FULL RESULTS: Queensland’s best grassroots athlete revealed
News Corp compiled a list of Queensland’s premier grassroots athletes as to discover the absolute best in the Sunshine State. SEE THE FULL RESULTS >>>
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The search for Queensland’s premier grassroots athlete is over, with one of the youngest and most exciting all-round athletes crowned the Sunshine State’s best.
Semi-professional, professional and elite athletes - those you’d expect to see at the Olympics or in your favourite national competition - were not considered.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE FULL RESULTS
Instead, we found - and you voted for, in droves - 43 of the best local athletes you might see in action at a local field, pitch, pool or gym.
THE TOP 5
Ava Usher (Gold Coast) 29%
THERE’S overachievers and then there’s Ava Usher.
The Gold Coast teenager who years ago confided in her journal a dream to one day compete in the Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series, and who has since added AFLW, college basketball and even the Olympics to her lofty list of goals.
And yet anyone who knows the multi-talented 14 year old says she is more than capable of reaching those heady heights – and News Corp subscribers agree.
Tyler Shaw (Townsville) - 14%
Poppy Boltz (Cairns) - 8%
Ike Martinez (Cairns) - 8%
Will Valentine (Brisbane) - 5%
BRISBANE METRO
Cameron Bukowski - 2%
Bukowski is a multisport pin-up boy who excels in cricket, rugby union and rugby league.
He played back-to-back seasons in the Villanova College First XI side - helping Villanova to 2021 premiership success - and also in the Villa First XV as a No. 10 or inside centre.
An outstanding Easts Tigers under 16 and under 18 dummy half, Bukowski has been signed by the Brisbane Broncos as a junior academy player.
Will Valentine - 5%
Valentine is generally regarded as Queensland’s best water polo youth prospect who would have represented Australia at junior level had COVID-19 not shut down the world.
But Valentine is also an outstanding rugby player who, as a mobile lock, played First XV rugby for the Marist College Ashgrove, a rugby union powerhouse.
Noah McFadyen - 1%
McFadyen is a natural Australian rules football but he may turn out to be a better cricketer.
In 2019 he made the NAB AFL under 16 All-Australian side as a clean marking, medium forward which was a magnificent honour given the quality of candidate.
But will he be an even better cricketer?
McFadyen, who was playing first grade with Northern Suburbs while still in year 11, is a right arm swing bowler and left handed middle order batsman who looks the real deal.
Gus Godwin - 0%
Another freakishly talented athlete from Villanova College who made the Queensland No. 1 schoolboy rugby union side - just months after helping Villa claim the AIC First XI cricket premiership.
With his dancing feet he can play fullback or flyhalf with ease and has been identified by the QRU as a white hot seven-a-side player.
Rialay Baty - 0%
The Marsden SHS school leaver was once a powerhouse on the weightlifting circuit and in seven-a-side rugby, but now seems to have a future in rugby league.
Baty is a past national bronze medallist in weightlifting who earlier this year was named in the Queensland rugby youth girls seven-a-side squad.
But after starring for Marsden SHS as a centre in the Titans Cup, Baty has also been invited to train in the Gold Coast Titans 19 years academy.
BUNDABERG
TAYLA ZIELKE - 0%
Hailing from one of Bundaberg’s most successful sporting families, it’s no surprise soccer sensation Zielke had a stellar soccer season for Across the Waves.
The team’s leading scorer kicked 17 goals, helping land ATW in the preliminary finals for the Wide Bay Women’s Premier League.
Tayla was third on the leading goal scorers for the Wide Bay League, and the highest goalscorer from a Bundaberg side.
MAT GRILLS - 0%
Grills aka ‘The Tattoo Runner’ has been running marathons for more than a decade. The former police officer and ultra endurance athlete took on 50 marathons in 50 days up until November this year to train his body for his next big event. One of his most notable running includes taking out first place at the Buffalo Stampede Grand Slam in 2015, running three races in three days, 32.5km, 75km and 42k.
