Sport

After many weeks of postponements it is great to have some sport to report on during Week 7 and 8 of Term 2.

NSWCCC Cross Country Championships
Amelia Wilson (15 Years girls) and Wilton Townsend (16 Years boys) have both been selected in the NSWCCC Cross Country Team for the NSW All Schools Cross Country after both coming 4th in the NSWCCC Cross Country Championships. The All Schools Cross Country will take place on Tuesday 22 July. We wish Amelia and Wilton every success in this event.

2025 NSW School Mountain Bike Series 
NSW_School_MTB_Series.pngCongratulations to St Paul's students, Hudson Gidzala, Noah Bailey, Addison Norton and Perry Kennedy, who represented the College proudly at the third round of the 2025 NSW School Mountain Bike Series held at Nambucca Heads.

The competition was fierce across all the age groups. Riders on the day included Auscycling National Series representatives in Downhill, Gravity Enduro, Cross Country Olympic and Short Track, through to formed school mountain bike teams and quite a few first timers. Our students had the unique experience of racing the same tracks at the same time, against a wide selection of riders in their age group.

Over thirty high schools were represented and gained points through both participation and individual results.

Results for the day:

  • St Paul's College MTB Cross Country - 9th in points for high schools.
  • St Paul's College MTB Funduro - 15th in points for high schools.
  • Hudson Gidzala
    U17s Cross Country - 5th
    U17s Funduro - 14th
  • Noah Bailey
    U17s Cross Country - 9th
    U17s Funduro - 18th
  • Addison Norton
    U15s Cross Country - 24th
    U15s Funduro - 34th
  • Perry Kennedy
    U15s Cross Country - 28th
    U15s Funduro - 32nd

NRL Country Cup Boys Gala Day 
Three teams competed at the Country Cup Boys Gala Day last week in Port Macquarie. The U13 team coached by Mr Adam Mascord, played well against MacKillop College with awesome carries and tackles, but came up short despite their determination. The Under 15.1 team coached by Mr Will Pollock, played MacKillop College with high enthusiasm. Amazing defence from Pierson Kemp, Riley Carey and Ethan Layton on the right edge kept MacKillop out for a good ten minutes. They scored from a good cross-field kick, to lead 4-0. After another five minutes of back and forth play MacKillop scored again, going up 10-0. 

The Under 15.2 team, coached by Mr Aiden Tolman, comprised of the College’s under 14 Cochrane Cup players. Some good football went unrewarded as the boys plied their trade against a physical Hastings Secondary College team. Solid performances across the field against larger opponents was rewarded with a try, but alas Hastings College scored 3 to our one. Mr Tolman was positive as his charges went into their second game, which they lost to the winners of the day overall, St Joseph’s Regional, 20-0. The boys were upbeat and happy for the experience against bigger opponents and are ready for the upcoming assault on the Cochrane Cup competition.

Mr Mascord’s team played their hearts out, being the most successful of the St Paul’s teams on the day, winning their final game 6-0. In a somewhat frustrating day for the boys and Mr Mascord, they lost their first two games by 2 points, after being the better team for all-but the whole game.
 
The Under 15’s, led confidently by Cooper Anderson, played their second game against the physical Hastings Secondary College. Rugby League is a simple game, if you don’t have possession of the football, you can’t score points. We did not have much possession at all! Two early sets were completed well, but then a couple of tired penalties put Hastings College on the front foot, and before the end of the game they were up 10-0. The boys did well to keep their adversaries to only two tries, having the ball just once more after their initial two sets. 
 
In the end, Rugby League was the winner… St Paul’s, unfortunately, was not. The sportsmanship, skill and enthusiasm all of the boys  was outstanding. All involved would like to thank Mr Leon Robinson for his excellent organisation (and bus driving) for the day, as well as Ms Danielle Prior for her work supporting the coaches. 
 
Players of the day for each of the teams were:
 
U13 - Flynn Tolman/Zak Kane
U15.2 - Alastar O’Donnell
U15.1 - Pierson Kemp

Mr Will Pollock - U15.1 Coach

Diocesan Senior Football Gala Day
Thursday 12 June was a big day on the field for our open girls team, which for many, was their first game back for the season. With limited options for training due to the weather, the team pulled together and gave it a red hot crack.

Playing against St Joseph's Regional College in the first game, we were the better looking team, however two quick goals against us in the first half denied us a win. We knew MacKillop College and St John Paul College were our two hardest games, so we rallied together and pushed forward relentlessly.

Our biggest aim was to have as much fun as we could. The final game against Newman College resulted in a 4-0 win, which highlights the team’s skills and determination despite the other losses. Many thanks and congratulations to the Open girls team for their outstanding performance, attitude and dedication across the day.

Ms Shannon Thomas - Senior Girls Coach

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The Open Boy's Football team were competitive during the Lismore Diocese Senior Football Gala Day which was played in Coffs Harbour on the synthetic pitches. It was nice to have a dry surface underfoot for the first time. In the first game, St Paul's narrowly went down to Regional College, in a 2-1 loss. The second game started well, with Julian Ardetti slotting a tidy penalty. The result ended in a 3-1 defeat.

St Paul's team came alive in the final game of the day, and came away with a convincing 5-2 win. Wolfe Hudson scored a hatrick, Shannon Smith nailing a goal from 20m out, and Julian Ardetti turning defenders inside out and getting a ball past the keeper.

The boys played in good spirits and I thank them for their efforts across the day. It's always a pleasure to take our students away, and to see them represent the College in a positive way.

