Junior Development

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Titans contracted Keebra Park student Seth Nikotemo started at right second row for Burleigh in their Round Five MM Cup match on Saturday against Ipswich and had some very good moments in the Bears come from behind 44 – 36 victory in the NRL curtain raiser, with Seth Nikotemo recording a second half try assist.

Seth Nikotemo’s try assist came in the 52nd minute when Seth Nikotemo received the ball from his left. As soon as he took possession was immediately under pressure from a Jets defender, but Seth Nikotemo maintained his composure and was able to get the ball over the top of the engaged defender to an unmarked Hunter Ploegsma who crossed after a ten metre run.

Seth Nikotemo continued his solid match with a 66th minute run that accounted for fifteen metres of ground to get Burleigh into Jets territory.

Burleigh were immediately under pressure in the opening moments of the match and but for Seth Nikotemo and team mates, Arama Hau and Tuvalli Khan-Pereira, Ipswich would have opened the scoring in the 4th minute when the Ipswich No. 10 was held up over the line.

With the Ipswich defensive line under all sorts of pressure in the early minutes of the match, it was with his defence that enabled Seth Nikotemo to make an impact. In the 13th minute Seth Nikotemo produced a driving tackle on Ipswich front rower Josiah Pahulu, stopping his momentum with his initial and then driving him back. Following that in the same set of six, Seth Nikotemo smashed the Ipswich left centre forcing the ball loose through the contact.

Early in the second half Seth Nikotemo was able to maintain Burleigh’s early momentum in the half with a strong ten metre run that finished twenty eight metres out and culminated with an exceptionally quick play the ball.

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Titans contracted Coombabah SHS student Caleb Gould-Waiariki started at hooker and scored the final try of the match for Burleigh in their Round Five MM Cup come from behind win on Saturday against Ipswich. For me Caleb Gould-Waiariki was one of the best players on the field.

Caleb Gould-Waiariki’s try came in the 68th minute to seal the Bears come from behind victory. Caleb Gould-Waiariki packed into a scrum at lock after Burleigh were awarded a scrum feed that they took in the middle of the field ten metres out after a Syris Schmidt bomb to the left wing was dropped by the Jets.

From the back of the scrum, Caleb Gould-Waiariki initially dummied to his left before running himself and ran ten metres untouched to score next to the left upright.

Caleb Gould-Waiariki also recorded a try assist in the match when in the 37thth minute he ran out of dummy half to his right before straightening up his run to freeze the defence in place before passing to his right for Brody Smitka to crash over from five metres out.

Just three minute Caleb Gould-Waiariki added a second try assist when in the 37thth minute he burst out of dummy half to his right, thirty five metres out from the line, beating two defenders before a step off his left got him through the line and then Caleb Gould-Waiariki was able to draw the fullback and offload to Tuvalli Khan-Pereira who was backing up to crash over.

Caleb Gould-Waiariki was in the match early making the first of his many forays out of dummy half on the third play the ball of the match when he darted to his right.

Caleb Gould-Waiariki produced an outstanding and smart piece of play in the 26th minute. With Ipswich playing the ball less than a metre out from the Bears line, Caleb Gould-Waiariki positioned himself to the right of the play the ball and as soon as the ball was played bolted forward, timing his run perfectly to intercept the pass from the dummy half and getting the ball twenty five metres out from his own line.

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Even though he ended up on the losing side on Saturday Titans contracted Josiah Pahulu was once again one of the best players on the field as his Ipswich side went down to Burleigh in Round Five of the MM Cup 44 – 36 to the Burleigh.

Starting in the front row for the Jets Josiah Pahulu got close to scoring a deserved try in the match but in the 9th minute, lost the ball over the line trying to get the ball to the ground and also in the 13th minute, Josiah Pahulu got within centremetres of the line after a twelve metre burst on the left side of the field.

In the 14th minute, Josiah Pahulu proved that he does not just run the ball in attacking situations when he made eleven metres from a hit-up getting the ball outside of his own twenty metre area.

