The 2014 Anglican Church Grammar School first XV was a schoolboy rugby team for the ages.
In hindsight it really was no shock that the Brisbane side cruised to an undefeated GPS premiership with an average scoreline of 50-13 – and, no, they were not all penalty goals.
While the majority of the 15 young men to pull on the blue and grey in 2014 advanced to play professional rugby union, there were three talented teens that jumped ship to cross-code rival rugby league, the first of which was young gun Brodie Croft.
The Melbourne Storm half made a name for himself right from his NRL debut in 2016. Although currently unable to crack the Melbourne powerhouse’s top 17, there is little doubt Croft is a star of the future. In his mere ten NRL appearances he has scored four tries and kicked four goals, including a matchwinning field goal against the eventual 2017 grand finalists North Queensland Cowboys.
Second is the boom Brisbane Broncos youngster Jaydn Su’A. Despite having played only 20 first-grade games since 2016, Su’A was brought into Queensland Origin camp for Game 1 2018 and will remain an excellent prospect for Kevin Walters and the Maroons in the years to come.
(Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
Last but not least is the man who made his State of Origin debut for Queensland last night, Kalyn Ponga. Just four years ago Ponga burst onto the scene in schoolboy rugby with his trademark white headgear and notoriously deadly step.
The red-headed prodigy had a mixed final year of schooling with a potentially deadly brain infection commandeering two months of his year. A high point, however, was assisting greatly to his team’s rise to an undisputed and rare GPS premiership.
These three NRL stars mixed with well-known rugby names such as Angus Scott-Young, Mack Mason and Liam Wright to create the unstoppable force that will go down in Queensland GPS history.
Despite the very successful poaching of these young stars, the Queensland GPS competition still remains relatively untapped territory for rugby league. This needs to change.
Not only is it a pool of talent eager for their first professional gig, but if rugby league can one day gain a stronger grip on Queensland private schools than rugby union, we go a long way to complete dominance over one of our fiercest rival codes.
Mumbles
Guest
Evening the balance after 60 RU players have gone on to represent Australia at RL. Yours is short-term analysis by a player suffering after years of foul play
Rob
Guest
He was stolen from the golf course. That’s actually more true than a year at an elite rugby union school, under a Broncos scholarship.
terrence
Guest
Tyrone, we do, we all do. Massively. You do, you commented! Like Jarryd Hayne, Kayln Ponga had a dream, an Olympic dream. He wants to play table tennis for Australia (or NZ, maybe Fiji otherwise, like all pretend QLDers) at the next Olympics in 2020 in downtown Tokyo.' ''Ping Pong Ponga'' , guaranteed gold medal for Australia (or NZ, maybe Fiji otherwise, like all pretend QLDers) and he'll only miss a game or two for Melbourne in the NRL post Origin. Storm coach, Cameron Smith, will be OK with this. Can't wait.
terrence
Guest
arghhh, to be sure, to be sure...
Mumbles
Guest
Do you think he got invited without having played the game - he played in the West and at Churchie? Are so one-eyed??
Geoff Dustby
Guest
nice effort but being invited is different than switching codes. plenty of those NZ kids play both codes. AFL trying to claim him for attending a few training sessions. nice try Mumbles
peeko
Guest
Crichton has been playing rugby lreague since the age of six in the town of Young
Mumbles
Guest
BTW AFL journos would be under the direction of News Ltd and as News has signed an agreement with Nine network to share costs on the Business Channel maybe you can expect better news Ltd RL coverage. The Nine network signed an agreement with Fairfax (on Stan, business program, NRL coverage) before they listed in 2013? to get better financial press in the AFR and got it - now Nine have gone off to News for at least part of the news maybe Fairfax will strike back as they occasionally do on RL coverage as part of negotiations. Maybe Fairfax will sign a RL malcontent to throw barbs or wind up Masters occasionally.
Mumbles
Guest
Ponga was invited to Lions academy as NZ RU players are invited to play RL. Whats the diff? The Latrobe survey mentioned DV goes up after big AFL games so your paranoia is alive and well.
Celtic334
Guest
I'm not one for commenting on cross code rivalry as i love both league and union, but Chricton in particular had never played a game of league until he played for Souths Sydney. On the whole it happens a lot between the two Kurtley Beale was a league junior, but then you could combat that with the Radradra's Koroibetes, etc. of the world that were Union players growing up. At the end of the day who cares
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Yep still wanting to steal a slice of the Origin spotlight .AFL journos follow a well worn pattern. Bit off topic but an example of Origin being used to hit rugby league negatively. Jessica Halloran(an AFL fan)timed her piece in the Telegraph perfectly ,about domestic violence, and the clown from the Broncos being allowed to play.She brought the matter up earlier this year.Agenda driven much?In addition to many other anti rugby league stories . Then La Trobe uni (involved with Carlton on a sponsorship deal)showed the results of a survey where DV increased during Origin,and expect the NRL to solve the problem,when the law is unable to do so. Better do away with NYE/ AFL G/F/FA cup/Super Bowls then.
loosehead
Guest
I hear that whilst still in the womb, his mother watched a game of Gaelic football. Surely that means that they can claim him as one of theirs.
Michael Gannon
Guest
AFL trying to get its claws into it too. Apparently Ponga once glanced at a Sherrin and thus qualified him as a AFL prodigy who got stolen away from evil NRL. Brisbane rues the one that got away http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-06-24/brisbane-rues-the-one-that-got-away
jameswm
Roar Guru
Why did he leave the Broncos?
jameswm
Roar Guru
Like Beale
BrainsTrust
Guest
So basically its about stealing players from NZ and the Pacific Islands to shore up both rugby league and rugby union. Then you have the AFL looking for anything they can get. The problem is you have Australia taking the best Kiwis and Paicifc Islanders while NZ has lost a lot of their players to the Pacific Islands. Then you don;t have any side to knock off Australia any more, you do have a lot of teams now that can challenge England and NZ.
Peeko
Guest
Maybe but he definitely has been playing RL starting with Young Cherrypickers since the age of 6
Tyrone
Guest
Surely there are not adults alive that actually care about this stuff
Steve
Guest
I'm pretty sure Angus Crichton was a 3rd generation Scots boy.
nerval
Guest
Yes, peeko reading this article one would think that Ponga switched codes to play rugby league for the very first time after starring for a school rugby union team - as opposed to the truth, which is that he was always primarily a rugby league player who was given the opportunity - courtesy of his scholarship with the Brisbane Broncos! - to play union at a non-league playing school. It's a familiar trope and yet it presents, unwittingly I'm sure, an utterly misleading narrative.