Australian Boardriders Battle: NSW team previews and surfers to watch
Some of Australia’s most famous boardriders clubs will be in action this weekend when the final of the country’s premier teams event takes place in Newcastle. Check out how the teams are shaping up.
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In just a decade, the Australian Boardriders Battle has become one of the most popular events on the national surfing calendar.
Drawing in the best clubs from around the country, 23 teams from all over Australia will battle it out on Newcastle Beach this weekend for the title, in what is the competition’s 10th anniversary season.
With surfers in the opens, women’s, juniors and masters (over 35) divisions, clubs will compete in a series of individual and surftag events over the course of the weekend to see who will be crowned the ABB winner for 2023.
And while competitive surfing is often an individualistic sport, the teams event generates an unrivalled atmosphere and provides a platform for the country’s best boardriders clubs to compete on the national stage.
“This event is probably one of my favourites of the year,” said North Narrabeen’s Tru Starling.
“When you’re surfing in a team environment it’s not just about you, it’s about everyone else as well. It’s so different to when you’re surfing in an individual heat.”
Ahead of this weekend’s final, we’ve profiled and previewed all NSW teams to see how they’re shaping up.
North Shelly Boardriders
Team: Shane Holmes, Joel Vaughan, Zoe Ifield, Hughie Vaughan, Russ Molony
The defending champions will head into this year’s Boardriders Battle with plenty of confidence after a dominant Central NSW qualifier win at North Narrabeen in November.
“They’re feeling pretty confident,” said president Cameron Sharpe. “It’s almost the same team, apart from Macy (Callaghan), who’s on the world tour now. But we’ve got Zoe Ifield who surfs amazing as well.”
In an ominous warning sign, North Shelly combo’d the rest of the field to take out the final and book its spot in the national final.
“There are no weak links in the team, they’ve done the work now, so there really aren’t too many nerves,” said Sharpe.
Speaking of the team, they’re more or less the same as last year, with 19-year-old gun Joel Vaughan, who was impressive in 2022 on the second-tier Challenger Series, and QS veteran Shane Holmes selected as the open division surfers.
Zoe Ifield comes in to replace Macy Callaghan, who is currently in Hawaii for top tier season opener at Pipeline, Joel Vaughan’s younger brother – 16-year-old Hughie Vaughan – will be the junior surfer, while local legend, former QS surfer and two-time national Indigenous champion Russ Molony will be the masters surfer in the team.
“Russ controls it. He’s the boss, he gets them all ready. He’s 46, and he’s gets them so switched on and ready for action,” says Sharpe.
As defending champions, North Shelly have gone from being the hunter to the hunted. So, will they change their strategy now that they’ve got a big target on their backs?
“No, it’s the same approach,” says Sharpe. “They’re all ready to go.”
Avoca Boardriders Club
Traditionally, the big club on the Central Coast, Avoca will want to put a stop to local rivals North Shelly going back to back this year.
With nearly 400 members and home to the likes of former CT surfers Matty Wilkinson, Wade Carmichael and Adrian Buchan, Avoca usually has plenty of talent to choose from.
Finishing fourth in the final of the Central NSW regional qualifiers, Avoca will be hoping for a big performance in Newcastle.
Byron Bay Boardriders Club
Team: Soli Bailey, Dakota Walters, Manon Pouget, Duke Wrencher, Danny Wills
Not too many clubs can call on two former CT surfers to lead the line, but that’s exactly the embarrassment of riches Byron Bay have in the form of Soli Bailey and the legendary Danny Wills, who’ll both be the chomping at the bit this weekend.
“Soli and Danny bring a lot of positivity into the team,” says president Neil Cameron. They’re like hungry dogs getting let off the leash – they’re just so positive, they’re great people.”
In fact, when it comes to sheer star quality, it’s hard to top Byron’s duo, with Wills finishing third in the world in 2008 and Bailey famously taking out the Volcom Pipe Pro in 2017.
However it seems the club also has plenty more firepower up its sleeve, with Dakoda Walters letting rip during Byron Bay’s regional qualifier win late last year.
“He was the standout,” says Cameron. “He’s brought a new standard to the place.”
With Bailey and Walters to be the opens surfers and Wills in the masters slot, Byron will also have Manon Pouget and Duke Wrencher capping off a strong line-up.
