50+ names: The best defenders of the Connell, Meninga, Harvey girls statewide competitions revealed
Who were the best defenders in the Meninga, Connell and Harvey girls competitions? Over 50 defensive brutes highlighted here. FULL LIST
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Who were the fiercest defenders raising eyebrows in the Connell, Meninga and Harvey under-19s girls competitions?
Following last week’s revelation of the most damaging ballrunners, we canvas each team’s best defenders who are stopping opposing players in their tracks.
Find out who they are below, and keep an eye out for Saturday’s coverage of round seven.
There are some mouth-watering clashes unfolding across the state, with the Seagulls and Bears butting horns at Piggabeen Sports Complex.
Tweed are undefeated, while Burleigh have lost just one game.
In the Connell Cup and Harvey under-19s, the Clydesdales will look to remain undefeated with games against the Falcons while Tweed and Burleigh is sure to be a close contest in the Harvey girls.
At Kougari Oval, games between Redcliffe and Wynnum manly are sure to deliver some highlights in all three age groups.
Jump to: Cyril Connell Cup | Mal Meninga Cup | Harvey Norman U17s | Harvey Norman U19s
CYRIL CONNELL CUP
Northern Pride
Ben Walkerand Jaxson Rayson
Walker, a hooker, and Rayson, a second rower, have been up for the challenge on defence each round and run the tank empty each time.
Sunshine Coast Falcons
Miller Thompson and Jackson Koina
Koina (lock) is extremely well known as one of the best in the competition but young Thompson (five eighth) also deserves some credit for his defensive skills and presence. He’s only a smaller lad but punches above his weight and brings plenty of energy in the middle to the field.
Norths Devils
Hayden Polson
The elite Norths second rower has been tireless on defence, helping Norths withstand a ton of pressure.
He has impressed coach Shane Boyd with his commitment to improving, especially with his first contact.
Wynnum Manly
Chaev Kolone
A brutal enforcer, this Logan City defensive ace is renowned for his tackling.
He hits hard and has been one of the club’s best over the last two seasons.
CQ Capras
Jake Oberhardt
Oberhardt, lock, is a player who gets more excited for the defensive sets than attacking the opponent’s tryline. He can be brutal with his initial contact and his effort is always first-class. What makes him such a great defender is his ability to control the ruck and make others work with him, meaning the Capras’ middle is so much tighter and controlled when he is on the field.
Tigers
Palehehau Latu
The Tigers edge forward puts his body on the line every time and is a tough, uncompromising player that helped limit Burleigh to three tries last weekend.
Ipswich Jets
Xzavier Timoteo
The Jets have plenty of defenders who can inflict pain on the ribs. Prop Timoteo is one of them and around him names like James Pau, Berakah Tuifaasisina, Dennis Papua and Tomasi Vaitai ring alarm bells across the competition with their defence.
Western Clydesdales
Shaun Elara
The Clydesdales breakout player of the year is a workhorse. With the ball he is damaging but on defence he is just as impressive.
Elara has taken his game up a notch this year, while maturing as a leader who leads his forward pack around the park.
Harry Robinson
Robinson has been a forward aggressor for the Clydesdales with a thirst for contact.
Burleigh Bears
Tupou Francis
Burleigh have a ton of enforces. From lock Tupou Francis and edge forward Kilarney Lavender to raw boned prop Marley Igasan.
Souths Logan
Fantastic Five
As was the case with the Burleigh side, it was near impossible to decipher.
Mace Andrew and Quentin Teuila have showed their dominance on defence this season. But so has Ronnic Starkey after missing the first couple of games. Who could forget Fa’apale Feaunati, the headgeared prop and captain of the team?
Then there was tireless hooker Jahrel Conlon-Stephan, the Mabel Park SHS student who is always cleaning up tackles.
Redcliffe
Amare Wynyard
Redcliffe’s defence has let in just 62 points this season, bested only by the Blackhawks, and hooker Wynyard has helped achieve this.
A Redcliffe SHS student, Wynyard throws his body at anything and works himself to a standstill each week.
Townsville Blackhawks
Cooper Cox
Dummyhalf Cooper Cox is well known by his peers for his ability to chop players far bigger than himself with an impeccable strike rate.
The tough as nails hooker is as reliable as they get and can be counted on to tirelessly defend for long stints.
Cooper Fletcher
Middle forward Cooper Fletcher is known by teammates as a workhorse of the squad, and he is someone that can always be trusted in the defensive line to get his body in the right position and stop the ball.
He plays a bit of rugby union as well as league and is a talented academic at Ignatius Park College.