JARROD LAYCOCK - 0%
Bundaberg cricketer and Brothers stalwart Laycock continues to outdo himself in career-best moments.
This season, the big-hitter smashed a career-making 160 including 18 fours and seven sixes in a Rum City Foods Intra Cup clash with Hervey Bay - from just 102 balls.
As a result, the 36-year-old received the Tallon Medal for the Intra Cup Best and Fairest at the Bundaberg Cricket Association 2020-21 Senior Awards Night and was named Brother’s Senior Sportsperson of the Year for 2021.
TRENT SEEDS - 0%
Bundaberg Rugby League talent Seeds is no stranger to Salter Oval.
The East Magpies centre has spent the last few years building his craft, and is one of Bundy’s finest rugby league players.
The 24-year-old was the leading tryscorer for this year’s Bundaberg Rugby League A Grade competition with 17 tries across the season, and the elite finisher is generally near the top of that tally every season.
NYKODAH SMITH - 0%
After a stint with Brazilian club, Botafogo FC, Nykodah Smith returned home to Bundaberg this season to put his professional training to use on the field for Across The Waves.
Smith scored a total of 50 goals across the season to help steer ATW into the grand final, and found the scoresheet again as his club lifted the championship.
CAIRNS
Ike Martinez - 8%
The next butterfly king could be on his way from Cairns.
Martinez is arguably the top swimming prospect coming out of the Far North, and announced his arrival at the Australian swimming trials in Adelaide this year when he finished 10th overall - against men - in the 100m butterfly, just 0.7 seconds outside Ian Thorpe’s longstanding national record (in the age group).
Trained by former Olympian Duncan Todd, Martinez swept to five national gold medals at U14 this year, and is in the fast lane to the top.
Annabelle Hutchings - 1%
Hutchings may be Far North Queensland’s best golfer.
She won her fourth straight City of Cairns title this year (by 11 strokes), was this year crowned the FNQ Champion of Champions, is a Cairns Open champion, and is near-unbeatable in her home region.
She may progress to professional status in future, but for now she remains one of the gun amateur golfers in regional Queensland.
Jake Roach - 2%
The man can do it all with a Sherrin, bat or ball.
In the summer, he is the best cricket in Far North Queensland by the length of the Bruce Hwy. Whether it’s his unmatched power to send the ball over the fence, or the pace and control to send the rock into the base of the stumps, Roach can do it all.
In December, he was the joint winner of our search for Queensland’s best first grade batsman.
In winter, he is one of the leading ruckmen in the AFL Cairns competition for the South Cairns Cutters, and in 2019 was recognised for his efforts with the prestigious Crathern Medal for AFL Cairns’ Best and Fairest.
Jacob Wallace - 0%
The Cameron Smith of the Cairns District Rugby League in 2021, as the tough hooker orchestrating Ivanhoes’ sensational run to the post-season.
Wallace has long been one of the premier players in the CDRL, his strong defence, outstanding service from dummy-half and elite vision making him a highly sought-after commodity on the footy field.
He was a runaway winner of the CDRL’s Gold Medal this year, and came in at No. 1 in the CDRL’s Top 100 after a campaign in which he dominated on both sides of the ball.
Poppy Boltz - 8%
Boltz swept every major AFL Cairns Women’s award, claiming both the coaches MVP and Jo Butland Medal for best and fairest in a landslide vote to cement her place as FNQ’s best footy player.
Boltz was part of the undefeated juggernaut Cairns Saints, who won a second-straight premiership, and she was a major cog in a which was rarely troubled in 2021.
The sky is the limit for Boltz, who ventured to the Gold Coast for a run with Bond University in the QAFLW earlier this year, and is keen on playing footy at a higher level - as soon as she gets the chance.
GOLD COAST
Ava Usher - 29%, winner
What sport isn’t Usher good at? Be it basketball, Aussie rules or surf lifesaving, the perennial award winner continued her stellar sporting success in 2021.