But despite the good signs, Cameron is keeping a lid on any hype.
“Knowing how the tag-team works, anything can happen due to the X-factors involved, like the waves, weather and other underlying things, but I’d say we’d give it a good run,” he said.
“But it’s a great weekend. Without a doubt it’s the best teams event in Australia, if not the world. It’s just fantastic to watch and fantastic to be there. It just engulfs you. You get swallowed up by it.”
Coffs Harbour Boardriders Club
When it comes to sheer names on the list, Coffs Harbour well and truly has the firepower to run deep into the finals and challenge for the title.
The club, which finished runner-up in 2015, can call on the likes of former QS surfer Jayke Sharpe, Coffs cult hero and top shaper Shaun Cansdell and former CT legend Lee Winkler in what is a seriously powerful line-up.
Throw in a few others like gun junior Will Martin and the Smart siblings – Creed and Rosie – and Coffs could well claim a few scalps this weekend.
Although the club finished third behind Byron and Kingscliff in the northern NSW regional qualifier, they would be a good chance to do some damage if the conditions allow it.
Elouera Boardriders Club
Team: Jarvis Earle, Shane Campbell, April Davey, Korbin Whyte, Jaya Wardana, Luke Palmer
With a freshly minted world champion in their team, Elouera know this is their best chance in years to win the national title.
With his shock of blond hair and Occy-esque hacks, 18-year-old Jarvis Earle last month took out the WSL World Junior Championships. Now back home, he’ll lead the Shire club into the ABB, with Elouera placing an incredible importance on team surfing events.
“It’s our big thing that we try and channel everything into,” says president Ryan Bridges.
“From the under 10s we teach kids how to surf team events as well as individually. Boardriders clubs generally hold individual contests, but these inter-team, inter-club events are such a big part of what makes boardriders clubs in Australia great, and we’ve really put a lot of focus into over the past five to 10 years.
“We do team events at club level and then we try and enter as many events as we can at all different age groups, so lots of people get the opportunity to represent the club, and we sort of look at it as the pinnacle of what you can achieve with the club.”
Joining Earle will be longtime Cronulla gun Shane Campbell in the opens, April Davey as the female surfer, juniors Korbin Whyte and Jaya Wardana, and veteran Luke Palmer as the master competitor.
And while the club has never won the ABB, they might well have done if the rules were as they are now.
In the inaugural event back in 2014, Elouera took out the team tag contest on the final day of competition. However unlike under the current rules, where the event acts as the championship decider, the tag contest was simply one of many events over the course of the weekend.
“We won this event when the team event didn’t actually mean you won the whole thing. The very first year we won the tag team, but we didn’t score as many points in the other divisions – there were individual components that added up to the overall total – and we ended up finishing second,” said Bridges.
“Eventually, through feedback from the clubs, they scrapped all that. Because we had all this fanfare from winning the last heat on the beach, thinking we’re champions, and they presented the trophies and we get second place. And everyone was like: ‘what?’ But they’ve stripped it down to the point where the winner of the team event on the Sunday is the champion.”
If there is a sense that the club is trying to right a historical wrong, they know that now might be the time to do it, with Earle expected to join fellow Elouera surfer Connor O’Leary on the world’s leading tours in the coming years.
“Jarvis is going to be a bit like Connor in the next few years and go off and not be available because he’s contracted to the WSL, so we might be looking at one of the last years where we’ve got a real superstar as the head of the team,” says Bridges.
“So we might be looking at the best shot we’ve got for a little while until the next big talent comes through – or Connor retires and comes back to the club,” he laughs.
Jones Beach Boardriders Club
Team: Nick Clifford, Dylan Pemberton, Charlie Rogers, Oceanna Rogers, Erin Willetts, Lani Cairncross, Lennix Smith, Dayan Conti, Matt Thompson, Jeff Latimer
When it comes to underdog teams, there perhaps aren’t too many more that fit the bill than Jones Beach.
While some of the clubs host big-name former or even current pros, the South Coast club have a core mix of locals who will fight for the title this weekend.
“Most clubs have a number of professionals and some who are currently on the Championships Tour,” said secretary Jo Collinge.
“So I guess we know that we’re always the underdogs, not necessarily being in the thick of it with big-name surfers. But we’ll definitely take a team approach to get through this weekend.”
