STICKING IT TO THE BIG BOYS
A PRIVATE school raid of their senior stocks has forced Coombabah State High to search for their next rugby league “diamond” – but there is no shortage of those in their next wave of talent coming through.
Coombabah had 10 players make the under-15 South Coast team, of which five progressed to the first-string Queensland Maroon team and another two were selected for the second-string Queensland White side.
The seven state representatives will take part in the national carnival at Redcliffe across June 30 to July 5 and have rugby league co-ordinator Rod Pryor excited about seasons to come.
Unable to match the full scholarships offered to several of their older students by private schools, Coombabah were this year forced to drop back from the premier Allan Langer Cup and NRL Schoolboy Cup competitions to the open second-tier Andrew Gee Cup.
It won’t stay that way for long though.
“It is what it is, you have just got to move on and try to find the next diamond,” Pryor said.
“Over the years we have been very competitive in the juniors. Obviously with those boys being poached last year, we have a very young open side this year. Currently out of our side there is 13 Year 11 boys.
“There’s some really good talent there too and some boys contracted with the Broncos and Titans. If we retain those boys, which we are positive of doing, and have these (under-15 rep) boys roll in, we think we will be back to where we need to be to compete again and hopefully maintain our spot in the top six.”
Coombabah contested the NRL Schoolboy Cup state final in 2016, falling to Keebra Park in an extra-time thriller.
Pryor said the school felt it had built up its league reputation to the point where it could compete for attracting talent with heavyweights Palm Beach Currumbin and nearby Keebra Park.
“Now it’s certainly even game,” he said.