Usher won a flag with the Burleigh Bombers AFC, a state championships bronze medal with the Gold Coast Waves basketball, and is considered the future of surf life saving.
Still just 14, Usher’s rising star shows no sign of slowing down.
Jordan Moncrieff - 1%
Is there a better nickname than ‘The Mayor’? We’ll wait.
Moncrieff played a pivotal role in Broadbeach breaking its 25-year senior premiership drought, with the key forward taking out the leading goalkicker and best & fairest honours for the QAFL.
A towering presence in the Cats’ forward line, Moncrieff put the team on his back on multiple occasions and it was his clutch goals in the third term that broke the back of Maroochydore’s grand final resistance.
A much-loved figure at the Cattery and deserving of every accolade he’s shown.
Bruno Rodriguez - 1%
In an era where players change clubs almost like they do underwear, the Surfers Paradise Apollo captain’s incredible continuity with the one club stands out. Rodriguez will return for his 10th season at Apollo in 2022 and what a career he’s had in the blue and white. He scored 22 goals from midfield in Apollo’s run to the Gold Coast Premier League premiership, culminating in a Golden Boot honour and Tony Cecco Medal as the league’s best and fairest player. Rodriguez will captain Surfers for a seventh consecutive season in 2022, having led the club to FQPL2 promotion just last month.
Trent Keep - 1%
The former Tasmanian first grader enjoyed one of the greatest debut seasons in recent Gold Coast Cricket history.
Having defied doctors’ orders to give the game away for good out of concussion fear, Keep made his triumphant return to cricket with Broadbeach Robina, scoring 609 runs at 67.67 to sit second on the runs aggregate for season 2020/21.
He finished three runs behind eventual winner Nathan Reardon in three less innings.
Lesi Semi - 1%
The former Fijian Under-20s rugby union battering ram was the consensus selection for competition MVP in the Gold Coast District Rugby Union competition.
Semi carved a figure like Taniela Tupou in local rugby, propping up the competition’s best set piece while earning a reputation as one of the Gold Coast’s most difficult players to bring down one-on-one, with a knack for scoring tries from distances.
Did we mention he played prop?
IPSWICH
Charlize Goody - 0%
She may be a swimming age champion at Ipswich Girls Grammar School, but you should see Charlize Goody go on the athletics track.
Goody, 16, is a thrilling heptathlete talent who claimed the Australian under-16 national title.
The 2021 Ipswich and District Athletic Club “Achiever of the Year’’, Goody displayed her commitment winning gold medals at four major state or national competitions in the last 18 months, culminating in her success at the Australian individual titles in Melbourne when she was crowned heptathlon champion in her age group.
Charlotte Hegvold - 1%
The 18-year-old basketball player is a young star of that sport, but Hegvold is the type of talent who could have excelled at a number of sports.
While the former St Peter Claver College captain has a long list of basketball achievements, she also made a name for herself in rugby league where she was a Met West matchwinner.
Indeed earlier in her school life she was the first girl to represent Met West in three different sports at a state championship - cricket, rugby league and basketball. She is currently training, studying and playing for Weber State University in the NCAA Women’s Division 1 basketball season.
Toby Stolberg - 1%
Stolberg was another brilliant heptathlon prospect who this year claimed a career first silver medal at this year’s Queensland Combined Events Championships.
The Ipswich and District Athletic Club competitor impressed in the seven-event under-15 program with a personal best total of 3668 points - securing PBs in the 200m, shot put and 800m, while winning the under-16 high jump.
But the St Peters Lutheran Springfield College student is also an outstanding basketballer and netballer.
In basketball she captained the Brisbane Capitals under-16 side that came third at the state titles and made the 13-15 Met West School Girls basketball team.
As a netball shooter or goal attack, she was also an under 16 Brisbane West Indoor Netball Super League team member.
MACKAY
Alec Townsend - 0%
Unquestionably Mackay’s top Australian rules footballer, Townsend enjoyed another strong season in 2021.
The ball-winning midfielder was named Mackay’s league best and fairest at the end of the year.