Indeed, in what will be the club’s third appearance at the ABB finals, Jones Beach will take a full squad to Newcastle and then decide on who’ll hit the water based on the conditions.
Leading the line will be local surf shop expert Nick Clifford, along with Dylan Pemberton and Charlie Rogers in the open division.
In the female section, 18-year-old Oceanna Rogers, who recently came second in the U18 Australian Junior Surfing Titles, will make the trip north, along Erin Willetts and Lani Cairncross, while Lennix Smith and Dayan Conti will be the juniors.
Meanwhile, bringing the experience in the over 35s will be one-time QS surfer Matt Thompson and Jeff Latimer.
Jones Beach’s place among some of Australian surfing’s big names could well continue long into the future, with club membership reaching a record of 150 in recent years, meaning the future is looking bright on the South Coast.
“We’ve really been focusing on increasing the number of juniors and female social surfers, so that’s where we’ve really boosted our numbers,” says Collinge.
Kingscliff Boardriders Club
Team: Micah Margieson, Blake Neka, Ava Arghyros, Dane Henry, Samba Mann
With the club located just a stone’s throw from Surfing Australia’s headquarters and high performance centre on the NSW North Coast, it’s probably no surprise to see Kingscliff full of talented young surfers.
“We’re only a small club, we have about 70 members. But in saying that, our standard of surfing is extremely high,” says president Dean Walpole. “We’ve got some really good surfers and some up and coming kids who do really well on the junior series.”
And of course there are also plenty of benefits to having Surfing Australia as a neighbour.
“They’re pretty much on our back doorstep and they work closely with us – and other clubs too,” says Walpole. “But our members are able to go down and enjoy some of their facilities, and I think that’s what given us a big boost over the last five to 10 years.”
Looking through Kingscliff’s team is almost like a who’s who of junior champions from recent years.
The club’s junior competitor, Dane Henry, is a former U14 Australian champion, who recently finished second in the U18 championships – despite being just 16.
In the open division, 21-year-old Micah Margieson is a former U18 national champion who is currently on the QS, while 14-year-old Ava Arghyros, who will compete as the team’s female surfer, was selected in the NSW team for the national championships in December.
Elsewhere, the club has young QS gun Blake Neka – “He is an absolute tearer,” says Walpole, “he was our best surfer at the qualifying series” – and over-35s competitor Samba Mann, who will bring plenty of experience to the young team.
“He heads the team, he’s the level-headed guy on the team,” says Walpole.
With plenty of young talent, the president says Kingscliff will be looking to give it a big shake in what is the club’s third time at the national final.
“We’re very keen and we’re very focused this year to do well.”
Long Reef Boardriders Club
Team: Kobi Clements, Xavier Bryce, Robbie France, Ruhben Casteight, Gabi Spake, Sydney Chevalier, Zahn Foxton, Nick James
While Longy might not have the trophy cabinets of some its rivals, in particular neighbour North Narrabeen, the Northern Beaches club is one of very few competing in this weekend’s final to have tasted recent team success.
In October last year the club was crowned SURFTAG champions after topping the standing after the five-round series.
In addition to taking out the junior event, Longy finished second in both the grommets’ and masters’ divisions, third in the women’s and fifth in the open group to take home the title.
“Our team is basically derived from the surfers in that comp,” says team coach Carl Musker.
It’s perhaps no surprise that the club’s strength lies with its younger surfers.
QS surfer Kobi Clements, who represented Australia in the world junior titles in El Salvador last year, will lead the line, while Gabi Spake, who also competed in El Salvador, will be one of Longy’s two female surfers, alongside young gun Sydney Chevalier.
Seventeen-year-old Xavier Bryce and 16-year-old Baxter Hurt will be the juniors, with Robbie France and Ruhben Casteight in the open division and former QS surfer Zahn Foxton and Nick James in the over 35s.
“We got an extremely young team, but they’re fairly battle-hardened over the past few years,” says Musker.
Indeed, with plenty of seasoned pros in the field, they’ll need every little bit of that experience in Newcastle.
“Surfing is beautiful to watch but it’s a combat zone out in the water. I’m sure every club we’re competing against will give no quarter to us,” says Musker. “It’s exciting to watch and that’s why it’s called the Australian Boardriders Battle, because they’re all competing for the same waves.”
