Top 10 moments for Central Queensland athletes and teams in rugby league

Central Queensland is rugby league heartland and long been recognised as a nursery for some of the game’s leading talent. We highlight some of our great achievers from 2023.

Tamika Upton, St Brendan's First XIII and Ben Hunt were among Central Queenslanders who did great things in rugby league in 2023.

It’s been another sensational year of rugby league on the local, state and national fronts.

Footy fans have witnessed some remarkable achievements, many of which featured players, teams and officials from Central Queensland.

We highlight 10 of the top performers and performances here.

Tamika Upton starred in her national debut. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Tamika Upton

The 26-year-old fullback has had a spectacular year. She became the first player to win four NRLW premierships, guiding Newcastle to back-to-back titles, and the first player in the premiership era to claim consecutive Karyn Murphy Medals for player of the grand final.

The former Yeppoon Seagull won the Dally M Medal, as well as the Annie Banks Medal for Queensland’s Player of the Year in the women’s State of Origin series.

She made a stunning Test debut, scoring two tries and running for 214m in her Player of the Match performance for the Jillaroos in their 16-10 win over the Kiwi Ferns 16-10 in the Pacific Championships opener.

CQ Capras' head coach Lionel Harbin. Photo: Luke Fletcher

Lionel Harbin

Lionel Harbin became the first coach in the club’s 27-year history to guide the CQ Capras to two Queensland Cup finals series.

He took the team from wooden spooners in 2021 to week two of the finals in 2022 and the preliminary final in 2023.

Harbin has coached 61 games for the Capras across two stints in 2015 and 2022-23, the fourth highest of the club’s 15 coaches. His record includes 25 wins, three draws and 33 losses.

His winning record is second only to Wayne Barnett (2008-2011) with 34 from 88 games. The Capras six straight wins was their best start to a season and their second-longest winning run ever.

Harbin is contracted until the end of 2025.

Ben Hunt played his 300th NRL game. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)

Ben Hunt

The Blackwater Crushers junior notched up an incredible milestone in his enduring career this year.

The St George Dragons’ captain became just the 47th player to notch up 300 NRL games in the Round 11 clash against the North Queensland Cowboys in May. He finished the season on 312.

The 33-year-old made his NRL debut with the Brisbane Broncos in 2009, playing 187 games for the club before joining the Dragons in 2018, where he has made 125 appearances in the Red V.

Hunt was part of the Queensland Maroons outfit that won the State of Origin series this year, and is currently representing Australia at the Pacific Championships.

Matua Brown playing for Queensland at the ASSRL national championships. Picture, John Gass

Mutua Brown

The lightning-fast fullback helped solidify his standing as one of the hottest young prospects in the game.

The 18-year old became The Cathedral College’s first Australian schoolboys representative after his starring role for Queensland at the national championships in July.

He was equally as impressive when he donned the green and gold for the Test match against the Junior Kumuls in Papua New Guinea in September.

Brown also played for Queensland in the under-19 State of Origin, saying it was “an awesome experience” to turn out in a Maroons jersey.

He has been signed by the North Queensland Cowboys and heads to Townsville at the end of the year to join the club’s Young Guns program.

St Brendan’s players celebrate their win in the Rockhampton District Secondary Schools Rugby League Open A grand final.

St Brendan’s First XIII

St Brendan’s claimed its 14th Confraternity Shield with a stirring victory in an all-Central Queensland grand final.

Down four-nil at the break, the champion outfit ran in four second-half tries to beat Rockhampton’s Emmaus College 18-10.

St Brendan’s are the most successful team in the history of the prestigious carnival but this year’s win was their first since 2015.

The Scott Minto-coached team then went on to win the Rockhampton District Secondary Schools Rugby league Open A title. Again it was Emmaus they played and again they came from behind, this time scoring three tries in six minutes to prevail in an epic golden-point thriller.

Rockhampton Brothers' halfback Mitchell Power won the 2023 Ollie Howden Medal for a second time.

Mitchell Power

The Rockhampton Brothers halfback said he was “privileged and honoured” to become just the sixth player to twice win the prestigious Ollie Howden Medal in its 70-year history.

The medal is awarded to the Rockhampton Rugby League A-grade men’s best and fairest player.

Power first claimed the honour in 2016, his first year with Brothers.

He sits alongside Railways’ “Sugar” Ray Robinson (1955, 1960), Steve Crear (Norths 1971/Brothers 1981), Fitzroys’ Graham Horstman (1973, 1999), Brothers’ Hugh Stanley (1999, 2002) and CQU Norths’ James Waterton (2004, 2005) as dual winners.

Mariah Denman starred for the Brisbane Broncos in her return to the NRLW. (AAP Image/Joel Carrett)

Mariah Denman

The workhorse forward stormed back onto the NRLW scene with the Brisbane Broncos, the same club with whom she won premierships in 2018 and 2019.

It was a memorable return for the lock forward, who averaged 123 running metres from 13 hit-ups and 29 tackles per game across the season.

Storch scored a trifecta at the Broncos’ awards night, named the NRLW Player of the Year and the team’s Most Consistent, as well as being joint winner of the Players’ Player Award.

She had three years away from the elite competition but played two seasons with the CQ Capras in the BMD Premiership, with her first game just 10 weeks after giving birth to her daughter in 2021.

Yeppoon Seagulls made it four straight in the Rockhampton Rugby League A-grade men's competition.

Yeppoon Seagulls

Yeppoon tightened their stranglehold on the Rockhampton Rugby League A-grade competition, winning a fourth straight title.

They snuck home in an extra-time grand final thriller against Emu Park with winger Jacob Voysey-McGrath scoring a spectacular try in the corner to seal the 32-29 victory.

Victorious skipper Sam Holzheimer said it was the toughest grand final he had ever played in.

Yeppoon is the third club to have won four straight in the long-running competition - Norths did it in 1959-1962 and Brothers in 1998-2001.

Norths also has the honour of being the only club to have won five straight, dominating from 1936-1940.

NRL referee Belinda Sharpe.

Belinda Sharpe

Rockhampton’s Belinda Sharpe continues to make history, becoming the first female to control an NRL game under the single-referee system.

Sharpe took charge of the Round 27 clash between the Manly Sea Eagles and Wests Tigers on September 1 this year. It comes after she forged a history-making first in 2019 as the first female ref to control an NRL game under the then two-official system.

She has also officiated in women’s State of Origins, NRLW grand finals and countless Q-Cup games, as well as the Rugby League World Cup and the current Pacific Championships.

Corey Oates (left) and Jake Granville both notched up 200 NRL games this season.

Corey Oates, Jake Granville

The much-loved duo both clocked up 200 NRL games this year.

Corey Oates played his milestone game in the Brisbane Broncos’ Round 26 win over Canberra, while Jake Granville reached his in the North Queensland Cowboys Round 21 win over Parramatta.

It was a high point for Oates in an injury-interrupted season, in which he played just nine games and tragically missed the grand final. The Baralaba product has now made 201 appearances for the Broncos since making his first grade debut in 2013.

Rockhampton-born Granville also debuted with the Broncos, playing 10 games before joining the Cowboys in 2015, where he has played 195 games.

Originally published as Top 10 moments for Central Queensland athletes and teams in rugby league