HORNETS STING STILL POTENT FOUR YEARS ON
THROUGHOUT two decades of coaching junior rugby league, Alan Muller has never quite encountered a team like this.
For the past four years, Muller has mentored a young Helensvale Hornets outfit from the under-6s through to the under-9s. In that time, they are yet to taste defeat.
Now they have their next challenge ahead of them, with Muller revealing 16 Gold Coast businesses have sponsored a team trip to the Paul Bowman Cup in Proserpine.
“When he heard about it we thought this would be great to get there but it would take a fair bit of work.,” Muller said.
“I put it to my 11 kids and every parent said ‘we’re in’. We got the 11 kids in, we had to raise money to get the kids to Proserpine and we had a lot of business support here on the Gold Coast; especially the northern end. This will be an experience of a lifetime for the kids. Having the experience, they’ll remember this for the rest of their lives.
“It’s just pretty amazing to score 134 tries and only give up 14 for the season, we’ve done pretty much that the last three or four years, and don’t look like getting beat any time soon.”
The Bowman Cup will kick off on September 17 and essentially be this Hornets side’s chance to play a style of footy they would liken to finals, given at this age there are no postseason accolades.
While it will be the biggest test these young athletes have faced, Muller was confident in their abilities to the point he believed there were several future Gold Coast Titans in his ranks.
Just last weekend’s clash against Beaudesert proved that to him — it was not because of any flashy plays or moments of individual brilliance, but rather the willingness to do the grunt work for their teammates.