Mr Heath Needs - Senior Boys Coach

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AFL Junior Schools Cup
AFL_Junior_Boys.jpgSt Paul's team of Year 7 - 9 boys headed to Port Macquarie for the AFL Junior Schools Cup on Friday 13 June. The first two games played against Hastings Secondary College and St Columba Anglican School were successful with the team playing with determination and great team spirit. The two wins qualified St Paul's for the final against the talent-laden MacKillop College, who even had a NSW Under 15's representative among their ranks. While the team dared to dream of taking down the top seed, unfortunately MacKillop College’s superior ball use and game sense sent the team home without the win. Congratulations to the boys who played with incredible sportsmanship which they can be highly proud of.

Mr Paul Posterino - Junior Boys Coach

The girls AFL presented with the strongest numbers out of the five teams that entered. With the majority of our players from Years 7 and 8, the team did exceptionally well playing older and more experienced players.

AFL_Junior_Girls.jpg

Despite many being new to the sport, all the ladies banded together to produce one win and two losses. This allowed entry into the quarter final where we held the opposition goalless .. but not pointless, missing out on making the grand final by two points.

Kyarna, Tess, Andie, Remi and Jersey were stand out players, but most importantly the way the girls played with respect and kindness meant a wonderful day for all involved. I look forward to watching AFL develop at St Paul's College in the years to come.

Mrs Beth Marmo - Junior Girls Coach


Touch Football Refereeing
A group of eight students from Year 8 - 10 (Cooper Anderson, Mitchell Hornick, Darby Hudson, Korbin McMurray, Archer McMurray, Alastar O’Donnell, Angus Sutherland and Flynn Tolman) generously volunteered to help referee the Macleay Valley PSSA Touch Football Gala Day at Verge Street Fields on Monday 16 June. The boys represented St Paul’s College with pride and were great ambassadors for the College.

Mr Talyn Kinnaird (Kempsey East Primary School) was extremely pleased with the efforts of the St Paul’s College students who were instrumental in the success of the day.

Girls Country Cup Rugby League Gala Day
After several postponements and changes of venue, St Paul’s 14 Years Girls team finally got to show their skills in the great game that is rugby league.

Excitement levels were high as we boarded the bus for our short trip to Wood Street fields in Port Macquarie on Wednesday 18 June. The girls were keen to impress coach Walsh-McKiernan, star of the Mustangs senior women’s rugby league team and also star first year teacher of Mathematics at St Paul’s College.

The first hit out versus St Joseph’s Regional can best be described as being like NSW Men’s first half efforts in Origin Game 2. After a fair start the girls were unable to stay in the game and went down 32 points to nil.

Unperturbed by their first game loss the girls then backed up to play Camden Haven in the second game. Miss Walsh-McKiernan read the riot act and the girls were ready to roll. Unfortunately, Camden Haven hadn’t listened to the pregame pep talk and raced to a 14 points to nil lead after just 10 minutes of play.

At this stage St Paul’s collectively reflected on what it takes to play the greatest game of all. They were inspired by some tough tackles and hard running from Indy-Lea Cheers who came up with our first try of the day. The clock was ticking down and the girls then went into attack mode from their own side of halfway with Harlow Donovan and Lani Gidzala feeding the ball to Jersey Sloane who raced 60 metres to score the try of the day. Harlow kicked the conversion from in front of the posts to seal the final score of 14-10 to Camden Haven.

After a long break and a forfeit from Wauchope High School, we finally lined up for our final game against the undefeated MacKillop College from Port Macquarie.

Miss Walsh-McKiernan had spent much of the break completing a comprehensive upskilling of rugby league skills amongst the inexperienced squad. This practice had an instant effect and the girls dominated possession in the early stages of the game which saw Remi Fairhurst and Chloe Ellis make many metre eating runs.

Indy-Lea Cheers scored a sensational try from a Harlow Donovan chip kick and Chloe Ellis crashed over next to the post to take the score to St Paul’s College 8, MacKillop 0 after 12 minutes. The coach and the bus driver were daring to dream. MacKillop hit back with a try out wide to take the score to 8-4. The clock was ticking down and MacKillop was now dominating possession. The girls tried hard to keep them out but MacKillop broke through for a game busting try next to the posts. MacKillop’s goal kicker wound down the clock and calmly slotted the conversion to end a great day of girls rugby league.

A big thanks to Miss Khianii Walsh-McKiernan for her expert coaching and to all the girls who were fantastic ambassadors for our great College and the game of rugby league.

  • Chloe Saunders NRLW Player of the Day - Indy-Lea Cheers
  • Best Backs - Lani Gidzala & Harlow Donovan
  • Best Forward - Chloe Ellis
  • Most Improved - Remi Fairhurst
  • Player of the Day - Jersey Sloane (60m runaway try)

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NAIDOC Basketball Challenge
Basketball NSW has teamed up with Hastings NAIDOC Committee to run this fun FREE NAIDOC SPORTS CHALLENGE including 3x3 Basketball.

There'll be a free BBQ Lunch, 3x3 basketball, six aside Futsal and so much more!

  • PCYC Port Macquarie, 12 Owen Street
  • Tuesday 8 July 2025
  • 10.00am - 2.00pm
  • for everyone aged 10 years & up

Please REGISTER HERE 
Don’t miss out! Come and join us this NAIDOC Week!


Mr Leon Robinson - Teacher and Sports Coordinator

leon.robinson@lism.catholic.edu.au