Josiah Pahulu did not take much time at all to get involved in the match making thirteen metres from an Ipswich penalty restart to get within five metres of the try line. Josiah Pahulu made a further fourteen metres in the 5th minute when he took the second hit-up after Burleigh kicked off following Ipswich’s first try of the match.

Just two minutes later in the 7th minute, Josiah Pahulu once again ran at the Burleigh line from ten metres out from a Jets penalty restart and it took five Burleigh defenders to halt his progress perilously close to the try line.

In the 23rd minute, with Ipswich well on top, Josiah Pahulu ensured that the Jets started their set after a try on the front foot when he took the hit-up from the kick-off, making twelve metres to get the ball over his own twenty metre area.

Josiah Pahulu made his presence felt in defence when in the 23rd minute he smashed Burleigh left winger Shannon Donaldson with a big front on tackle knocking the winger who was making his MM Cup debut three metres backwards.

Josiah Pahulu was at it again in the 24th minute when he rocked Burleigh front rower VJ Semu who was returning a kick-off, knocking the ball loose in the process.

Josiah Pahulu was involved in an earth trembling collision when in the 58th minute he smashed into fellow Titan Arama Hau when he was returning a Burleigh kick-off with the contact stopping both players in their tracks, it was great to see and let’s call the outcome a draw!

Josiah Pahulu followed that heavy collision up in the 65th minute with a twelve metre charge that was the second run from a Burleigh kick-off with Josiah Pahulu once again getting the ball over his own thirty metre mark.

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On Saturday afternoon, Toby Sexton started at halfback for Tweed Heads in Round Three against the Souths Logan Magpies and once again was impressive collecting two try assists, with both tries being scored by Sam McIntyre in the Seagulls 40 – 26 victory.

Toby Sexton’s first try assist came in the 12th minute, when from forty metres out he ran to the right before stepping off his right foot to get through the line. As the cover got to Toby Sexton he was able to get away a great right arm offload away to Sam McIntyre who was able to score under the posts.

Toby Sexton’s second try assist of the match arrived in the second half when took the ball into the defensive line before putting in a right foot grubber kick which after it passed through the line, sat up ideally for Sam McIntyre to take at full pace to score.

Playing the entire eighty minutes Toby Sexton ran for sixty three metres (fifteen post contact), made a line break, kicked seven times for 145 metres and made twenty one tackles at a tackling efficiency of 91.3%.

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After making his 2021 MM Cup debut off the bench for Tweed Heads last week after coming back from injury Titans contracted Brock Priestley moves into the starting line-up at right second row for this weekends Round Six local derby against Burleigh.

In sign of the regard that the Titans and Tweed Heads hold him in, Brock Priestley has also been named as captain.

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After a great 2020 season that culminated in Viliame Tuivanavou start in the centres for the Currumbin Eagles U18 Division One Premiership winning side that defeated Burleigh in the Grand Final, he has started his 2021 campaign off on a positive note scoring for the Eagles 2021 U18 Division One side against Ormeau in Round One of the pre-season over the weekend.

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In 2021 Xavier Collins is part of the Ormeau Shearers U18 Division One squad, starting Round One of the pre-season in the front row and scoring one of the Shearers four tries as they got their 2021 season underway with a 24 – 16 win over the Currumbin Eagles.

In 2020 Xavier Collins played in the front row in the Brisbane Grammar School First School Boy XV in the front row.

In 2019 Xavier Collins played for the Brisbane Grammar School Boy Rugby U16A side, scoring against Ipswich Grammar.

Also in 2019 Xavier Collins was selected in the Queensland Maroon U16 Junior Gold Cup squad.

The big strong young former Keebra Park front rower was a standout in 2018 in both rugby league and rugby and impressively in both codes was playing up an age group. Late in 2018 Xavier Collins was named in the front row in the 2018 Keebra Park Team of the Year.

