Aaron Payne Cup live stream: Mareeba SHS challenged to move ball against Mackay SHS

With Talan Cottom picking apart Mareeba defenders with ease, Mackay SHS cruised to a big Payne Cup win - but it wasn’t the only area where they stood out. Catch the Challenge/Cup REPLAYS.

Mackay State High halfback Talan Cottom scored a try and played the puppeteer in four other scores to orchestrate a 46-0 Aaron Payne Cup victory over Mareeba State High in Townsville.

The classy halfback picked apart Mareeba defenders with ease, causing his opponents headaches in all three facets of the game: running, kicking and passing.

Cottom was responsible for Mackay’s rapid start, scoring with a neat dummy and burst into a hole and then kicking his side to a four-pointer with a towering torpedo bomb all inside the opening six minutes.

It was Cottom again hitting the accelerator in the second half by pushing perfect passes to teammates to send his side on an 18-point scoring run.

Greyhound centre Mason Ryan-Ellul was Mackay’s next most deadly threat, winning the race to Cottom’s bouncing bomb and offloading for William Veitch for the opening try before dashing away for two long range tries of his own.

Five-eighth Jake Peters proved a capable foil to his halfback, showcasing both power - running straight over an opponent to score – and skill, by slipping a well-timed pass for bench forward AJ Bollinger’s second try.

Mackay winger Jordan Chandler didn’t cross the tryline but produced two trysaving tackles on larger opponents to help keep Mareeba off the scoreboard.

MACKAY SHS 46 (William Veitch, Talan Cottom, Jake Peters, Mason Ryan-Ellul (2), Brody Moore, AJ Bollinger (2) tries; Brody Moore (4), Jarred Giumelli (3) goals) DEF. MAREEBA SHS 0

Mackay SHS v Mareeba SHS - Cowboys Challenge Round 5

COWBOYS CHALLENGE

Mackay State High School captain Tom Bassett showed why he is the future of his school’s Aaron Payne Cup outfit after torching Mareeba State High with a hat-trick of tries and an assist during a 30-0 Cowboys Challenge thrashing in Townsville.

The lanky hooker owns the complete bag of tricks, finishing through traffic on the goalline twice, speeding through the line twice, and showing strong spatial awareness with an over-the-top offload for centre Brock Hansen’s first half try.

Bassett capped off his stellar performance with an intercept to deny Mareeba in its most promising red zone raid of the match in the second half.

He played the key hand in Mackay’s first four tries to amass a match-winning 22-0 lead early in the second half.

Fullback Zac Campbell kicked four of six conversions, including a pearler from the right sideline on a windy day, and delivered a pinpoint grubber kick to find winger Hunter Jorgsen for his side’s sixth and final try.

Five-eighth Libaan Hajiyussuf continues to remind everyone of Queensland Maroons star Kalyn Ponga with a beautiful long-passing game and jinking footwork that can confound defenders.

Mackay’s left edge combination of backrower Rocky Hancock and winger Terrance Pedro brought an overwhelming physical flavour, made better by Hajiyussuf’s playmaking.

Halfback Cooper Venz can be commended for a physical performance, which included steamrolling a defender on the goalline for a try and making his impact felt in defence.

MACKAY SHS 30 (Tom Bassett (3), Brock Hansen, Cooper Venz, Hunter Jorgensen tries; Zac Campbell (4) goals) DEF MAREEBA SHS 0

PREVIEW

Mareeba State High School will embrace a road warrior tag for the final time this season as the pride of the Tablelands clash with emerging rivals Mackay State High in Townsville on Thursday.

Mareeba based their fledgling rugby league program on the Mackay SHS model for their entry into the Aaron Payne Cup, and for three years has built a friendly rivalry with the Sugar City’s largest state school.

The schools split their regular season record one game apiece last season and Mareeba is determined to do so again, having fallen 28-10 in their past meeting.

Catch all the action LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on KommunityTV. It all kicks off with the Cowboys Challenge at 1.45pm before the Aaron Payne Cup game at 3.45pm.

Check the latest Queensland Schoolboys LIVE STREAM schedule below.

Mareeba coach Clinton Cifuentes said his team would be at near full-strength for the clash, with special plans cooked up to maximise the impact of a skilful middle forward rotation on their last journey south for 2024.

Mareeba face up to Mackay SHS this week.

“We should have our full complement for the trip, except for prop Seth Stein (work-based apprenticeship commitments), so I’m looking forward to blokes like Tyler Shroy and Lindford Lui to rip in against Mackay,” Cifuentes said.

“Those two boys missed the game against Mackay last time so it will be good to see how they go.

“That will give us Jackson Clark, Jason Hastie and those boys in the engine room this week.

“We’re looking for them to showcase their talent, their ballhandling skills and getting our halves pushing those boys out and attacking the edges a bit more, instead of your more traditional schoolboys just banging up the middle.”

Stocky lock Hastie has stepped in at halfback at times for Mareeba while Lui showed off his own superb skills with ball in hand in setting up a try against Ignatius Park College’s B team last week, in a make-up fixture following a Holy Spirit forfeit.

Originally published as Aaron Payne Cup live stream: Mareeba SHS challenged to move ball against Mackay SHS