Townsville Blackhawks Schoolboy Trophy rd 4: Photo gallery, match reports, Team of the Week
Ryan Catholic College extended its lead in the Northern pool of the Townsville Blackhawks Schoolboy Trophy this week as round 4 came to a close. Check out our photo gallery and see who made the Team of the Week.
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Ryan Catholic College extended its lead in the Northern pool of the Townsville Blackhawks Schoolboy Trophy this week with a comfortable 30-0 win over Southern Cross Catholic College.
Ryan’s boisterous middle forwards, led by goal-kicking lock Aston Smith and prop Campbell St George, laid a perfect platform for attack with their hard running and big post-contact metres.
With the territory battle under control due to the forward pack’s dominance, Ryan fullback Riley McIntyre was able to insert himself into the attack
The right edge attack led by centre Taj Croft was particularly deadly on Tuesday afternoon as winger Connor Jackson completed his second hat-trick in as many weeks in the final play of the game.
“It’s his first year of league, he’s a Gold Coast Suns Academy AFL player but he’s scored back-to-back hat-tricks now,” Ryan coach Annan Whittington said.
“Defence was key again for us. We knew after playing Southern Cross in round 1 that they’ll scrap for everything and they won’t go away.
“We knew that they had some points in them if they got into good ball, so us winning a lot of their yardage sets, and winning the game defensively across the whole park was the most pleasing thing for us.
“That was what we set out to do, and we did it, and the (competition) points are secondary to that.”
Despite the rumbling forward pack, all of Ryan’s tries were scored in the wider channels, giving Southern Cross coach Matt Roberts something to smile about.
Roberts said his skipper Josh Neilson and fullback Tyson Althofer were standouts in the defeat.
“I feel like even though it was a 30-nil score-line, there’s a lot of positives to take away,” Roberts said.
“One of our best was the youngest player on the field. He played fullback, his name is Tyson Althofer.
“Towards the end of the game when the more experienced and talented blokes were just poking their heads through, Tyson’s cover defence was really good. His talk organising our line throughout the game was great.
“And then another positive is our captain, Josh Neilson. He just takes on everyone he needs to, finds his front every time, makes his tackles, and then he’ll pop up on a wing trying to save a try with a cover tackle that he doesn’t have to make. He was very inspirational.”
Burdekin Catholic High School made a successful entry into the competition with a 20-8 triumph over All Souls St Gabriel’s School in front of a large crowd of passionate supporters in Ayr.
All Souls coach Adrian Guldbransen said he was impressed by the class of the competition newcomers and the energy they were able to take from the stands.
“They were a physical, strong team and they had a really solid home crowd,” Guldbransen said.
“We weren’t at our best unfortunately but they put in a solid performance against us and deserved the win.”
Columba Catholic College took on Blackheath and Thornburgh College in Charters Towers, finishing ahead 32-10 after a close opening 30 minutes.
“I was really happy with our first half but we just couldn’t stay with the intensity Columba was able to maintain,” Blackheath and Thornburgh coach Will Urquhart said.
Gilroy Santa Maria College hosted St Anthony’s in Ingham, claiming a 22-6 victory to step into second place on the Northern Pool ladder.
Halfback Matt Spina pulled the strings in attack while versatile forward Shaun Devietti shifted to the backrow and was powerful on his edge.
In a match played in slippery conditions, coach Matt Spina was impressed by his team’s ability to move the ball around the park and complete without errors.
“There was some heavy rain before kick-off but we played some of our best footy of the year in that first half,” Spina said.
“The boys were passing the ball around freely and weren’t afraid to move it around in the wet.”
TOWNSVILLE BULLETIN TEAM OF THE WEEK
1. Riley McIntyre (Ryan Catholic College)
2. Tyson Althofer (Southern Cross Catholic College)
3. Hayden Seng (St Anthony’s Catholic College)
4. Taj Croft (Ryan Catholic College)
5. Connor Jackson (Ryan Catholic College)
6. Tom Kirkwood (Columba Catholic College)
7. Matt Spina (Gilroy Santa Maria College)
8. Campbell St George (Ryan Catholic College)
9. Landon Aylward (St Anthony’s Catholic College)
10. Callum Bartschat (Columba Catholic College)
11. Ezra Sam (Blackheath and Thornburgh College)
12. Shaun Devietti (Gilroy Santa Maria College)
13. Aston Smith (Ryan Catholic College)
PHOTO GALLERY
Originally published as Townsville Blackhawks Schoolboy Trophy rd 4: Photo gallery, match reports, Team of the Week
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