In 2018 Xavier Collins was part of the Cook Islands U14 QPICC side, being awarded the Cook Islands U14 Most Valuable Player award for the tournament and was part of the Cook Islands side that defeated Samoa 22 – 6 in the U14 Final.

For Ormeau in the 2018 Gold Coast Rugby League U15 Division One competition Xavier Collins played in nine matches including the finals and scored four tries, scoring three in the finals series and a regular season try against Coomera early in the season.

In Week One of the U15 Division One Finals series, Xavier Collins started from the bench as Ormeau defeated Runaway Bay 28- 12.

Week Two saw Xavier Collins start in the second row and score a double as Ormeau qualified for the Grand Final on the back of a 44 – 6 victory over Coomera.

In the U15 Division One Grand Final Xavier Collins started from the bench and scored as Ormeau won the premiership on the back of a 38 – 20 Grand Final victory over Runaway Bay.

Xavier Collins also played two matches in the 2018 U14 Division One competition with those matches coming against Coomera and Runaway Bay.

2018 also saw Xavier Collins represent South East Queensland Green at the Queensland U14 Championships starting in the second row in the Championship Final against South East Queensland White which ended in a 16 all draw. Xavier Collins played in all four of South East Queensland Green’s matches.

Xavier Collins was selected in the 2019 Queensland Academy of Sport U15 Emerging Origin Squad.

Xavier Collins also played club rugby on the Gold Coast in 2019, playing for the Griffith University Colleges U15 side including starting the Grand Final at loose head prop with his side winning 47 – 19 against the Helensvale Hogs in a rugby test curtain raiser between Australia and Argentina at Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.

For Griffith University Colleges side Xavier Collins played in thirteen matches, starting the two finals at loose head prop, one at No. 8, four at open side flanker (No. 7), two from the interchange bench and five at blindside flanker (No. 6).

In his thirteen matches, Xavier Collins scored three tries and converted one of those tries in Round Fourteen against the Gold Coast Eagles. Xavier Collins also scored in Round Nine against the Eagles and in Round Twelve against Bond University.

In 2016 Xavier Collins represented Queensland at the U12 level this year after representing the South Coast U12’s earlier in the year as well as being part of the Keebra Park Renouf Cup winning squad even though he was a year younger than a majority of his team mates in that squad.

In addition to his schoolboy and representative commitments, Xavier Collins played his club rugby league on the Gold Coast with the Ormeau Shearers in the 2016 U12 Division One competition, where he crossed for one try which came against Jimboomba as well as kicking a solitary conversion in the last game of the season against Runaway Bay.

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After spending a portion of the 2020/21 offseason trialling for the Wests Tigers, when the 2021 Gold Coast Rugby League competition commenced, 18 year old Yorel Alapaki started on the bench for the Southport Tigers Doug Lipp Cup Reserve Grade side in Round One of the pre-season against Runaway Bay.

The young hooker, lock or second rower (let’s call him a utility forward) moved over from Auckland at the start of 2019 to play with the Southport Tigers in the Gold Coast Rugby League U18 Division One competition and in the 2020 season was part of the Tweed Heads Seagulls MM Cup squad.

The young man is an inspirational story, as he moved over from South Auckland as a 16 year old and since his move has lived by himself as he attended school and chased his NRL dream.

Yorel Alapaki’s first match of the 2020 season was when he was part of the Tweed Heads Seagulls MM Cup squad that defeated the Souths Logan Magpies MM Cup squad in a trial at Tugun in February.

Yorel Alapaki started Round One of the 2020 MM Cup competition for the Tweed Heads Seagulls from the bench in their winning start to the season against the Northern Pride. Unfortunately that Round One match was the only MM Cup round played to the Covid 19 outbreak which caused so many issues for society in general.

In 2020 Yorel Alapaki was part of their Langer Cup Open A school boy rugby league squad including playing in Keebra Park’s Open A school boy’s first 2020 trial against Ipswich State High School in mid-July that Keebra Park won.

Yorel Alapaki started from the bench in Round One of the Langer Cup against Wavell State High School and also started from the bench in Round Two against Marsden State High School and recording a try assist.

