2025 NRL Schoolboys Cup final: Inside Patrician Brothers rise to 2012 national title

The untold story of how two snubbed teenagers turned their setback into Patrician Brothers' biggest achievement. Go INSIDE their 2012 national triumph with player of the final Bryce Cartwright.

A collective chip on the shoulder of two neighbouring future NRL stars was one the driving force behind Patrician Brothers Blacktown’s rise to the 2012 National Schoolboys Cup title.

Ahead of Patrician Brothers College’s shot at national glory against Keebra Park next week, we take a look back at the last time the school proved itself as the best in the nation.

The dominant 32-6 grand final win over rivals Endeavour Sports High 13 years ago, the school’s only national title win, featured several future NRL talents.

The Patrician Brothers side featured three Australian schoolboys representatives in front rower Pauli Pauli, back rower Chris Smith and winger Robert Jennings.

But it was a pair of future NRL talents who felt they had been snubbed by Australian schoolboys selectors which had a big hand in Patties rise to its first national title in 10 years.

Patrician Brothers College teammates Bryce Cartwright and Pauli Pauli in 2012 on the eve of the Under-18 State of Origin game.

Best friends Bryce Cartwright and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak had both been overlooked by Australian selectors in 2012, with the rejection igniting a fire under the future NRL stars.

“We were pretty pissed off that we didn’t make the Aussie schoolboys that year,” Cartwright said.

“It still burns me to this day that we didn’t get picked. It gave me and Dallin that drive, that people were thinking we weren’t good enough.

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is still playing in the NRL, part of the Warriors finals campaign in 2025.

Bryce Cartwright retired from the NRL this year after more than 10 seasons in the top grade.

“We were really close. We grew up across the road from each other and we caught the bus into school together. We built a great friendship through that period that still lasts to this day.”

There are few things scarier than a scorned rugby league young gun, and Cartwright proved exactly why as he tore apart a skilled Endeavour side – which featured a host of future NRL talent in Alex Johnston, Luciano Leilua, Paul Momorovski and Shaun Lane – on his way to man of the match honours in the final.

The success for the duo didn’t stop there, with both Cartwright and Watene-Zelezniak converting their Schoolboy Cup form into starts with the Panthers’ NYC side the following year. Both players finished the year in the 2013 Under-20s team of the year.

But it was the split second after the final siren in the National Schoolboys Cup final that remains vivid in the mind of Cartwright.

“I don’t remember a lot of the lead up to it, but I won’t ever forget the day of the game,” he said.

“It was on a Sunday, it was Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, one of them, and half our school was there in the stands. I just remember that feeling of everyone storming the field after the game.

Bryce Cartwright led the Panthers to a Harold Matthews Cup win over rivals Parramatta in 2011.

“I have won a lot of grand finals in my junior footy and was lucky enough to win an Under-20s grand final at Penrith, but honestly that school one was the most important of the lot. You spend so much time with those boys at school, they are your best friends.

“We didn’t really care about anything other than winning that title. Noone cared about SG Ball or Under-20s, we only cared about the school side.

“You had the whole school on your back in those games. Every game we won, we were like kings walking around the school grounds. It meant everything to us.”

Originally published as 2025 NRL Schoolboys Cup final: Inside Patrician Brothers rise to 2012 national title