DEARDEN PROVES THE GOLDEN SCHOOL PATH
FAST-EMERGING Broncos halfback Tom Dearden is a shining example of how the elite Langer Cup schoolboy competition, being live-streamed by the Gold Coast Bulletin, benefits the Brisbane NRL club.
The Broncos run the sixteam Langer Cup which has retired schoolteacher Phil Hall as the league convener.
Hall has been employed by the Broncos to run the competition since early last decade when he retired from a career which included a quarter of a decade with Mt Gravatt State High School.
Hall said the standard of the schoolboy competition – which this season is being live-streamed by the Bulletin – was escalating.
“Prior to 2001 Queensland had never won a national schoolboy championships and since then we have won five to seven,’’ Hall said proudly.
“You only have to look at (Palm Beach Currumbin product) Tom Dearden. The standard is great.
“The standard of competition improves the standard of players.’’
He said Toowoomba’s St Mary’s College was part of the Langer Cup but also won the Confraternity Shield statewide schoolboy tournament last year and their coaches said playing in the Langer Cup conditioned them to a high standard.
Round 4 Langer Cup matches to be live-streamed tomorrow are Ipswich SHS against St Mary’s College (5.30pm), Marsden SHS facing Keebra Park SHS (6pm) and Palm Beach Currumbin squaring off with Wavell SHS.
Meanwhile, Dearden is facing several weeks on the sidelines following confirmation he will need surgery on his injured ankle.
The 18-year-old limped off in the opening minutes of Sunday’s 26-18 loss to NRL rivals Gold Coast at Suncorp Stadium, and scans have confirmed a syndesmosis injury.