Live stream: St Brendan’s take Broncos learnings into Dolphins Cup clash with Shalom College

St Brendan’s College have made an emphatic start to their Dolphins Cup campaign, with the school’s blockbuster middles going to work on Shalom. Watch the Dolphins Cup REPLAYS.

A brilliant double to bulldozing front rower Carter Ford put the finishing touches on an emphatic return to the Dolphins Cup for St Brendan’s College, Yeppoon.

Despite missing representative duo and key leadership players Simon Green and Tyler Melrose, the reigning Confraternity Cup champions barely put a foot out of step in their return to the field.

Ford’s second effort, a barnstorming solo effort from 20 metres out, put the exclamation mark on the 38-4 win over Bundaberg’s Shalom College.

WATCH THE DOLPHINS CUP REPLAY ABOVE, SCROLL DOWN FOR THE DOLPHINS CHALLENGE REPLAY

Capricornia dummy-half Braelen Marsh pulled on the captain’s armband in the absence of Green, and it took the young playmaker to another level.

He scored a try of his own after turning defence into attack while setting up two others including the first of Otto’s efforts.

Marsh’s service from dummy-half was crisp, but it was not as if the side lost anything when he went off the field, with back-up hooker Johnathon Coyne providing plenty of zip off the bench.

Representative middles Jake Oberhardt and Tyson Otto showed little signs of fatigue despite a big week at the state chanmpionships, while young understudy Jorden Sypher showed he has the talent to back-up Melrose at halfback for the rest of the Dolphins Cup season.

Shalom showed signs of life midway through the second half, muscling up in their defence and coming off the back fence with their carries.

It resulted in their only four pointer of the game coming from winger Lachlan Campbell.

But it was a case of too little, too late for the visitors who had been well and truly beaten through the middle of the field.

St Brendan’s College v Shalom College (Challenge)

The Dolphins Cup win capped off a big afternoon for St Brendan’s College, who earlier proved too strong in a 30-point shutout of Shalom in the Dolphins Challenge (Year 10) clash.

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PREVIEW

An opportunity to pick the brain of Broncos coach Kevin Walters in the off-season has primed St Brendan’s, Yeppoon coach Scott Minto for a charge at Dolphins Cup redemption.

Minto spent a week at Red Hill watching the Broncos mentor in action, and has returned to the NRL Schoolboys Cup refreshed and full of ideas.

St Brendan’s College, who were bundled out of the Dolphins Cup semi-finals last season by The Cathedral College, will open their 2024 campaign against Bundaberg’s Shalom College on Tuesday.

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St Brendan's fell agonisingly short in 2023.

While the pain of their last-second loss in the semi-finals still lingers for the squad, the Yeppoon powerhouse has brought a reinvigorated approach to their preparation this year.

St Brendan’s head of rugby league Luke Caplick said Minto was at the heart of that resurgence as he aims to take the squad to another level.

“He was an athlete who performed at the highest level, you see that competitiveness come through in his coaching,” Caplick said.

“He wants to be the best he can be, he is constantly looking for ways to improve.

“He spent a week working with Kevvie and they gave him a good insight into coaching at that top level and he has come back with some new ideas. Just in our training structures and the way we are a bit more purposeful with what we do.

“When Scott plans a session, it is done to a tee. He is conscious of the finer details of things.”

CQ Capras' young gun Tyler Melrose will play halfback for St Brendan’s.

Caplick said it was a meticulous approach that has rubbed off on the athletes in the side, which was evident with six of the College’s top players included in the Capricornia side which finished fourth at last week’s QSSRL State Championships.

Several of those representative stars, which included captain Simon Green, hooker Braelen Marsh and halfback Tyler Melrose, are understood to be racing the clock to prove their fitness for the Round 1 showdown.

Caplick said he expected a tough battle against a Shalom side which had its own fair share of players at the State Championships with the Wide Bay side.

Originally published as Live stream: St Brendan’s take Broncos learnings into Dolphins Cup clash with Shalom College