Towards the end of the second half, Yorel Alapaki was operating on the left of the play the ball. After receiving the ball Yorel Alapaki took the ball to the line, and after subtling cutting to his left, threw a good pass to big front rower Isaac Matavelea-Booth who had run an outside shoulder route into a gap to rumble twenty metres to score.

Yorel Alapaki also was named to start from the bench in the Round Four local derby against PBC but ended up starting the match at left second row and produced an outstanding piece of paly early in the match to send Jaiden West over. Yorel Alapaki burst through the line on the left side of the field, surging away from the PBC cover defence, before drawing the fullback and passing to his left to put fullback Jaiden West over.

Yorel Alapaki also came off the bench in Round Five against St Mary’s Toowoomba, scoring his first Langer Cup try in the first half.

With Keebra Park on the attack a metre out from the St Mary’s line, Yorel Alapaki charged onto the ball to the left of the play the ball and went straight through the two immediate St Mary’s defenders to score five metres to the left of the goal posts.

Yorel Alapaki also started on the bench as Keebra Park qualified for the 2020 Langer Cup Grand Final on the back of a big win over Wavell State High School.

Yorel Alapaki started the 2020 Langer Cup Grand Final from the bench for Keebra Park as they went down 16 – 8 to PBC in a high quality match.

When rugby league restarted in July 2020, Yorel Alapaki was back in the orange and black of the Southport Tigers lining up for the second season in the GCRL U18 Division One competition. In 2020 for Southport, Yorel Alapaki played primarily at hooker, also he did spend some time at lock as well.

Yorel Alapaki proved to be a bit of a try scorer for Southport in the U18 Division One competition in 2020, especially out of dummy half. Against Ormeau, Yorel Alapaki, who had started the match from the bench, was at dummy half ten metres out from the line. Yorel Alapaki took a quick step out of dummy half to his right, throwing a dummy to the same side of the field. The dummy to his right opened up a seam in the Shearers defence which Yorel Alapaki exploited to spring the ten metres to score next to the left upright.

Over the course of the season, Yorel Alapaki also scored a good try out of dummy half against Helensvale. Yorel Alapaki got into dummy half two metres out from the Hornets line, running out of dummy half to his right, Yorel Alapaki ran about ten metres parallel to the defensive line before taking the first defender to confront him head on, Yorel Alapaki pushed him off front on before diving to his left to get the ball down with two further Helensvale defenders trying in vain to hold him up.

In 2019 Yorel Alapaki started Round One of the Gold Coast Rugby League competition at hooker. Yorel Alapaki then moved to lock for Round Two against Currumbin. Yorel Alapaki scored his first try on the Gold Coast in Round Three against Runaway Bay as Southport prevailed 26 – 14 and kicked his first goal in Round Five.

Yorel Alapaki was back in Auckland playing for Marist Saints against Manurewa All-stars in mid-June 2019 and I had thought that Yorel Alapaki was back in New Zealand for good but he was back starting at hooker for Southport in Round twelve against Tugun and also started at hooker in Round Thirteen against Mudgeeraba.

In total for Southport in the 2019 GCRL U18 Division One regular season competition Yorel Alapaki played in eight matches alternating between lock and hooker (as well as a match or two off the bench), scoring six points as noted above.

Yorel Alapaki also started at lock for Southport in their 28 – 20 U18 Division One Preliminary Final win over Ormeau to progress to the Grand Final against Burleigh and also started at lock in Southport’s 28 -12 Grand Final loss to Burleigh. When the match got ‘physical’ in the second half Yorel Alapaki was certainly in the thick of the action, charging around and making his presence felt both in attack and defence for Southport.

In 2018 Yorel Alapaki played in the Auckland Junior Rugby League U16 competition for Marist Saints. 2018 also saw Yorel Alapaki, who is also an accomplished softball player, represent Howick College in the 2018 New Zealand National Secondary Schools Development Tournament.

