by Chelsea Cryer | Jun 28, 2019 | Latest News
To help with the development of our elite players, Australian Oztag has created the High Performance Academy for 13 to 15 year old age groups.
This Academy will provide elite coaching for a selected number of players that have been identified as having the potential to be our next generation of superstars.
During the NSW City v Country Championships, our 12 selectors have selected 16 boys and 16 girls to attend the inaugural academy. A further 6 players from Queensland were selected from their recent Tri Series. The ratio of players was based on player numbers in each state.
The team at Australian Oztag are pleased to announce the following players will be offered a position at the High Performance Academy which will take place at the Narrabeen Sports Academy on the Northern Beaches from Friday, the 15th of November to Sunday, the 17th of November:
BOYS
Jack Attard (Boys 13) – Scorpions
Lachlan Greatz (Boys 13) – Pride
Nayte Saaga (Boys 13) – QLD City
Ryan Wotton (Boys 13) – Seahawks
Elijah Baker (Boys 14) – QLD City
Dylan Brettle (Boys 14) – Scorpions
Josh Debritt (Boys 14) – Scorpions
Latu Fainu (Boys 14) – Scorpions
Shadi Hammoud (Boys 14) – Seahawks
Potoua Hotere-Papalii (Boys 14) – Scorpions
Harry McPeak (Boys 14) – Knights
Malaki Suopopo (Boys 14) – Pride
TJ Coe (Boys 15) – Seahawks
Ethan Hutchings (Boys 15) – Scorpions
Zack Lamont (Boys 15) – QLD City
Haydan Ritchie (Boys 15) – Knights
Ethan Smith (Boys 15) – Seahawks
Sean Trindall (Boys 15) – Pride
Marbam Wichman (Boys 15) – Scorpions
GIRLS
Kiani Duckett (Girls 13) – Seahawks
Jacinta Laverance (Girls 13) – Seahawks
Marlee Marshall (Girls 13) – QLD Barbarians
Evie McGrath (Girls 13) – Pride
Tayleah Pasili (Girls 13) – Scorpions
Matisse Bettridge (Girls 14) – QLD City
Ella Carlisle (Girls 14) – Knights
Lara Cosgrove (Girls 14) – Pride
Mackenzie Davis (Girls 14) – Scorpions
Lailani Montgomery (Girls 14) – Knights
Lily Riolo (Girls 14) – Pride
Tess Robinson (Girls 14) – Seahawks
Sienna Yeo (Girls 14) – Pride
Tallara Bamblett (Girls 15) – Scorpions
Mia Barber (Girls 15) – Knights
Krystal Bulmer (Girls 15) – Knights
Sienna Laing (Girls 15) – QLD City
Bindi O’Hara (Girls 15) – Pride
Sienna Williams (Girls 15) – Seahawks
For all the players that have been named above, please read the invitation letter which can be found by clicking here.
The deadline to confirm your attendance is by 5pm on Friday, the 12th of July.
by Chelsea Cryer | Jun 25, 2019 | Latest News
Crestwood High School will send six teams to Wednesday’s Inner West Sydney Senior Schools tournament.
More than 400 high school kids will compete in the regional tournament, that continues to get bigger every year.
“I think it just reflects the interest in Oztag around the Hills area, it’s great to see so many enthusiastic students that want to get involved in the sport,” Crestwood High School coach Hugo Lam told Oztag Australia.
Boys and Girls teams from throughout the region will compete in six divisions that are all expected to be tightly contested.
“Probably 50-60% of our guys play rep Oztag. We’ve got some Nepean players and some Tigers players in the younger years. Then we’ve got some kids playing Oztag for the first time,” Lam explained.
“We’ve got a bit of a crossover between our Oztag players and our touch players but we’re finding more and more that our students prefer Oztag.
“It’s a simpler game to learn to begin with and it’s a lot more definitive. When you get tagged, you’re tagged, whereas in touch it’s a lot greyer.
“They also pick up a lot of different skills that they can use in other sports like league and union, it’s a lot more relatable.”
While Lam said he was confident that his side’s would be competitive on Wednesday, he said the competition would be tough.
“Model Farms and Castle Hill both have a really strong Oztag culture. Model Farms are sending nine teams tomorrow, they’re only five minutes away from us, then Castle Hill are 10 minutes away so there’s certainly plenty of interest in the Hills district.
“We’re pushing for it to become a CHS sport. I don’t know if it’s quite there yet but there are certainly some things in the works to try and make Oztag an official sport in the NSW School Sport Association.”
The top two teams in each division will progress to the Champion of Champions tournament later this year and compete against the state’s best school Oztag sides for the NSW State Championships.
“We should get some good results. It’ll most likely be wet so the guys will need to adapt to that because that makes things a little less predictable.”
“The students were all really excited when they heard about the Champion of Champions tournament, it’s a big incentive for them.”
by Chelsea Cryer | Jun 20, 2019 | Latest News
Wadalba Community School has dominated the Central Coast Senior High Schools tournament played at Tuggerah on Wednesday.