MAL MENINGA CUP
Western Clydesdales
Bodhi Sharpley, Fletcher Prendergast
Prop Sharpley is a raw boned big man who is tremendously effective in matching it with the best big boppers in the competition.
He was a Queensland Country under-17s representative last year, while Prendergast has been one of the Clydesdales most consistent and hard working on the defensive end this season.
Brisbane Tigers
Diezel Brunker
Interchange forward Diezel Bunker has been Mr Reliable for coach Ben Weston. He is a player that adds a lot of energy off the bench and gets straight to into his work in the middle.
Norths Devils
Luke Adamson
Adamson, a winger, has impressed with his defence out wide which has helped Norths prevent tries all season long.
He has a good footy brain and he uses that to keep his inside men in check, while he holds down the fort on the wing.
He rarely makes a mistake on defence.
Redcliffe Dolphins
Lewis Symonds and Co
The Dolphins have players across the paddock who can be relied on when the going gets tough.
Fullback LJ Nonu showed against Tweed earlier in the season he is an AI defender, while centre Prestyn Laine-Sietu, prop Michael Waqa and second rowers Zac Garton and Patrick Kailahi were also hard-hitters. But their calling card was their ballrunning.
Despite there being immense competition from Baylen Donald and Larry Siala as well, there was something about No. 13 Lewis Symonds. On both sides of the ball he shows he is the full package. Last weekend against Norths was the prime example.
Central Queensland Capras
Simon Green
Middle forward Simon Green possesses a great tackle technique and is very aggressive.
Cooper Mackenzie
Edge forward Mackenzie is aggressive like Green, and is a well-versed tackler who has led the way for the Capras on defence.
Cooper Broadhurst
Broadhurst, a centre, has a deadly defensive game underpinned by physicality and a good technique.
Mackay Cutters
Levi Love
Middle forward brute Levi Love has an uncanny ability to win tackles with contact. He has a low centre of gravity which helps him get up and under players ribs.
Henry Thorpe
Another Cutters middle forward, Thorpe is a natural defender who is very good at what he does.
Harry Thorpe
The halfback plays similarly to his twin brother, also a good natural defender whose strength is winning the tackle.
Northern Pride
Lachlan Magill
Edge forward Magill has made his impact felt on the defensive end this season and is always near the action.
Sunshine Coast Falcons
Jai Bowden
Hooker Bowden defends in the middle and while only a little body, he defends way above his weight.
He has one of the hardest jobs on the field.
Townsville Blackhawks
Nelson Kennedy
Prop Kennedy rips in with relentless enthusiasm every game. He is a player that relishes contact and he has great defensive technique.
The type of player who loves to put on a big shot to rouse his teammates.
Ethan Rains
Rains, hooker, is a true competitor that refuses to take a backwards step when he enters the arena.
Despite usually being one of the smallest players on the field, Rains’ tackle count is always one of the biggest and the diminutive rake almost never misses a tackle.
Burleigh Bears
Klay Tencred
Burleigh’s squad is rife with blokes ready to throw their hand up and make big defensive plays, but pound-for-pound it is their hooker Klay Tencred who takes the crown.
Size does not faze the young rake, he gets in front of his man and meets them with force.
Souths Logan Magpies
Bailey Trew
The long-striding Broncos signee hasn’t let many through his grasp during this campaign.
He is a big boy, and uses that to his advantage deal with his opponents.
Tweed Seagulls
Junior Filimaua
The ever-consistent edge forward often tops the tackle count with this aggression and repeat efforts a trademark of his defensive game.
Wynnum Manly Seagulls
Harry Armstrong
The Seagulls skipper times his tackles to perfection and values ruck control.
A bloke who rarely misses, Armstrong is a hit man with good discipline.
HARVEY NORMAN U19S
Mackay Cutters
Miah Powell
A strong defender, outside back Powell made the move from Rockhampton ahead of this season, and has been a regular top performer for the Cutters.
Shaylee Hazeldine
The Cutters under-19s vice-captain is a tough player who flourishes in defence. The promising middle forward also lifts heavy in the gym, which plays into her defensive game.
Northern Pride
Lilly-Jay Licence
Middle forward Lilly-Jay Licence is a toiler on defence and not many break free from her tackles.
Tigers
Shaylee Joseph
The sister of Queensland State of Origin women’s forward, Jillaroo Keilee Joseph, prop Shaylee does the basics better than anyone in the competition. She has been practising her tackling since knee high to a grasshopper at Waterford West Demons, progressed through the elite Mabel Park SHS women’s program and now shines for the Tigers in all aspects of front row play.