In that competition, Yorel Alapaki played in five matches with those matches being against Sir Edmund Hillary College, Onehunga High School twice, Naenae College and Whangaparaoe College. Yorel Alapaki started all five matches at lock for Howick College and scored in both final’s matches being against Onehunga High School and Whangaparaoe College.

Yorel Alapaki’s try against Onehunga High School was a case where he just wanted to score more than the defence wanted to stop him. The Howick College centre on the right, Francis Morrison, cut back inside and ran across field, Yorel Alapaki ran straight at a hole in the defensive line and upon receiving the pass barged his way over adjacent to the right upright dragging a couple of defenders with him.

Yorel Alapaki’s try against Whangaparaoe College could not have been more different to the one discussed above. Yorel Alapaki took a hit-up on the left side of the field about sixty five metres out from the try line and after breaking through the defensive line by running over a defender outpaced the Whangaparaoe College cover defence to score an impressive try.

Late in 2018 Yorel Alapaki was the co-captain of the Auckland Niue U16 side that played an Auckland U16 side, starting that match in the second row. In 2018 Yorel Alapaki was also captain of the Northern side in the New Zealand Development Rugby League Finals held in March.

Yorel Alapaki also represented the Cook Islands in the 2018 U18 Rugby League Oceania Sevens tournament scoring against the Solomon Islands in Round Four.

In 2017 Yorel Alapaki represented the Akarana Falcons U15’s at the New Zealand National Age Championships playing in matches against local rivals the Auckland Vulcans as well as the Northern Swords.

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It was great to see Darius Christie line up at five eight for the Helensvale U18 Division One side in Round One of the pre-season on the weekend as the Hornets went down 18-6 to Nerang.

In 2017 with Burleigh the former Keebra Park student averaged just under a try a match in his way to scoring ten tries from just eleven matches. Darius Christie started in the centres for Burleigh in their tough 31 – 16 Grand Final loss to an exceptional Ormeau Shearers side. Over the course of the 2017 season Darius Christie scored hat tricks against Runaway Bay and Ormeau and also a double against Nerang.

For Runaway Bay Darius Christie played the 2016 season at the U13 Division One level, where he played in ten matches scoring thirteen tries including hat tricks against Mudgeeraba and Jimboomba and in addition to the Grand Final double Darius Christie also scored a double against Ormeau in another finals match. Darius Christie also played five matches up in the U14 Division One competition and three in the U14 Division Two competition in 2016 where he scored four tries, including a double against Nerang and also tries against Ormeau and Burleigh Heads.

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The Burleigh Bears 2021 U18 Division One side will have no shortage of strike power on their outside with Jokota Tatham in the squad, with the former Gold Coast Cyclones junior age rugby representative starting on the wing in Round One of the GCRL U18 Division One pre-season against Mudgeeraba.

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Already this season Jordan Lewis has played a number of matches for the currently unbeaten Tweed Heads Seagulls MM Cup side and over the weekend he started at hooker for the Ormeau Shearers U18 Division One side that played in Round One of the GCRL U18 Division One pre-season and kicked four conversions from as many attempts as the Shearers got their 2021 season underway with a 24 – 16 win over the Currumbin Eagles.

Jordan Lewis started Round One of the 2020 MM Cup competition on the bench for the Tweed Heads Seagulls against the Northern Pride and scoring in the Seagulls big first up victory.

Also in 2020 Jordan Lewis was part of the Coombabah State High School Langer Cup Open A school boy rugby league squad for the Term Three school boy rugby league competition.

In July 2020 Jordan Lewis started at right second row for the Coombabah Open A Langer Cup side in their Langer Cup qualifying match against St Mary’s in Toowoomba and kicked three goals from four attempts in their loss.

After being knocked out of the Langer Cup, Jordan Lewis and his Coombabah State High School team mates took part in the 2020 Gee Cup school boy competition, going through the competition as the undefeated Southern Division Champions and taking on Mabel Park State High School in the 2020 Gee Cup Grand Final that was held at Langland’s Park.

