The MacKillop Saints Rugby League season for 2020 officially kicks off next Tuesday with the highly anticipated inaugural ‘Grade of Origin’ match between the Year 9 & Year 10 NRL Academies.
With pride and lunchtime bragging rights on the line, teams will be training hard this week to ensure they are in top shape for the first ever game of its kind at MacKillop.
The Year 9 team, led by captain Konnar Black, and his deputy, Beau Ryan, will be looking to upset their older brothers in Year 10 and will be playing with extra motivation next week to defend the honour of their popular Year Coordinator, Mr. Simon, who has recently returned to school after a couple of days away with an eye problem. We at the Saints hope Mr. Simon has recovered enough in time for the match in order to see his young chargers do well through those dark coloured specs currently adorning his eyes.
The Year 10 team, led by co-captains Noah Pinheiro and Liam Kennedy, will also be playing for their highly popular year coordinator, Ms. Slingerland, who is rumoured to be keen on commentating the match in Indonesian for our international audience.
A significant rule change for this match allows the Year 9 team to select a celebrity player from the senior years to use as their trump card should things start looking bad on the scoreboard. Captain Black selected Year 12 and current Senior Boys player, Zane McConnell as his trump card for this match. Zane accepted the nomination and said he looked forward to crunching his younger brother, Brandon, who is playing hooker for the Year 10s.
Academy coach, Mr. Matthew Sharp, will be refereeing the match and Saints club captains, Jayden Hunter and Dan Hausler, will be running the bench for the participating teams.
Coach Sharp said that he encourages the College to get behind their team and that he hopes to see a packed crowd down at Saints Field at lunch next Tuesday.
So, who are you backing…?
April O’Neil – Reporting Correspondent
