the loose ball.
“To play every minute in the middle all week, and then to still show up in the last few minutes of the last game was pretty impressive stuff.”
GOOD SHEPHERD CATHOLIC COLLEGE, MOUNT ISA – D+
2025 finish: 14th in Division 3
One win, a loss and a draw through the pool stage put Good Shepherd into the bottom half of the finals draw as the team struggled to combine effectively.
A 10-point defeat to St Mary’s from Cairns was followed by a great 28-12 win against North Queensland rivals Gilroy Santa Maria College as captain and five-eighth Rehan Bell collected 16 points with two tries and four goals.
Another 10-point defeat to Mt Maria, Mitchelton, in the final match was a tough end to an up-and-down carnival.
Bell’s five tries saw him finish as the team’s top tryscorer, while 11 goals over the week allowed the skipper to finish fifth overall in pointscoring with a total of 42.
Assistant coach Jericho Young said that while the team didn’t achieve its goals, the coaching staff could take plenty of positives into the upcoming NRL Schoolboy Trophy quad-series.
“To be honest we probably underachieved. I think we shot ourselves in the foot throughout the week, just giving up the ball, easy penalties and just a lack of experience as a playing group together,” Young said.
“But towards the end of the week, the boys did really well to get back into the swing of things. They ended up being a really close playing group, which is always good.
“In terms of grading, I think just because of how we lost the games and where we ended up, I’d probably have to give us a solid D-plus, which is okay for this team considering this is the first time playing together.
“A lot of other teams or schools, they get a weekly comp to go out and get all the niggly things out of the way, whereas these boys had hardly any game experience together.”
Attack: C+
Bell’s impressive pointscoring kept the score boards ticking over and the school scored at least 16 points in four of six games, including three games with 22-plus points.
“When we were on, we were on. But if we were just slightly off, that’s when the losses came,” Young said.
“When we stuck to the game plan, it was on. I think in terms of grading the attack, just because of inconsistency I want to give it a C-plus.
“It could have been a lot better. We have quite a big forward pack, so the game plan was to stick through the middle, work hard through there, and when the other team was fatigued sort of spread it out wide.
“But you’ve got to take the good with the bad, I suppose.”
Defence: B-
“We were tough, we worked hard, but especially on the first day there was a bit of a lack of communication off the ruck,” Young said.
“But once we had that first day of losing close games, I think our defence was a lot better.”
Top of class: Rehan Bell, Alex Worth and Sam Pou-Pomare
“Rehan had a bit of a slow start on that first day, especially as captain he sort of felt like he let the boys down,” Young said.
“But after our team meeting, he really stood up and started playing in a class that we thought he would – scoring a lot of tries, creating a lot of opportunities for others – so he did really well towards that end part of the week.
“One of the other standouts from the coaching staff was Alex Worth on the edge there. He was really consistent in attack and defence, he always wanted to play the whole game, he was tough, he showed leadership on and off the field.
“For us, that really stood out and he was our Player of the Carnival. Just that improvement and that consistency there, he really gave us everything we needed.
“Our halfback Sam really stood out as well, embracing the spirit of the competition and he stood up with his game management and all the things you want your halfback to do.”
RYAN CATHOLIC COLLEGE – A+
2025 finish: Division 3 champions
Ryan Catholic College claimed its best-ever trophy at the Confraternity Carnival after defeating McAuley College 16-0 in the grand final of Division 3, remaining undefeated for the entire week.
It was Ryan’s 20th appearance at the historic carnival, improving on their Confraternity Bowl-winning performance from almost a decade ago in 2017.
Ryan coach Annan Whittington said he was most impressed with his side’s incredible defence over the five days, but especially since Tuesday afternoon when playoffs began.
“It was the want to scramble and stay connected. They showed that throughout the whole week; defensively, they scrambled for each other,” Whittington said.
“Their first-up contact was really good, so that was really impressive for us. That’s what really got us through to the finals, to be honest, because our attack was stumbling a bit early.”
Attack: B
Ryan did enough to get the job done during the pool phase, beating Chanel College (14-6), St Johns, Roma (14-10) and St Mary’s, Cairns (18-10).
The school improved in finals, beginning with a 20-0 win over Unity College on Tuesday afternoon before a 20-4 victory on Thursday.
“I’m always a hard marker. I’d still say it was only around the B mark, to be honest,” Whittington said.
“We need to be better now going into the next part of the Schoolboy Trophy, and see if we get some players back.”
Defence: A+
Ryan’s defence through the finals was almost perfect, conceding just four points through 150 minutes of sudden death football.