In the 2020 Gee Cup Grand Final that Coombabah won 50 – 8 Jordan Lewis started at lock, scoring a try, setting up another and kicking seven goals in a player of the match performance.

Jordan Lewis’s try came late in the match when he split the Mabel Park line on the left side of the field and spun clockwise to beat the fullback and bring the ball around closer to the goal posts to make it easier to convert his own try.

Jordan Lewis’s try assist resulted from a pass to his right drawing the fullback after he broke the defensive line through the centre of the ruck.

Jordan Lewis played the 2019 season for Ormeau Shearers in the GCRL U16 Division One competition playing in fifteen matches including starting the Grand Final at five eight and kicking the winning penalty goal in Golden Point as Ormeau defeated Coomera 22 – 20.

In total in his fifteen matches, including finals, Jordan Lewis scored 98 points from five tries and 39 goals. His five tries came in separate matches against Currumbin and Coomera, twice and also against Helensvale.

With the boot this season Jordan Lewis kicked eight goals in Round Three against Southport and five on two occasions being against Currumbin and Burleigh.

In the 2018 Gold Coast Rugby League U15 Division One competition for Ormeau, Jordan Lewis finished as both the competitions leading goal kicker with 40 goals and point’s scorer with 116 points.

Over the course of the 2018 Jordan Lewis scored nine tries including doubles against Mudgeeraba and Runaway Bay and also scored in matches against Helensvale, Southport, Coomera and Runaway Bay twice.

With the boot Jordan Lewis kicked six goals in a match on three occasions being against Mudgeeraba (he also scored two tries to finish the match with twenty points), Southport and Coomera.

Jordan Lewis started at five eight in Week One of the U15 Division One Finals series scoring a try and kicking two goals and Ormeau defeated Runaway Bay 28 – 12.

In Week Two of the Finals Jordan Lewis also started at five eight as Ormeau qualified for the Grand Final with a 44 – 6 victory over Coomera with Jordan Lewis contributing a try and six goals.

In the U15 Division One Grand Final Jordan Lewis, once again started at five eight as Ormeau finished a great season by defeating Runaway Bay 38 – 20 in the decider with Jordan Lewis once again at the forefront contributing a try and five goals.

In 2017 the young man had an outstanding season finishing with 117 points from ten tries, thirty eight goals and a field goal in the GCJRL U14 Division One competition including starting at half back, scoring a try, kicking three conversions and a field goal in the U14 Division One Grand Final against victory over Burleigh.

From a try scoring perspective, Jordan Lewis scored four tries in a match in early June kicking five goals in that match to finish with 26 points as well and in May against Runaway Bay in May he scored a hat trick and kicked seven goals for 26 points as well. Jordan Lewis also kicked seven conversions in a victory over Nerang in Round One of the competition and five goals against Runaway Bay in the Preliminary Final.

In 2017 Jordan Lewis represented the U14 Gold Coast Vikings side where he was selected at hooker and from there he was selected in the South East Queensland U14 White side for the Queensland Age Championships which were held in Toowoomba in July 2017.

In 2016 Jordan Lewis primarily came off the interchange bench for the U13 Vikings side including scoring on Day Two in a 58 – 6 victory over the Ipswich Diggers. After those Championships which were held at Carina Jordan Lewis was selected to represent South East Queensland Green at the Queensland Age Championships.

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After being injured in one of his first pre-season training sessions in Australia after moving from NZ, Titans contracted Vaka Sikahele was named on Burleigh’s extended bench for the Round Two local derby against the Tweed Heads Seagulls.

Vaka Sikahele started off the 2020 season as part of the New Zealand Warriors U18 SG Ball squad, playing four matches all off the bench before the SG Ball season was terminated due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

Vaka Sikahele started from the bench in Round One against the Victorian Thunderbolts, playing thirty two minutes. In that time Vaka Sikahele ran for seventy two metres (twelve post contact), made a line break, broke four tackles and made fourteen tackles at a tackling efficiency of 93.33%.

