‘I’d really like to meet Kurtley Beale’: Indigenous roots inspiring Schoolboy star

Marist College Ashgrove fullback Floyd Aubrey is one of those kids who can sidestep three times in a shower without getting wet — and his ambitions mirror Wallaby star Kurtley Beale’s.

Floyd Aubrey with Queensland’s indigenous jersey. Picture: AAP

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From fullback, Floyd Aubrey never sees 15 defenders in front of him just wide open spaces and holes to exploit with a blur of rapid sidesteps or a tricky offload.

That’s the beauty of youthful talent — you only spy chances and what you can do, not what might shut you down.

The 16-year-old Aboriginal dasher from Cherbourg wears the No.15 jersey for Marist College Ashgrove and he is what the Queensland Reds’ Indigenous Round is all about.

You can’t have a future in rugby that harnesses the prodigious talent of the next Mark Ella or Kurtley Beale if you don’t sprinkle the inspiration far and wide for this just-teen generation.

Floyd Aubrey with Queensland’s indigenous jersey. Picture: AAP

Aubrey is one of those kids who can sidestep three times in a shower without getting wet.

You won’t see a better match-up at fullback in schoolboy rugby anywhere this season than when Aubrey and Marist meet Hamish Muir and Villanova College on Saturday.

Both schools are on hot 4-0 starts to the AIC rugby season and Muir’s high-speed swerving for six tries potentially makes this the exciting premiership decider at Villanova Park.

It all looks so natural when Aubrey decides to run back a kick or bobs up anywhere to ignite one of the 35 tries scored by Marist.

“I love fullback … there’s so much opportunity because all I see is space and gaps where you can either step or offload,” the quietly-spoken Aubrey said.

It’s also why he feels like a kindred spirit when he’s watching Roger Tuivasa-Sheck as a sidestepping whiz for the Warriors in the NRL.

Kurtley Beale (C) in the Wallabies first indigenous jersey poses alongside Mahalia Murphy and Harrison Goddard. Picture: Getty

The Year 11 boarder is also a fan of Origin ace Kalyn Ponga.

“Tuivasa-Sheck and Kalyn Ponga can do everything … step, pass and they’ve got speed,”

“But, I’d really like to meet Kurtley Beale.”

Beale’s prominence in the superb indigenous jersey created for the Wallabies in 2017 had cut-through with the kids just as Saturday night’s Reds jersey, for the game at Suncorp Stadium, connects with Aubrey.

“Cookie” Aubrey is the same age and from the same Wakka Wakka people as Murgon State High student Ayana Murray, who designed the Reds’ indigenous jersey.

She has graduated from the Reds’ award-winning Future Indigenous Leaders Program.

“Only 16 … it’s great she’s so good as an artist so young,” Aubrey said.

An 11-year-old Floyd Aubrey in Cherbourg. Picture: Darren England

We’ve met Aubrey before.

When The Courier-Mail visited Cherbourg in 2014, he was an 11-year-old kid being shown around Cherbourg’s sporting museum.

He was told the spirits of Cherbourg’s great sportsmen are alongside him when he represents the town.

They are footballers, boxers, runners and one-off cricketers like famous fast bowler Eddie Gilbert, who once knocked the bat from the hands of Don Bradman at the Gabba.

“I want to do something with my footy, keep it going for sure, and do my work at school,” Aubrey said.

Whether it’s Beale or Tuivasa-Sheck that he follows is still to play out but he’s relishing the skill improvements in the Reds’ junior academy.

“I couldn’t pass well to my left. Now I can and I’m getting coached in all the basics,” Aubrey said.

Floyd Aubrey puts an opponent on skates. Picture: AAP

Rugby union was slow out of the blocks in fostering indigenous talent.

Now, Mahalia Murphy and Maurice Longbottom are excelling with the Wallaroos and the Aussie Sevens teams.

Rugby Australia has initiated a terrific new program.

Members of Rugby Australia’s High-Performance team have been in Queensland over the past week on a talent identification tour to unearth indigenous talent.

The visits to the Gold Coast, Logan, Ipswich, Caboolture, Hervey Bay, Cherbourg, Toowoomba, Dalby, Roma, St George and Goondiwindi have all fed ideas on 130 players for a four-day camp in Sydney later this year.

AIC RUGBY ROUND 4 RESULTS

Villanova 52 (H Muir 2, M Boxall 2, G Stokes, R Agnew, O Donoghue, E Raymond tries, Stokes 6 con) bt St Peters 19 (C Gadd-Weazel 2, J Radel tries; M Hill 2 con).

St Patrick’s 11 (T Ryan try; C O’Regan 2 pen) bt Iona 7 (Penalty try).

Padua 19 (L McKenzie 2, P Manu tries; D Ryan 2 con) d St Laurence’s 15 (A Sawtell, Z Tuite tries; H Farimbella con, pen).

Marist College Ashgrove 79 (H Dreghorn 4, C Moller 3, J Radford 2, N Baker, R Brown, D Ludwick, M Mitchell tries; L McDonald 7 con) bt St Edmund’s 0.

ROUND 5

Villanova v Marist Ashgrove; St Edmund’s v St Peters; Iona v St Laurence’s; St Pats v Padua

Originally published as ‘I’d really like to meet Kurtley Beale’: Indigenous roots inspiring Schoolboy star