“We pride ourselves on our defence, as we did through the Blackhawks Trophy season as well,” Whittington said.
“To only leak four points across the whole finals series, and keeping that side (McAuley College) – they’re a big side – to nil in the final is a big credit to the Ryan boys. They’re a resilient group.”
Top of class: Campbell St George, Aston Smith, Taj Croft and Mitch Boevink
St George and Smith led from the front all week, while Croft finished the carnival as Ryan’s top tryscorer with five four-pointers.
Smith was awarded Player of the Final, St George Player of the Carnival and Boevink the Spirit of the Carnival.
“Campbell St George needs a mention – attack and defence – he’ll be our Player of the Carnival,” Whittington said.
“I watched a lot of games and that kid there was probably as good, if not better, than any of the Division 1 front rowers running around this carnival.
“The kid’s got a big ceiling and I hope he goes a long way. He’s that old school Matt Scott, Shane Webcke style front rower.”
SOUTHERN CROSS CATHOLIC COLLEGE – A
2025 finish: 3rd in Division 3
Southern Cross got through the pool stage with two wins and a hard-fought 22-all draw with Mount Isa side Good Shepherd after Beau McCarron scored on the last play to level the scores.
After earning a late penalty, Southern Cross kicked for the unmarked Aussie rules star on the wing and McCarron took a stunning leaping catch and came down with the ball to score.
A 20-6 quarter-final triumph over Chanel College set up a thrilling semi-final with Division 3 heavyweights McAuley College, who proved too strong in a five tries to two win – Southern Cross’ only defeat of the carnival.
An 18-10 victory over St Patrick’s, Gympie, in the final game of the week gave the Townsville school a podium finish for coach Matt Roberts to be proud of.
“This is the best team I’ve ever coached so I can’t be too critical of them, but we did fall short,” Roberts said.
“The goal was to go there and win, but I’m very happy with how we went.”
Attack: A+
Southern Cross scored 76 points through the pool stage, averaging more than 25 points in the 40-minute games.
“Our attack, I think we scored the most points or the most tries in our division. We had some points in us, and it wasn’t like we were just throwing the footy around,” Roberts said.
“Our strength was probably the way we started games. For the first five to ten minutes we were just focused on earning the right to play footy and I think that set us apart.”
Defence: A-
“We were a pretty small pack and we only took away 18 players, and by Thursday we only had 17 players,” Roberts said.
“So being small and not having too much in the rotation, we knew we couldn’t really defend back-to-back sets on our line.
“Our whole game plan was about completing and being disciplined in defence so we didn’t have to defend on our line.
“We put a lot of effort into defending and trying to keep teams over their side of halfway, which we did a really outstanding job of most of the week.”
Top of class: Lewis O’Neil, Haiden Carey, Josh Crawford, Josh Neilson, Ethan Morgan, Linkin Burge and Tyson Althofer
“Our halfback Lewis O’Neil, he was unlucky not to get Player of the Division,” Roberts said.
“He was really great. What I really like about Lewis is how coachable he is. Everything I told him at training in the lead up to the week, he went out and executed.
“Part of that was just building our game plan around being patient. For a young halfback to be so patient and not try to score every time he got the ball was really one of his strengths.
“Our other half Haiden Carey, he’s only in year 10 so he’s got two more years of Confro. He was really tough, calm and composed. But unfortunately he got knocked out on Tuesday, which ruled him out of the carnival.
“Josh Crawford, he was just ridiculous. Pretty much every carry, he either ran for 20 meters or he was able to get an offload. He was just massive and a lot of what we did revolved around him.
“Our captain, Josh Neilson, he was our Spirit of the Carnival winner. His job was just to get us going forward.
“He played every minute of the carnival, which is just ridiculous. That’s 160 minutes on the first two days, and then another 100 minutes on Thursday and Friday.
“What he did really well was just tackled until he couldn’t anymore and got us to the middle of the field, which allowed our halves to play some footy.
“Another young lad I want to recognise is our interchange hooker Ethan Morgan. He would come on after there was a bit of fatigue in the game and his one job was to lead the line-speed in defence and get out at nine when there was either one marker of no markers.
“He did that role excellently, averaging around one linebreak a game.
“Another great young lad was our left second rower Linkin Burge. He’s played a bit of footy but this was by far the best week I’ve seen him put together of just outstanding line-running.
“What really suited him was coming back on the inside and targeting some of those tired middle forwards using his quick feet, which was awesome.
“Our fullback as well, Tyson Althofer, he’s the youngest you can possibly be to play Confro, born on New Year’s Eve, and his carries were great.