Vaka Sikahele also started from the bench in Round Two against the Canberra Raiders and was on the field for thirty three minutes, running for thirty metres (thirteen post contact), broke a tackle and made eleven tackles at a tackling efficiency of 84.62%.

After missing a number of rounds, Vaka Sikahele was back on the bench in Round Five against the Parramatta Eels but was on the field for just nine minutes, running for sixteen metres (three post contact) and had a 100% tackling efficiency whilst making four tackles.

In Round Six being the final round prior to the competition shut down, Vaka Sikahele started from the bench against the Illawarra Steelers, palying a total of twenty three minutes. In his twenty three minutes on the field, Vaka Sikahele ran for twelve metres (six post contact), broke a tackle and made sixteen tackles of his own at a 100% tackling efficiency.

In total in the 2020 U18 SG Ball competition for the Warriors, Vaka Sikahele played a total of ninety seven minutes, made a line break, broke six tackles, ran for 130 metres (thirty four post contact) and made forty five tackles at a tackling efficiency of 93.75%.

In late 2020 Vaka Sikahele started at hooker for the Auckland U18 representative side against their Southern Zone counterparts and after that match was named as the 2020 New Zealand Schools U18 captain however Vaka Sikahele ended up starting the match against the New Zealand U18 side from the bench. When he came into the match Vaka Sikahele operated in the dummy half role.

Also late in 2020 Vaka Sikahele played for the New Zealand Warriors U18 side that played a New Zealand Rugby League Development U18 side, with Vaka Sikahele scoring early in the fourth corner under the posts as the Warriors U18 side defeated their New Zealand Rugby League counter parts 42 – 16.

In Auckland Vaka Sikahele played for the powerful Manurewa Rugby League Club.

To round out a busy 2020, Vaka Sikahele played school boy rugby league for the St Paul’s College First XIII in the SAS College school boy competition for the second year in a row. Unfortunately like the majority of competitions that competition was cut short with no finals being played.

St Pauls College however did play a round of rounds of the SAS College First XIII Permier Division school boy rugby league competition with some of their 2020 performances coming in wins against Kelston Boys High 6 – 0, Southern Cross Campus 42 – 4, Papatoetoe High School 26 – 4 and a 30 – 10 win against Manurewa High School.

To cap off an outstanding 2020, Vaka Sikhele was named the 2020 St Pauls College Sportman of the Year.

In 2019 in the school boy rugby league SAS College competition, Vaka Sikahele was part of the Grand Final winning St Paul’s College side scoring in the Grand Final and was in fact named Player of the Match in St Pauls victory as St Pauls College defeated Souther Cross Campus 28 - 6.

Vaka Sikhele was named at hooker in the 2019 SAS College Premier First XIII Team of the Year.

In 2019 Vaka Sikhele represented the Auckland School Boys representative side against a New Zealand Warriors U18 selection, scoring a bustling thirty metre try bumping off a number of defenders on the way to the line with the Auckalnd School Boys winning the match 18 – 10.

2019 also saw Vaka Sikhele represented the New Zealand U18 side, starting at hooker and scoring as New Zealand defeated Tao Samoa U18’s 30 – 18.

Late in the 2019 season Vaka Sikhele was named the 2019 New Zealand Warriors Academy Excellence Award winner.

Vaka Sikhele played his club rugby league in 2019 for the Manurewa rugby league club in the U17/18 Open Auckland rugby league competition, playing in eleven matches, scoring sixty eight points from fifteen tries (136% strike rate) and four conversions.

Prior to moving to St Pauls College in 2019, Vaka Sikhele attended Wesley College and represented Wesley College at the 2018 New Zealand Secondary Schools Rugby League Tournament, including scoring a hat trick against Whangarei Boys High.

In 2018 for the Manurewa Chiefs in the Auckland Rugby League U16 Open competition, Vaka Sikhele played in twelve matches scoring four tries. In 2017 in the Auckland Rugby League U15 competition Vaka Sikhele finished the season with ten tries from fourteen matches for the Chiefs.