Townsend was instrumental in the North Mackay Saints premiership-winning season, with his side winning in the grand final by one point.
Luke Pietzner - 1%
Pietzner is a multi-sport prodigy who has dominated across rugby league and cricket in 2021.
The fullback was named in Sarina Crocs’ premiership-winning side at just 17 years old, before moving onto dominating with the bat and ball in hand.
Pietzner opens the bowling for the Mackay Magpies and is the leading wicket-taker in the league, while also averaging 51.33 with the bat across the 40-over competition.
He has also played in multiple representative sides, scoring 74 for Mackay-Whitsunday at the weekend as well as 102 not out for North Queensland in the U18s.
Jacob Pace-Ruggeri - 0%
The 24-year-old striker found a home in the attacking half for the Mackay Lions in 2021, with Pace-Ruggeri scoring 26 goals across 20 matches. Pace-Ruggeri found himself playing deeper in previous seasons, but a move to a striker role in 2021 gave him plenty of opportunities to find the back of the net.
Brenda Windsor - 1%
The Sarina grandmother is one of Mackay’s most recognisable road runners, often seen pounding the pavement with Mackay’s road running group.
Windsor ran seven marathons in seven days to raise money for Bravehearts Mackay, and constantly competes at a high level in the region’s distance events.
Alana Gee - 2%
Alana is Mackay’s next big footballing talent, with the teenager dominating the women’s AFL competition in Mackay.
The goal-kicking midfielder for the North Mackay Saints was rated the league’s best player for three consecutive seasons in 2021.
Gee is a member of the Gold Coast Suns academy, and will likely pull on the red and gold jersey in the AFLW one day.
SUNSHINE COAST
Mitchell Scholard - 0%
Scholard’s AFL ceiling seems to get bigger and bigger every season.
With the Maroochydore Roos key forward kicking 100 goals in the 2018 Sunshine Coast division one season, his efforts this year were just as strong.
In what was just his team’s second year in the QAFL competition, Scholard led his sixth placed Roos all the way to the grand final, while also finishing the year as the competition’s leading goalscorer with 62.
Averaging a handy 2.82 goals per game it’s understandable why Scholard has made this list.
Millie Murray - 2%
The youngster from Mooloolaba State School has been touted as one to watch over the coming years as her efforts in back-to-back AFLQ Schools Cup tournaments have been unmatched.
After leading her team to consecutive titles in the primary female division, Murray also took home the best on ground award for the second year in a row.
The crafty midfielder has been vital for her team’s success over the years proving why she is a player to keep an eye on for years to come.
Luke Alderson - 0%
The Woombye Snakes and Sunshine Coast footballing legend continued his goalscoring ways this year netting his 300th goal in the men’s premier competition.
What’s even more remarkable is that Alderson’s incredible tally does not include finals matches or FFA Cup games.
The 31-year-old, nicknamed the Seagull, said his overall hunger for goals and his game day routine of brushing his teeth before he left the house were the secrets to his success.
Glen Batticciotto - 0%
Highly regarded and respected as the Sunshine Coast’s best batsman, the former Queensland Bulls player has let his performances do the talking over the past six years for the Caboolture Cricket Club.
The crafty left handed batsman, is yet to finish a season outside of the top three total run scorers with a current gameday average of 60.74.
Batticciotto’s work at the top of the order is unmatched holding a duffle bag full of crafty shot selections.
Finn Prass - 3%
Sunshine Coast Grammar student Finn Prass has stamped his foot on the rugby union scene in the past few years.
With high level representative achievements for his region and for Queensland, his most recent selection was in the under 18 Australian A merit side, despite being a year younger than the majority of his teammates.
The flashy number 10 has proven he has what it takes at the next level and is hoping to follow in the footsteps of former Grammar student now Wallabies halfback, Tate McDermott.
TOOWOOMBA
Tori Gellagos - 1%
Pound-for-pound, Gellagos is building a reputation as one of Toowoomba’s strongest young athletes.