Ipswich Jets
Pauline Too and Ariana Henderson
Utility back Too has the strength and physical presence to dominate in defence, while for sheer volume of tackles and effective tackles, second to none in the Jets squad is No. 13 Ariana Henderson. The Ipswich SHS product has a thirst for defence like no other.
Norths Devils
Easter Taualai and Jacinta Neemia
It is little wonder middle forward Jacinta Neemia can tackle - her older brother Damascus was one of the best in the business who played Queensland schoolboys from Wavell SHS.
Pound for pound at the club, No. 13 Taualai is strong and it shows with her effective defence.
Sunshine Coast Falcons
Takoda Thompson
No. 13 Takoda Thompson Thompson is the Falcons captain and just loves tackling. She’s everywhere on the field and always goes that extra mile for the players around her.
Townsville Blackhawks
Jahntae Mara
Middle Forward Mara is a ferocious hitter who challenges any player to run the ball at her –rarely coming off second best.
Mara has plenty of rugby league experience and is improving with each outing.
Hannah De Daunton
Backrower De Daunton is great on both sides of the ball and in 2023 she was a regular winner of the Blackhawks’ bellringer award for putting on the biggest shot of the week in Townsville’s games.
Redcliffe
Reegan Hicks
One of the premier props in the competition, Hicks has maintained the rage from round one through to now, the final round.
She is an effort player whose mere presence in the defensive line provokes ballrunners to find another path rather than attack her.
Wynnum Manly
Hayley Bush and Mariah Brown
Bush, a middle forward ace, has been as consistent as they come this year while utility back or playmaker Mariah Brown has been brave.
On that back of her strong campaign in the under-19s, Brown was promoted to play in the BMD side last weekend where she mixed it with the best.
The Highfields junior who loves contact didn’t look a bit out of place.
Tweed
Ava Swain and Phoenix Raine-Hippi
Tweed’s centre pairing of Swain and Raine-Hippi have been destructive on both sides of the ball this season.
In the forward pack Mia Dendle and Sian McNeill rarely miss a tackle and that is why Tweed are unbeaten.
HARVEY NORMAN U17S
Burleigh Bears
Genesis Tupa’i, Ata Te Hokowhitu-Wynne
These brilliant Bears showed in the three game under-17s season that they were defensive enforcers who love to get their hands dirty and do the grunt work required for a team to succeed,
Northern Pride
Adonina Solomon, Elishama Suavai and Chloe Mackenzie
The trio impressed in three games last month and will be back better than before next year as they progress into the under-19s age group.
Wynnum Manly
London Pukura and Temeka Barnes.
“Both girls always top the tackle count,’’ said coach Cameron Nygaard.
“Temeka is not afraid to get her body in front of much larger opposition to restrict their attack,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pukura was an efficient tackler who had the output of one and a half players.
Norths Devils
Paige Stagg, Lieseth and Leiseth Ware and Jara’Kyah Turpin
No one will fall off their chair with shock that Paige Stagg was an effective defender. After all her father, Broncos premiership winner David Stagg, an ex-Origin player, was a masterful defender on the edges. Pound for pound she gets the nod.
However, the defensive work rate of forward Ware is without peer in the squad, while prop Turpin can rattle the cages with hurting defence. In a squad which prides itself on defence, those three stand out.
CQ Capras
Macey Evans
RakeEvans is a real pocket rocket. She has so much to offer the game and is a very talented individual. She works extremely hard in defence, taking on back-to-back tackles.
Souths Logan
Angel Austin
A bayside product, outside back Austin stands out from the pack with her enthusiasm to complete an effective tackle. She uses her pace and shrewd judgement either in cover defence or spoiling a movement before it is in full swing.
Souths Logan
Amanii Misa and Sienna Trew
Trew honed her tackling skills during childhood footy skirmishes with her big brother, Broncos contracted outside back Bailey.
As for Amanii, it was footy skirmishes against sister Mamele.
Sunshine Coast Falcons
Sarah McGuire and Tilly Cason
McGuire (lock) is a force to be reckoned with in the defensive line and doesn’t shy away from the opposition’s key ball runners. Cason (five eighth) has caught plenty of players and fans off guard this season, spearing out of the line and making them pay.
Wide Bay Bulls
Baylie Hutton, Bella Barrett and Aleara Todd
This Bulls trio proved their worth in the middle of the park, stopping anyone that runs their way in the short season.
Townsville Blackhawks
Taylar Viero and Evoltia Tuala
A dynamic duo that are as solid as two boulders in defence. Two players who have plenty of size but also know how to use it on the field, especially when defending.
Their hits are hard and they’re not afraid of the contact.
Originally published as 50+ names: The best defenders of the Connell, Meninga, Harvey girls statewide competitions revealed
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