Iggy’s double hope
IGNATIUS Park College has the chance to make history today when both the junior and senior AFL teams travel to the Sunshine Coast for the AFL Queensland Schools Cup State Finals.
It is the first time Townsville has had any secondary school teams make the final four, with Iggy Park to take on Helensvale State High School in the senior semi- final.
Iggy Park made a clean- sweep of the Townsville division in May before travelling to Mackay to battle with the best school teams from the Cairns, Mackay, and Rockhampton regions.
The school is known as a strong rugby league nursery, but senior captain Ryan Gilmore said athletes from a range of sports had put their hands up to help Iggy Park’s AFL charge.
“We’ve got a good range of boys that play AFL and the boys that don’t have adapted really quickly and learnt the rules and everything like that, so they’re suited to footy now,” he said.
“The school captain is a mountain bike rider and he’s just put his hand up to have a crack and he’s doing quite well.
“There’s a few other league boys that can kick and tackle and catch a ball quite well and they’ve been a good asset to us in the team.”
The Iggy Park teams will fly down early this morning before playing their first games this afternoon, with the winners of each clash to go through to Sunday’s grand final.
Gilmore said it would be a big challenge for the Townsville teams, but he said they were excited for the opportunity to show what they could do against the state’s best.
“We’re really looking forward to the challenge,” he said.
“It’ll be a really good experience for the boys going up against one of the top schools in Queensland for AFL.
“No Townsville team, let alone an Iggy Park team, has gone down and we’ve got juniors and seniors. Hopefully, we can take the title for both grades.”