In what is its 50th anniversary year, Longy has been nominated for the Simon Anderson Club of the Year award by Surfing Australia, and would love an ABB victory to cap off the celebrations.
“We must be doing something right. We’ve got 170 members, 30 per cent of them are ladies and that’s growing each year, which is fantastic, because some of our young girls are super keen and are surfing well,” says Musker.
“We’re very family based. We had to make some tough decisions because we had a lot of ageing talent, so to speak, and we had to turn around and concentrate on the youth.
“We wore a few punches for a few years with our young team but I think now that’s all bearing fruit. We’ve got a whole stack of kids who are really loyal to Long Reef and who’ve stuck around, whereas in the past they may have gone to another club, chasing dreams.”
Maroubra United Boardriders
Perhaps the only superclub at the final, Maroubra United brings together surfers from North Maroubra Surf Riders, Southend Boardriders and Maroubra Surfers Association to form one hell of a collective.
Led by former NSW junior champion and current QS surfer Monty Tait, United were convincing winners in the Southern NSW qualifying pool.
But that’s not where the talent ends.
With former CT surfer Blake Thornton as a masters option, QS surfer Koda Killorn available as well as junior Mateus Bersot and Isabella Taviani, just to name a few, Maroubra will be looking to carry on their strong form from the qualifiers and go all the way this weekend.
North Avalon Surfriders Association
Team: Arch Whiteman, Van Whiteman, Bodhi Leigh-Jones, Dane Dujic, Shane Carroll
When it comes to team surfing events, concentrating on building connections and understandings between teammates is one of the most important things – and something that North Avalon has been focusing on.
“We’ve got the same team we used in the regional qualifier, so we all know each other pretty well,” says North Avalon’s Arch Whiteman. “We’ve competed in these tag teams forever together, we’re a bit of a family.”
When he says they’re like family, some of the members literally are. Arch will line up alongside his twin brother, Van Whiteman, as the club’s open division surfers.
While only 20, the pair have been on the competition circuit since they were kids, with both on the QS this season.
They’ll be joined by “superstar” Bodhi Leigh-Jones, junior Dane Dujic (“he’s been ripping”) and veteran Shane Carroll, who according to Whiteman, has “surfed in just about every tag team that’s ever existed”.
And with supercoach Rob Bain at the helm, Whiteman says they’re all firing for the weekend.
“I’m not like a footy guy, so I don’t really have any team sport to get into. But with team events I feel so involved and pumped up – we all love it.”
Meanwhile, as one of three Northern Beaches clubs in the final alongside Long Reef and North Narrabeen, Whiteman says there’ll be plenty of familiar faces up in Newcastle.
“There’s a massive rivalry between us all,” he says. “They might qualify one year, we might qualify the next, so it’s pretty cool for us all to be in it. Hopefully we get some heats together.”
Port Macquarie Surfboard Riders Club
Team: Kayle Enfield, Jack Swan, Imojen Enfield, Archie Branch, Mitch Van Der Veer
When it comes to records, the Port Macquarie Surfboard Riders Club might well knock off a couple of them off this weekend.
For starters, this is the first year that the club has qualified for the ABB finals.
“This is the first year we’ve made the finals, and as a club and a little town we’re pretty proud to be there and to have a dig against the bigger clubs,” says president Scott Lawrence.
But that’s not all. In fact, Port Mac could also quite possibly have the youngest ever team to compete at the finals.
“It’s a young team at the moment – our junior is only 14 and our opens surfers are only just 18 – so I think it’s a club with a lot of kids who are going to come through,” says Lawrence.
To run through the team, 14-year-old Archie Branch will be the junior surfer, 15-year-old Imojen Enfield, who recently finished third at the Australian Junior Surfing Titles, will be the women’s competitor, while Imojen’s older brother Kayle Enfield and Jack Swan – both 18 – will be Port’s open division surfers – leaving an average age of 16 and nine months.
It’s only the club’s over-35s competitor, former QS surfer Mitch Van Der Veer, who’ll bring some experience to the team.
But despite being one of the youngest teams in Boardriders Battle history, Lawrence is confident his chargers will be up to the task.
“We’ve tried to pick the crankiest, those who aren’t going to get intimidated too easily and paddled over by some ex-CT surfers. We could have pulled some ex-CT guys into the team, but we wanted to purely keep those guys who turn up every month. That’s our club,” he said.
