Need for speed: Who were the fastest Colts 1 club rugby players?

Need for speed: Who were the fastest players in the Colts 1 club rugby competition? More than 20 speed demons highlighted here.

The Colts 1 club rugby competition was hotting up as Queensland Premier Rugby clubs approach the midway point of the season.

Souths, Wests, Brothers and University made up the top four, with GPS in fifth.

Bond University, Norths, Easts and Sunnybank were very capable of a late season tilt towards the finals.

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In round nine, GPS host Brothers, Wests take on Souths, Bond University welcomes University down the coast and Easts travel to Hugh Courtney Oval to take on Norths.

Ahead of four bumper games on Saturday, we unearth the Colts 1 speed demons scorching in season 2024.

They are the players with serious wheels, capable of breaking a match open with their pace.

COLTS 1

Denzil Perkins (Souths)

Denzil Perkins. Picture: Tom Primmer/QRU.

The track whiz out of Ipswich Grammar has a turn of speed sure to do damage at Hospital Cup level.

A Colts 1 and first grade player at the club, Perkins is as quick as they come and is at his best in full flight.

Te Ohorei Totorewa (Souths)

Headgear wearing winger Totorewa has pace. It is no secret.

Earlier in the season he ran 70m to track down a booming kick from Dre-dyn Laban to score.

He isn’t just fast though. His footwork is deadly and he often evades the first defender if he has just a bit of time.

Xavier Rubens (Souths)

Boom outside centre Xavier Rubens, the Australian Under-20s select, is a player who gets quicker and quicker the more he winds up.

For years at BBC Rubens burst onto the ball, broke the line and went the distance with a turn of speed none could track down.

He still has that pace.

Ieuan Cornelius (Bond University)

The Bullsharks have a quicksilver winger in Cornelius, the Hospital Cup and Colts 1 finisher who scores tries for breakfast.

The Helensvale Hogs junior has finesse too, hence his selection in first grade most weekends.

Rocco Gollings and Blake Raymond (Bond University)

Twelve months ago it would have been Gollings crossing the line first, but Cornelius may have his measure at this point in time.

Currently injured but not far off a return, Nudgee old boy Gollings has quick footwork and immense off the mark speed.

His centre Raymond doesn’t have as much raw speed, but is deceptively quick with the ability to change directions in an instant.

Samuela Tuisau (University)

Samuela Tuisau. Colts 1 club rugby action between UQ and GPS. Saturday, April 20, 2024.

Over a short distance, Tuisau is electric.

He is the one always chasing Isaac McAuliffe’s kicks and is often the first to make contact off a kick off.

Has speed to burn on the wing, as well as a lethal right to left step.

Daniel Malum (Sunnybank)

The headgear wearing winger from Sunnybank has impressed every opposition this season.

He is busy on defence, has razor sharp reflexes and is always looming if there is an errant pass.

Fati Fala (Sunnybank)

Waitakere Rugby Club junior and Kelston Boys’ High School (Auckland) old boy winger Fati Fala has a need for speed.

He has been well maintained by opposition defences so far this season but with capable playmakers like Brody McLaren, Netani Lesimaikimatuku and Nico Buckley nearby, it might be a different story in the second half of the season.

Sam Dickie (Norths)

Norths Eagles speedster might as well be an eagle because when he runs he deploys an invisible set of wings that propels him past defenders.

Arguably the most pacy in the competition, Dickie does not shirk the contact which makes him a real wildcard talent.

Mac Kelley (Easts)

Mac Kelley. Colts 1 club rugby action between Easts and GPS. Saturday April 6, 2024.

The lightweight Tigers winger looks like he is gliding whenever he runs.

From sideline to sideline, Kelley gathers pace as he goes which makes him a trusted wing finisher as well as a reliable last line defender.

Jodeci Letalu (Easts)

Jodeci Letalu. Colts 1 club rugby action between Easts and Wests on Saturday May 25, 2024.

Early in games, fullback Letalu has off the mark acceleration which has and will catch defenders off guard.

His pink boots and pink headgear add to the excitement as does his precise goal kicking.

Tate Connors (Brothers)

Connors played a bit of Firsts and Seconds last year at Terrace and is no doubt giving Brothers coach Greg Beaver a selection headache.

The son of a gun - his dad Mark was a champion Reds player - he is an electric outside back who can make things happen with sheer speed.

Seth To’o (Brothers)

A new face at Brothers, winger To’o is a league convert looking to ruffle feathers in the sunshine state after coming up from New South Wales.

With muscle as armour, To’o is a fast wing weapon who highlights Brothers’ pool of elite outside back talent.

Paddy Dallimore (Brothers)

The only forward mentioned in this story, headgear wearing breakaway Paddy Dallimore has wheels.

After missing last season through injury (shoulder), fast flanker Dallimore has cemented himself as arguably the competition’s best No.7.

Jackson Munn (GPS)

Jackson Munn. Colts 1 club rugby action between Wests and GPS at GPS on Saturday, May 11, 2024.

There is competition in Taito Tuqiri, Pate Raicebe and over a longer distance Jude Knapp, but Munn takes the cake.

A Downlands boy who finished up at Marist College Ashgrove, sleek mover Munn has staved off fierce internal competition for the wing position in GPS’ Colts 1 team.

His uncle Michael Atkinson (Stan Sport) is the voice of rugby in Queensland.

Jude Knapp and Joe Doljanin (GPS)

As mentioned above, Knapp is fast over a longer distance.

He has a cross country background, having been a part of Marist Ashgrove’s elite cross country side, and he could run in the seventh gear for quite some time.

Outside centre Doljanin, a third year Colt still improving, has a turn of pace crashing through the line which has seen him bust tackles and set up tries consistently this season.

Carter Liddiard (Wests)

Carter Liddiard. Colts 1 club rugby action between Easts and Wests on Saturday May 25, 2024.

Wests scrumhalves Jamie Alexander and James Martens are lightning, but equally quick is wing specimen Liddiard, a Toowoomba Grammar old boy.

Liddiard gathers speed as he goes and was one lucky bounce away from a wonderful chip and chase try against GPS in round 6 which would have confirmed his spot here.

Fynn O’Rielley (Wests)

Fynn O'Rielley. Colts 1 club rugby action between Easts and Wests on Saturday May 25, 2024.

Liddiard’s left wing teammate O’Rielley is another elite finisher with the pace to execute backline shifts engineered by Ryan Shaw and Co.

He is a nimble, lightweight type who can spring out of tackles.

Tafito Ah-Ki (University)

While blokes like Siliva Leofa, Joe Clifford and Henry Hill are by no means slow, it was their scrumhalf Ah-Ki with that x-factor pace.

Ah-Ki’s pace, anticipation and fearlessness to run makes him a danger around the breakdown and he has the wheels to dash away for points.

Originally published as Need for speed: Who were the fastest Colts 1 club rugby players?