Caloundra SHS rugby league qualify for Walters Cup and Langer Trophy

A Sunshine Coast high school has made history after progressing through to the Walters Cup and Langer Trophy rugby league finals. See who the coaches named as key to glory.

Caloundra State High School Opens and Grade 10 players to watch. Pictures: Patrick Woods.

Caloundra State High School has made Sunshine Coast footy history by moving a step closer to schoolboy rugby league glory with both middle and senior school teams progressing to the top tier of the South East Queensland competition.

The school’s rugby league program commenced in 2016 and received a huge boost last season when they announced their pathways partnership with the Melbourne Storm.

Both the year 10 (Kevin Walters Cup) and opens (Alan Langer Trophy) sides will now compete against the top eight schools in South East Queensland consisting of Palm Beach Currumbin SHS, Keebra Park SHS, Ipswich SHS, Wavell SHS, Mabel Park SHS and Marsden SHS.

The Caloundra SHS grade 10 team progressed through to the final eight in 2022, but this is the first time a Sunshine Coast school has had multiple teams qualify.

Caloundra State High School rugby league coaches, Craig Monaghan and Toby Poole. Picture: Patrick Woods.

If the sides are to finish inside the top six, it guarantees them automatic qualification for the following season whereas the bottom two teams are forced to attempt to requalify against a further three schools.

Rival Sunshine Coast school Mountain Creek SHS suffered a heartbreaking loss in the qualifying matches, eliminating them from division one.

Year 10 (Kevin Walters Cup)

Head coachCraig Monaghan said he couldn’t be prouder from the efforts of his players and the school’s rugby league program.

“We’re all super proud of the kids, it’s still a very young program being six or seven years old so to get two sides through to the premier schoolboys competition and the premier feeder into the NRL is pretty impressive,” he said.

It’s all about the effort of keeping these kids on the Sunshine Coast and giving them a quality pathway to perform.

“The partnership with the Melbourne Storm has really allowed us to retain players but also attract good talent so it’s now about giving them the best opportunity so that they can progress through to different NRL clubs and systems.”

Monaghan said the commitment to training from all players had been really encouraging.

“We get them for three times a week during a timetabled class so three 70-minute sessions which is really good,” he said.

“The attendance and drive from the players is always really good so at the moment we are doing one morning session and will bump it up to two which will incorporate some speed and power and some gym sessions.

“I’d say in grade 10, 11 and 12 there’s upwards of 90 kids so the depth is really growing which is what we haven't had in the past.

“These results and qualifying for these competitions is what creates the depth which is great to see.”

Caloundra State High School grade 10 rugby league team, Lucas Bourke, Keagan Zanchetta, Ellyjah Birve and Angus Lanagan. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Aims or expectations: “Top six is the aim and it’s definitely where we want to get to but for us it’s about setting small goals to get through. That might be just game completions or small wins to start so that when we reach the halfway point of the season we can reassess.”

Key Players: “For us one would be Ellyjah Birve who is one of our Storm-contracted players and represented Queensland last year. We build a lot of our play around him at five-eight. Keagan Zanchetta is another who we play through the middle. He’s a bigger six at club level but we play him through the middle as defensively he’s really strong and his communication is really good. The other would be our front rower Jett Ryan who came across in the last 18 months. He’s a bottom age kid, made Sunshine Coast this year and is just really aggressive, tackles with intent, runs the ball hard and is an all round leader for our forward pack.”

Opens (Alan Langer Trophy)

Head coach Toby Poole said he hoped his team could continue their run of positive results.

“For us now it means we get a shot to showcase our Sunshine Coast talent against those bigger schools on the south coast,” he said.

“It will be a challenge but for both teams to progress is very pleasing.”

Poole said the schools program is another avenue for the students to improve their skills.

“Everyone pretty much plays club footy and then between both teams there’s about 20-30 players that have represented the Sunshine Coast Falcons Cyril Connell Challenge and Mal Meninga Cup sides,” he said,

“We had a lot of boys move this year as well to come here for that opportunity with us and Melbourne effectively.

“Some kids have moved over from New Zealand, from Cairns, from Canberra and so on so it’s all positive steps for us.”

Caloundra State High School rugby league team. Open: Tyrell Hopkins, Tully McLellan, Jack Philp and Jaelym Hohaia. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Aims or expectations: “Staying in that top six is definitely our major goal this year to make sure we don’t have to requalify. Hopefully we can even crack into the top four to be playing some finals footy.”

Key players: “Zac Garton will be huge for us, coming off his big season at Redcliffe in the Mal Meninga Cup. Tully McLellan as well our captain will be instrumental and just our whole middle. A lot of our style of play and how we play comes from our middle so those players know that they’re going to have to step up or take their game to a new level.”

Originally published as Caloundra SHS rugby league qualify for Walters Cup and Langer Trophy