“Even though he’s the youngest and a small fella, he pretty much always found his front and that set the tone for those sets.”
BURDEKIN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL – A-
2025 finish: 3rd in Division 4
Three losses in the pool stage meant Burdekin Catholic High would have to do it the hard way after finishing fourth in Pool B.
But the boys from the Burdekin flipped the script on undefeated Pool A winners Good Counsel, winning Tuesday’s quarter-final 24-16 after a terrific fast start.
A late try from Emmaus, Jimboomba, lock Cain Eggerling to seal a 20-18 comeback broke Burdekin’s hearts in the semi-final, before the school rounded out its carnival with a 14-0 victory over St Augustine’s, Augustine Heights.
Harrison Lammon was named the school’s Player of the Carnival while Mason Kiehne was awarded the Spirit of the carnival medal for his determination, sportsmanship and heart.
Burdekin CHS coach Luke Marano said the school’s inaugural carnival could be considered a success.
“Our main takeaway was that we’ve definitely got the potential. We had some improvements across the week in attack and defence, and the boys definitely gave it their all,” Marano said.
“You can’t question the effort that they’ve put in. They aimed up in most of the games.
“We started off a bit slow, with three losses in a row, but the boys stayed positive and they took feedback on board, and they definitely grew in that confidence every game.
“We worked on a few things, and they ended up getting the rewards towards the end, when we started stringing a couple of wins together and ended up finishing strongly.
“I’d probably give them an A-minus, because we had a few early injuries on day one – crucial injuries – two of our front rowers got injured, and we had boys filling in the front row for big minutes, and they put all of their heart into it, and laid a good platform for the rest of those games.
“So I’d probably say A-minus, because the effort was unreal from the boys.”
Attack: A-
“Whether we were in attack or defence, we were up for the contact. The boys were running hard and trying everything they could to get good field position with the forwards,” Marano said.
“On that second day the backs worked on getting a bit deeper and spreading the ball a bit wider, and we started getting a fair bit of joy on the edges.
“So as long as we stuck to a simple plan end executed, we started doing really well.”
Defence: B+
“There were certain periods in games there where we defended multiple sets on our line and the boys kept turning up and turning the other team around,” Marano said.
Top of class: Harrison Lammon, Leylan Lampton, Mason Kiehne, Chad Fraser, Rylie Siandri and Cooper Kross
“Harrison, Leylan and Mason were all fantastic,” Marana said.
“Chad was goal kicker. He got some crucial goals as well to help us get some wins, and he was steering the boys around in the middle.
“Our edges as well, we had Ryley Siandri in the centres there and he was pretty strong.
“Early in the carnival, we were probably looking a bit weaker on the edges, and as the games went on, they definitely improved in the defence with our centres and wingers.
“Our fullback Cooper Kross, towards the end of the carnival. He was one of our wingers and we moved him to fullback, and he ended up having some strong carriers, and was pretty safe at the back there.
“As the week went on we shuffled around a few positions to switch it up, and everyone did a really good job.”
ST ANTHONY’S CATHOLIC COLLEGE – B-
2025 finish: 8th in Division 4
St Anthony’s finished the week with two wins, including an emphatic 36-12 victory over Good Samaritan Catholic College on the final day of action as Peyton Hutley and Liam Kleier each scored doubles.
Kleier and Seth Mellor finished as the team’s top scorers with four tries each over the week.
St Anthony’s coach Wade Gomez said he was overall satisfied with his side’s performances across the carnival.
“Overall we had an unfortunate run, but the players performed well,” Gomez said.
“We finished with two wins and four losses, largely due to some unforgiving injuries and small errors in the crucial moments of some winnable matches.”
Attack: B
St Anthony’s managed to score at least a try in all but one game, with a couple of big victories sprinkled in.
“Our attack was working hard against consistently tough defensive teams,” Gomez said.
“With one of our halves out early in the competition due to a concussion, we were unable to fire off our attacking plays as concisely as we had previously.
“Working on the fly, the team was still able to put together some impressive attacking sequences.”
Defence: C+
“In defence, the team showed a lot of grit and on several occasions defended from their try line for repeat sets,” Gomez said.
“As the week continued, and the injuries started to accumulate, the team stayed resilient and continued to put out solid defensive efforts.”
Top of class: Seth Mellor, Owen Pippin and Liam Kleier
“Some standouts were Seth Mellor, who on his Confro debut as a year 10 student had some targeted attacking stints, scoring several tries,” Gomez said.
“He even had to step into a new position, playing hooker due to team injuries. During this, he continued to dominate in and around the ruck.