Also in 2018 Vaka Sikhele was part of the Tonga U16 side that won the U16 Pasifika Youth Cup Final against Samoa 28 – 10.

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Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition saw former Titans contracted junior Blake Campbell named on the extended bench for the Burleigh Bears when they took on the Easts Tigers however he came onto the interchange bench late in the week for Burleigh’s opening victory.

When he came on midway through the first half, in the 26th minute Blake Campbell lined up at right second row.

Blake Campbell ran the ball for the first time in the match in the 26th minute when he was able to make ten metres to the thirty metre mark after receiving the ball to the left of the dummy half.

In the 29th minute Blake Campbell had a frenetic minute or so. Initially Blake Campbell brought Isaac Matalavea-Booth underneath him and then when Isaac Matalavea-Booth hit the line and spun, Blake Campbell received the ball back then ran to his left to make twenty metres. After playing the ball, Blake Campbell stayed alive and was on hand to take the offload from the dummy half.

Even with the game well and truly over with Burleigh well on top, Blake Campbell did not take short cuts and in the 78th minute was on hand to knock a Tigers attacking kick dead with Easts players pouring through.

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Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition saw Cole Geyer start at hooker for the Burleigh Bears when they took on the Easts Tigers on Sunday afternoon.

Cole Geyer was his usual probing self in the match and whilst he was in the main operating out of dummy half, Cole Geyer also acted as first receiver at times in both halves.

Cole Geyer made his first significant sojourn out of dummy half in the 10th minute of the match. When he collected the ball at dummy half, Cole Geyer shaped to pass to his right before running out of dummy half in the same direction, breaking the line and making twenty five metres before being brought down.

Cole Geyer caused more damage out of dummy half in the 17th minute when he darted out of dummy half to his left, then putting in a forty metre grubber through the line and it almost sat up perfectly for Zane Prophet but a last minute high bounce just prevented a try.

In addition to being heavily involved in a lot of the Burleigh attacking foray’s Cole Geyer was also on hand to prevent an early Easts try in the 4th minute when he along with Sam McIntyre stopped the Tigers hooker short of the try line after he had tried to dive over from close range. Cole Geyer and Sam McIntyre were to the right of the play the ball, and when the Easts hooker tried to dive over, they got low to stop him short.

Then in the 14th minute Cole Geyer produced an outstanding chase and covering defending tackle to shut down a threatening situation for the Bears. Cole Geyer packed in at lock for a scrum twenty metres out from the Easts line, with the scrum feed a Tigers one. Easts moved the ball to their right, breaking the Burleigh line, but Cole Geyer had broken from the scrum and chased the Easts right centre catching him around forty metres out from the Burleigh line.

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Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition saw Jayden Sharp start at lock and captain the Burleigh Bears when they took on the Easts Tigers on Sunday afternoon with Jayden Sharp taking the 3rd hit-up of the match.

Jayden Sharp made another strong hit-up in the 7th minute when he made eleven hard metres to get the ball into the Bears twenty attacking zone after Easts had lost the ball in a tackle. In the 14th minute, Jayden Sharp made a further fourteen metres to get Burleigh over the halfway after receiving the ball to the left of the dummy half.

Jayden Sharp continued to work hard in the 16th minute when he made twelve more metres getting the ball to the thirty metre mark on the second hit-up after Lofi Khan-Pereira’s 14th minute try.

Jayden Sharp did a lot of defence in the match including a strong front on driving tackle in the 77th minute on one of the Easts Tigers second rowers that sat him on his back.

To cap off a very solid captain’s performance when the 67th minute he raced through to get hold of an errant Tigers pass forty metres out from their line. Instead of just submitting to a tackle, Jayden Sharp whilst under pressure from two defenders, offloaded to his left by way of a left arm flick pass to Cameron Brown who after some expert stepping by both him and Lofi Khan-Pereira scored a spectacular try in the left corner.