Gellagos has been a regular at youth nationals, winning gold medals on her journey, and holds PBs of 106kg (clean and jerk) and 86kg (snatch) at a competing weight of 58.5kg.
Sienna Deurloo - 0%
A rising swimmer set to shine this weekend at the state swimming championships. The Toowoomba Grammar Swim Club representative already boasts a national bronze medal to her name in the pool, and has claimed gold in the open water over the gruelling 5km journey. On the radar for Brisbane 2032.
Madison Lockwood - 1%
An excitement machine for the Rockville Rovers in the Toowoomba Football League, Lockwood’s prowess in front of goal has to be seen to be believed.
She scored an incredible 59 goals in her 17 games played this season, with three hauls of seven goals and a mammoth 10 goals in one game.
Ava Black - 2%
Toowoomba’s rising star in the netball ranks, Black has enjoyed a whirlwind of a season that has finished on an amazing note.
Black signed on as a training partner with the Sunshine Coast for the next Super Netball season, and is in the Australian U19s squad.
TOWNSVILLE
Logan Roncato - 4%
She has only just turned 16, and yet already Roncato has decisions to make. Not that she is making them any time soon.
A typical weekend for the Burdekin product is a tireless one. On Friday night’s she lines up for the MA Olympic premier league outfit in their defensive line, her blinding speed down the wing a trademark factor in their side’s charge to a grand final triumph and the Crad Evans Shield. Come Saturday morning she is busy preparing for a rugby league clash with the Burdekin Roosters, before rounding off the afternoon by guiding the Charters Towers rugby union side to victory. On one particular day, she scored nine tries between her appearances in the two rugby codes. Roncato’s sporting journey is one which started as a dancer, and now the sky is the limit for the teenage whiz.
Bailey McKenna - 1%
While McKenna started his days on the field as a talented rugby league player, shifted across the field such was his diversity, it has been his transition to the wheelchair version of the game which cemented him as a star. McKenna became involved in the sport after his father lost a leg in a train accident, simply to have an excuse to play alongside him. Now his efforts have taken him to the biggest stage of the game, playing State of Origin for Queensland and also for Australia, with a World Cup berth in 2022 is for the taking.
Lawsen Ford - 2%
He has not even played the sport for two years, but Ford is already in the sights of the Gold Coast Suns.
The teenager from Hughenden moved to Charters Towers for boarding school, and took part in a carnival day purely to get a day off school. Instantly, for both his 2m frame and clean hands close to and above the ground, he was identified by AFL scouts and has now made his move to the Gold Coast to take part in the Suns’ under-19s development squad.
Tyler Shaw - 14%
She has only just graduated high school, but already Shaw is in line for a professional boxing debut.
The 17-year-old started out as a rugby league player, and has continued to guide her Southern Cross Catholic College teammates around the park at dummy half. But it is in the ring with the gloves on where Shaw truly shines, standing as the Australian lightweight champion in her age division. Now Shaw is determined to make a career out of boxing, and the dedicated athlete has the smarts and skills at her disposal to become a world sensation.
Matthew Evans - 3%
At just 16, Evans has featured in both Australian basketball national elite performance programs and the Gold Coast Suns development academies.
Already he has a senior men’s AFL flag to his name, having been crucial in Hermit Park’s return to the top of the Townsville podium.
His willingness to improve has stood out; with the basketball in hand he has development a lethal three-point shot and he moves faster than any big man in the nation of his age division.
Which sport he chooses is still a mystery, but whatever he selects he has a bright future ahead.
Le Roy Vorster - 1%
He has just set the record for Australia’s heaviest bench press. And the scary part is, that has only scratched the surface of what he is capable of.
Vorster lifted a massive 367.5kg in the 125kg division at the Mental Militia Hell’s gate competition, and has claimed he has completed far heavier lifts while training. He refuses to reveal what those numbers are however - that is a secret he will pocket for when the time is right.
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Originally published as FULL RESULTS: Queensland’s best grassroots athlete revealed
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