Wadalba took our the Open Boys and Boys 9/10 divisions, while the two girls teams were beaten in the finals.
“The Open Boys team was a bit of a throw together team at the last minute. The boys wanted to play one last school gala day together before they finished Year 12, so they decided to give it a crack,” coach Kinsley Kettle told Oztag Australia.
“They weren’t taking it too seriously to start with but once they started winning, that changed pretty quickly, particularly towards the final.”
The side featured three Australian Oztag representatives, Lachie Clapham, Brodie Pintatara and Rohnan Maher and a number of other talented sportsman giving Oztag a crack for the first time.
“We had state cricket players, soccer players and some guys without much Oztag experience but once they got into it, they all really enjoyed it.”
Wadalba met Terrigal in the Open Boys decider, with very little separating the two sides all match.
“It was a pretty crazy final, a real nail biter. Our boys were leading late in the game, then the Terrigal boys scored a terrific try right on the buzzer to send it to extra time,” Kettle explained.
“In the drop off, it went try for try four or five times and then eventually Terrigal made a mistake and we got the win.”
Earlier in the day, the Wadalba Boys 9/10 side defeated Northlakes 6-2 in the final and will progress to the Champions of Champions tournament later this year and take on the state’s best school Oztag sides.
“They’re a team of superstars, they’re all very experienced Oztag players with a heap of talent and I think they’ll give the Champions of Champions tournament a good shake.”
In the Open Girls final, Terrigal were too good for Erina and claimed a 6-2 victory, while Erina claimed the Girls 9/10 title, beating Mackillop 4-1 in the final.
by Chelsea Cryer | Jun 11, 2019 | Latest News
Last week we found out that popular Newcastle Oztag referee, Jerome Brecard had been diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer. To read the article, click here.
Jerome has a young family with a beautiful wife and two kids, Remy (3 years) and Maddox (9 months). The family are doing it really tough right now and the Oztag community has got behind the family to help them out in their time of need.
He is a fighter and he’s been undergoing intense chemotherapy. He is unable to work, his wife can’t work at the moment due to being his full time carer and they’ve got medical bills to pay.
The Oztag community have helped contribute to the $62,174 currently raised via the Facebook benefit page but the target is $80,000. To make a donation via this page, click here.
Newcastle Oztag were taking donations at the carpark of both the Junior and Senior City Vs Country tournaments on the weekend, with the Oztag community contributing another $716.40 so we’d like to give a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the family thus far!
Newcastle Oztag will also be holding a fundraising evening at the Sunnyside Tavern in Broadmeadow on Friday, the 21st of June. To view the Facebook event, click here.
Local media:
Newcastle Herald – Jerome Brecard determined to beat Stage IV bowel cancer as Hunter community rallies to support the young family
Triple M Newcastle – Benefit for the Brecard’s – Tanya & Steve
by Chelsea Cryer | Jun 9, 2019 | Latest News
Western City Scorpions and Southern Country Pride have both has busy afternoons at the NSW Junior City v Country tournament on the Central Coast, winning 12 of the 14 divisions.
Western City Scorpions will head back to Sydney with seven titles, including six of the seven boys divisions. Scorpions were victorious in the Boys 11s, Girls 12s, Boys 12s, Boys 13s, Boys 14s, Boys 15s and Boys 16s.
Southern Country Pride finished the weekend with five titles including four of seven girls divisions. Pride won the Girls 11s, Girls 13s, Girls 14s, Girls 15s and Boys 17s finals.
Southern City Seahawks took out the Girls 16s and Girls 17s divisions.
The Scorpion’s strong performance helped City edge out Country 17-12 in the overall NSW City v Country Series. City started the day leading 8-7 after the seniors tournament on Saturday.
NSW Junior City v Country Grand Final Results:
Girls 11s: Southern Country Pride 2-1 Western City Scorpions
Boys 11s: Western City Scorpions 5-3 Northern Country Knights
Girls 12s: Western City Scorpions 5-2 Southern City Seahawks
Boys 12s: Western City Scorpions 4-2 Southern Country Pride
Girls 13s: Southern Country Pride 4-0 Southern City Seahawks
Boys 13s: Western City Scorpions 4-3 Southern City Seahawks
Girls 14s: Southern Country Pride 2–1 Northern Country Knights
Boys 14s: Western City Scorpions 8-2 Northern Country Knights
Girls 15s: Southern Country Pride 6-0 Western City Scorpions
Boys 15s: Western City Scorpions 7-4 Southern City Seahawks
Girls 16s: Southern City Seahawks 3-2 Northern Country Knights
Boys 16s: Western City Scorpions 4-2 Southern City Seahawks
Girls 17s: Southern City Seahawks 4-0 Northern Country Knights
Boys 17s: Southern Country Pride 4-3 Western City Scorpions
2019 NSW City v Country Series:
City – 17
Country 12
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