Patrician Brothers Fairfield principal Peter Wade praises coach Frank Pritchard after NRL Schoolboys title success (NRL Schoolboys season-long deal)

He was ‘knocking on heaven’s door’ earlier this year but Frank Pritchard is now the toast of Patrician Brothers Fairfield after leading them to a drought-breaking NRL Schoolboys title win.

Patrician Brothers, Fairfield principal Peter Wade is ‘over the moon’ after they reclaimed NRL Schoolboys Cup glory after a long drought.

And he placed much of the success on the shoulders of coach and former NRL star Frank Pritchard.

Pritchard, who played 256 NRL games with Penrith, Canterbury and Parramatta before retiring in 2017, took over as school coach in the Covid shortened 2021 season. Three wins from as many games showed they were on the right track.

His 2022 began with a much publicised battle with Covid where, in his own words, he was ‘knocking on heaven’s door for a while’.

Patties players celebrate their success with Frank Pritchard. Pic: Jonathan Ng

To recover and lead the school to their first title in three decades is the ultimate success story.

That it came down to the final two minutes to defeat Hills Sports High 20-16 at Leichhardt Oval on Wednesday only added to the intrigue.

Down by 16 points at one stage, Patties ralled magnificently to grab the win.

It was encouraging words from Pritchard that kept the boys’ fighting spirits alive.

“I said we’re here now and have nothing to lose. There’s no more next week,” he said.

“I just said to them we can stay in the fight, we just need to hang in there and let a few things go our way, and once the boys got that second and third try and we were behind by two points, it was anyone’s game.”

His motivating words saw Pats rise from the ashes, with a showstopping four tries to grab the victory.

This pinnacle moment is only the start of the school restarting its bright footy future.

“We’ve always played second fiddle to Westfields sports and the other sports schools in our area, so hopefully with what the boys have done now, it will kick start our football programme for the school,” said Pritchard.

Wade is still coming to grips with the reality of the accomplishment.

Pritchard built a big reputation in the NRL.

“I woke up this morning and was like, yes, that wasn’t a dream.”

“We are over the moon. It was thrilling and we are all still very excited here at school.”

Overflowed with pride and school spirit, Wade said once Pats beat Westfields in the semi-final he had already made the decision to get the whole school down to the final.

Around 700 boys were present at Leichhhardt Oval on Wednesday, with Wade having said they “really made a difference as they cheered our team home.”

He was also quick to praise the outstanding efforts of Pritchard and other coaching staff.

Patrician Brothers Fairfield are back in business after a long absence.

“Frank is such a calming influence with the boys. He’s not only a first grade footballer himself, but he’s gentlemanly and he has high expectations of the boys and I think he’s a bit of a Wayne Bennett in disguise because I think the boys play for him and play for the school.”

The boys are not only winners on the field, but off.

“I could just not be more proud of our demeanor and the way we played.”

“I think we played quite strong and physical, but also the end of the game, the boys extend their hands and pat the opposition on the back.”

“They play hard, but we are also helping them grow to be fine young men and be responsible people and respectful and we put that on show yesterday.”

Patties brought a big support crew along for the game.

“One of the people I am very, very proud of is young Yehya (Ayache), who was our captain, and named in the all-academic list of Schoolboys players.”

“We are particularly proud of that because we don’t want to be cast in any way that we are just a football school, we are very good but we also had outstanding HSE results last year.”

“I like to claim we are the leading boys school in western Sydney and that result will have helped us on that sporting front.”