“The vice-captain, Owen Pippin, was notoriously consistent. He was meticulous in his defence and always structured in his attacking plays. He epitomised discipline and resilience for the entire week.
“Lastly, Liam Kleier was unstoppable in the middle. In his front row position, he marched up the field every single run and forced his opponents to diligently defend to take him down.
“His long distance carries provided excellent try-scoring opportunities, and he picked up numerous tries himself off the back of some strong efforts.”
ST MARGARET MARY’S COLLEGE GIRLS – B+
2025 finish: 4th in Division 1
St Margaret Mary’s started the week with a tough game against 2024 champions St Patrick’s College, Mackay, losing 18-0.
However the side turned its fortunes around quickly with back-to-back wins over Shalom (16-8) and Emmaus College (20-8) to progress into the top half of the draw for finals.
Unfortunately they couldn’t carry that momentum into the semi-finals, falling to eventual Division 1 champions The Cathedral College 26-10 on Tuesday afternoon.
Middle forward Taylar Viero improved her tryscoring streak to three games with another four-pointer in that semi-final.
St Margaret Mary’s came up against St Pat’s again in the third-place playoff, losing 20-4 in the rematch of Monday’s opening game.
Head coach Chris Lane said he was happy with his team’s first foray into the carnival’s top division.
“It was really good, we had a bit of a disrupted lead-up into it and we ended up only going away with 16 players,” Lane said.
“The first day we went into it, we had a couple of girls that had a bit of a gastro bug, so we had limited numbers and a couple of sick ones, and just the resilience they showed was outstanding.
“We had a couple of girls in the middle, like Evoltia (Tuala) and Taylar (Viero) that played the whole games and didn’t come off.
“For front rowers, that’s a pretty good effort.”
Attack: A-
“In attack, our forwards were definitely supplying our go-forward. Once we got our spine set with Chloe (Lane) at hooker, with Olivia Fletcher and Narly Doolah in the halves, things started going forward,” Lane said.
“Then once they started clicking, Olivia was running and she had the forwards running good unders lines, and that’s when we really start to progress.”
Defence: B
“Defending the line, we were very solid in the middle, but we had a bit of a breakdown in communications when the ball was spread to the edges,” Lane said.
“So that was probably our weakness, the communication and the shifting towards the edge. But by the last game, they all came together and the communication, it was improving, and they really started to piece it together.”
Top of class: Evoltia Tuala, Taylar Viero, Olivia Fletcher and Chloe Lane
“Evoltia made the Queensland merit side and it was well-deserved. She just gives 100 per cent every game,” Lane said.
“Taylar definitely has the ability to break the line as a forward. She played a major role for us.
“Olivia Fletcher, being our captain and half, she really got the forwards running some good lines, and then when fatigue set in we had Chloe, who was playing hooker, who injected lots of speed around the ruck and she had quite a few linebreaks.”
ST PATRICK’S COLLEGE, TOWNSVILLE – A
2025 finish: 5th in Division 2
St Patrick’s College had a dream opening to its inaugural Confro appearance, winning both Monday games to start the week strong.
The Townsville girls started with a bang, beating St Ursula’s 12-6 after holding out a late surge, before toppling Emmaus 18-4 in the afternoon as lock Mairesha Ronsen-Tomsana scored a hat-trick.
But a 10-0 defeat at the hands of Holy Spirit sent St Pat’s crashing back to Earth and forced the side into the bottom half of the draw – although the two schools each finished with two wins and a plus-10 points difference.
An emphatic 28-0 beat down of Xavier College set up a thrilling final with Mt Maria, Mitchelton, which saw only one score for the entire match – a Hollie Parkes try to seal the win for St Pat’s.
Brooklyne Stegman finished tied-fifth overall in the carnival’s tryscoring charts with four tries across the week.
Attack: B
Strong attack was a highlight for St Patrick’s, scoring a handful of fantastic tries across the week.
Six tries in the semi-final was the side’s best effort over the week, but an inability to score in the third pool match against Holy Spirit ultimately cost the girls an opportunity to play in the top half of the draw.
Defence: A+
St Patrick’s twice held a side to nil, and on two other occasions kept their opponent to just one try.
The 10 points conceded to Holy Spirit was the biggest total St Pat’s allowed all week.
Top of class: Hollie Parkes, Mairesha Ronsen-Tomsana and Brooklyne Stegman
Inspirational co-captain Parkes scored the matchwinner in the final to secure fifth place, while Ronsen-Tomsana and Stegman each scored four tries across the carnival to finish tied-fifth in the girls’ competition’s tryscoring charts.
Originally published as Confraternity Carnival 2025 report cards: North Queensland schools graded
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