“It’s a solid team, they all get along really well. How will we go this year? I don’t know. But it’ll all be a learning curve and the strength will come in the next few years. That’s the idea of this club.”
Scarborough Boardriders Club
Team: Kalani Ball, Fin Mclaren, Zahlia Short, Shyla Short, Will Clarke, Mannix Squires, Nic Squires, Tim Bilmon
When it comes to the ABB, one of the most consistent and solid-performing clubs throughout the early stages of the event is the Scarborough Boardriders Club.
Regular qualifiers from the southern NSW pool, the Wollongong club has regularly looked the goods without ever putting it together on finals day.
“We’ve been to the national finals multiple times and we’ve probably underperformed,” says Scarborough’s Christian DeClouett. “We’ve been the most successful in our region during qualifying since the event started but we haven’t been able to convert that into the national final.”
But this year, something feels different.
With a team lead by second-tier Challenger Series surfer Kalani Ball, there is a sense that the team can finally perform on the big stage.
“We’ve all had a talk and I really feel this year is different for our club. I honestly think we can get to the final and if everything goes right we can win it. But we have to concentrate on our first heat,” says DeClouett.
Joining Ball in the squad are the likes of Fin Mclaren, Will Clarke and the Short sisters, Zahlia and Shyla, who both compete on the women’s QS. Sixteen-year-old Mannix Squires will be the junior surfer, while his dad Nic Squires and Tim Bilmon will be representing the club s over-35s competitors.
“Why I think this year’s different for our club is that we’ve sort of done our apprenticeship with it,” says DeClouett.
“We’ve had the Short girls in there before and they’re used to that now, and so is Kalani, so is Nic, so is Mannix, to some degree, so I don’t think they’ll be overawed by the cameras and pressure. We’ve just to do certain things right and have a little bit of luck and we can definitely give this thing a nudge.”
One of the special things about the ABB finals is the pressure and expectation it brings, things that DeClouett says have their pros and cons.
“It’s unbelievable. We’ve booked a restaurant for a big team dinner on the Saturday night, we’ve got a whole community down here who’ll be tuning in and watching.
“The pressure is huge – you could get knocked out of any heat and then be in your car sulking on the way home – because everyone is watching.
“It’s like everyone’s on the bus with you, so if you run off the road, everyone’s gonna be affected. But is really is unreal.”
North Narrabeen
Team: Cooper Chapman, Jamie Thompson, Tru Starling, Corey Lawson, Nathan Hedge
Although they might not admit it, most of the other teams competing in this year’s ABB probably grimaced when they heard that North Narrabeen had secured the wildcard spot for this weekend’s final in Newcastle.
The two-time champions, who failed to qualify through the Central NSW regional pool late last year, received the late call-up last week after being unveiled as Surfing Australia’s wildcard for the event.
“We’re grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to compete in the final,” says coach Matt Cattle.
“We had a bunch of surfers away, overseas competing, when the regional qualifier was on and we fell short. We got to the semi-finals.”
And with a wealth of top-line international experience, the Northern Beaches club won’t just be making up the numbers – they will well and truly be in with a shout of taking out the title.
“We’re going in there with the mindset of winning it,” says Tru Starling, who’ll line up for the club this weekend. “We’ve won it twice and last year we got knocked out in the semis, which was a tough loss – everyone took that pretty hard.”
To the team, they’ll be led by their spiritual captain and over 35s competitor Nathan Hedge, who shocked the surfing world in August last year by making it all the way through to the semi-finals of the WSL Championship Tour event in Tahiti, after entering on a wildcard.
“Nathan’s 42, and the passion and desire he has to compete for the club is just incredible,” says Cattle. “He’s the backbone of the team.”
Elsewhere, experienced QS surfers Cooper Chapman, Jamie Thompson and Starling will be the team’s surfers in the open and women’s division, while young gun Corey Lawson will be the junior to cap off a strong North Narrabeen side.
Like a lot of clubs, the team could have been even stronger, with Dyl Moffatt, who cruelly missed out on a spot in this year’s top-tier CT by one place, currently over in Hawaii competing in events.
“We’re excited to compete and looking forward to it,” says Cattle. “Especially at Newcastle, it’s such a great amphitheatre on the beach. It’s like a colosseum there at Newy, and it’s just a sensational vibe.”
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