Mareeba and Mackay coaches, Payne Cup chairman, explore new model

One of Queensland’s most respected school rugby league figures has called for changes to be made to the Payne Cup as families from some regions face massive costs to keep their kids playing.

There are calls for changes to the Payne Cup as families from some regions face massive costs.

A respected junior rugby league figure has called for major changes to the Payne Cup as lengthy travel and high costs to compete hinder some schools from having a fighting shot in the competition.

Under the current Payne Cup format the top three teams progress to finals from Pool A, while only the top team from Pool B is given a chance.

Pool A is largely made up of longstanding Payne Cup schools, while Pool B mostly has newcomers, with some exceptions.

Lengthy travel distances between schools and the high costs associated has resulted in a number of return fixtures being foregone, with the initial matches played for double-points instead.

Mareeba coach Clinton Cifuentes has endorsed a proposal, put forward and discussed by a number of schools, to split the pool into separate north and south divisions, with the top two teams from each progressing, arguably enhancing competition parity while simultaneously slicing travel requirements.

Aaron Payne Cup. Mackay SHS against Mareeba at Jack Manski Oval. Mareeba's Tyronne Williams. Picture: Evan Morgan

“Logistically speaking, that makes sense as well for the longevity of small school’s like us and Mackay High, it keeps us in the game because we don’t have to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars playing the majority of our games in Townsville,” Cifuentes said.

“I think the longevity of the competition needs to be looked at when it comes to those sorts of things.”

Mackay State High School coach Zach Schill echoed Cifuentes’ sentiment in regards to travel.

‘A BIG STRAIN ON THE SCHOOL’

“Logistically it makes it hard for us to travel all the time, it’s costing quite a lot of money to have to do all that travel, we go up and stay overnight, it’s a big strain on the school,” Schill said.

“I don’t have an issue with the way it’s been pooled in terms of who we’re playing, it’s just the travel side of things that are going to be an issue.”

Aaron Payne Cup. Mackay SHS against Mareeba at Jack Manski Oval. Mareeba's Seamus Finlan. Picture: Evan Morgan

Schill also highlighted that matches being played for double-points inadvertently damaged the competition’s parity.

“When we went and played St Augustine’s that was a double-points game, we had a lot of injuries, got beaten, and now we don’t have a chance to play them again,” he said.

“So we’ll end up finishing second, where if we’d had another chance to play them next week we could’ve won and finished top of the pool.”

‘FAMILIES FORK OUT $100 TO PLAY AWAY GAMES’

And some public schools can only subsidise a small portion of the travel costs, which means families have to fork out in excess of $100 just to play away games, or in the case of some Mackay schools, ‘home’ games that are in Townsville.

Kurt Caulton in the Payne Cup schoolboy's rugby league match between Trinity Bay State High School Rays and Kirwan State High School Bears, held at Trinity Bay State High School, Cairns. Picture: Brendan Radke

“We’ve had multiple players not come to games … we’ve got to have players pay for it, and unfortunately that means kids miss out,” Schill said.

“It’s not just the finance, it’s also having the staff that want to go and having a school that’s willing to release staff for two days, all the behind the scenes stuff that people don’t think of.”

Scott Whybird, the Sports Executive Chair for Queensland Representative School Sport Rugby League, who doubles as Mareeba’s principal, stated that the Payne Cup was open to change.

“The reality is, to be part of these competitions, you’re trying to play the best schools you can, and the difficulties are, to get those competitive games, it means travel,” Whybird said.

‘WE WANT ALL GAMES TO BE PLAYED’

“The preference is we want all games to be played. We don’t want any double-points games. I think that’s important.”

Aaron Payne Cup 2023. Ignatius Park College against Kirwan High at Kirwan High. Kirwan's Kaiden Lahrs. Picture: Evan Morgan

With Holy Spirit, Trinity Bay, and St. Augustine’s all joining the competition this year, it was the first time the Pool A and Pool B structure had been used.

Whybird conceded the logistics were challenging.

“There’s growing pains that are always going to happen when you’re setting up these events, we’ll find out what we need to look at,” he said.

As for the north and south split specifically: “It’s always a possibility.”

“Nothing’s off the table, it’s about what we’re doing to try and develop the game to ensure that sides are getting the best opportunities, and kids are getting the best opportunities.”

Originally published as Mareeba and Mackay coaches, Payne Cup chairman, explore new model