St Joseph’s Nudgee College won their sixth AFL SportsReady Jason Dunstall Cup on a chilly Friday night at Yeronga.
Nudgee avenged last year’s loss to Anglican Church Grammar School in a grand final replay, beating the boys from East Brisbane 8.12.60 to 1.2.8
With a team coach John Stackpoole described as “having no weak links”, the boys certainly showed this to be true, with a dominant performance lead by best on ground AFL SportsReady medallist Josh Elmslie.
Nudgee held Churchie scoreless in the first quarter which set the tone for the game, with captain Casey Brittain busy and well supported by Josh Harvey.
Churchie were galant in defeat, missing four key players including Queensland U18 rep player Darcy Cameron-Reeves, with the scoreboard not a great reflection of their effort.
Ben Krieger was Churchie’s best along with Josh Threapleton, James Howarth, and Macartney Somerset kicked their lone goal.
SENIORS: STEPHEN LAWRENCE SHIELD
The most exciting final for the night was the Stephen Lawrence Shield between Brisbane Boys’ College and Nudgee.
Scores were locked at quarter time 1.3.9 a piece, with BBC then holding an inaccurate Nudgee goalless to half time.
Just when BBC looked to have the ascendency, Nudgee forged a second half comeback to draw within three points of BBC in front of a vocal crowd, before a thrilling last minute goal to BBC sealed the win and the premiership.
BBC’s Alex Petrovic was adjudged best on ground, with Robert Dopking and Lachie Gaw also amongst the better players.
Nudgee’s star player Lenny Christie was again amongst their best, with the reliable Arthur Wilson also very handy.
JUNIORS: CLINT BIZZELL CUP
It has been a three-year fairy tale for this team of Year 9 BBC boys in Independent School AFL.
Before the grand final on Friday, only one solitary point had been scored against them in three years, throughout their Year 7, Year 8 and now Year 9 seasons.
So it was always going to be a tough task for Churchie to contain this talented group that boasts numerous representative squad players, athletes including the current National 100 metre sprint champion, and the former Queensland Under 12 Schoolboys Captain from 2011.
The final score did not reflect the game, with BBC being restricted to 56 points for the game, a feat no other team in three years of competition has been able to achieve.
Along with that Churchie scored twice against BBC, another feat no other team has managed to do.
Churchie can keep their heads high and we look forward to the further development of talented players such as Darcy Marsh, Ricky Ankin, Andrew Williams and Harry Scott in the future.
For BBC it was another strong performance from Jack Clayton, Max Webber and Sam Blackberry, along with Chris Kotis and Ryan Williams kicking two goals each.
We would like to acknowledge AFL SportsReady for their ongoing support of AFL in the independent schools.
RESULTS
FIRST XVIII JASON DUNSTALL CUP
Nudgee 8.12.60 def Churchie 1.2.8
AFL SportsReady Medallist: Ben Elmslie, Nudgee
GOALS:
Nudgee: A De Verteuil 2; M Crawley, C Brittain, A McPherson, J Hughson, A Ligo, J Emslie.
Churchie: M Somerset.
BEST:
Nudgee: J Elmslie, J Harvey, C Brittain.
Churchie: B Krieger, J Threapleton, J Howarth.
SENIOR STEPHEN LAWRENCE SHIELD
BBC 5.4.34 def Nudgee 3.9.27
AFL SportsReady Medallist: Alex Petrovic, BBC
GOALS:
BBC: R Cassady 2; U Matthew, C Johnson, X Heath.
Nudgee: L Christie, F Poi Poi, B Frons.
BEST:
BBC: A Petrovic, L Gaw, R Dopking.
Nudgee: L Christie, J Ulk, A Wilson.
JUNIOR CLINT BIZZELL CUP
BBC 8.8.56 def Churchie 0.2.2
AFL SportsReady Medallist: Jack Clayton, BBC
GOALS:
BBC: R Williams, J Clayton, M Webber, C Kotis 2
BEST:
BBC: J Clayton, S Blackberry, M Webber
Churchie: A Williams, D Marsh, H Scott
