Dear Players, Parents, Supporters, Coaches and the Norths Seniors crew,

Thank you for coming this afternoon to our inaugural End Of Season Presentation for Northern Suburbs Junior Rugby Union… my name is Nathan Davis and I have had the privilege of being the Northern Suburbs Junior Rugby Union President this year.

2023 has been a year of firsts for Norths Juniors – from our 6 week Academy program way back in January/February… to our first ever fully independent selection process across all age groups; our presentation dinner for the U12 through to U16 XVs State Champs teams at Norths Cammeray and our presentation for U10s, U11s and U12 Dev teams at North Sydney Oval prior to 1st Seniors giving it to Sydney Uni on 1 st July… to having 4 teams represent us at the 7s State Champs this past month; the U13, U15 and U17 boys and U15 girls; and great support from the village clubs with a Norths barbarians team of Drummoyne, Hunters Hill and Norths Pirates players and a full Mosman squad coming up for their own state wide village club champs at Forster; through to today; our end of season presentation and sign-off for Season 2023. And of course we had our annual fielding of teams for U10s to U16s XVs State Cup.

None of this would have been possible without the incredible support of all the parents and players who have given up their time to help this program, so thank you, Mums, Dads, carers, supporters and players for supporting our program in 2023.

We have also been very fortunate to have the great support of our sponsors throughout 2023 – Norths Collective, Allsop Bunting Insurance, Ashcorp Building and The Buena – and of course, the engagement and support of Norths Seniors has been great – including Graham O’Donnell, President of Norths Seniors, Seth Stoltenberg, GM of Norths (who is here today) and Zak Beer, 1st Grade coach, along with many other of the seniors’ coaches and players who have given up their time to support our players over the season – including Nick Kellaway (1st Grade Assistant Coach) and Declan Carroll (1st Grade lock and Board member) who are also with us today.

In addition to all these people we have been very fortunate to have Mike Cross, TryTime Rugby, our Coaching Director, help us secure an incrediblegroup of coaches who have worked hard throughout the rep period to make our children better players on the field and better people off the field.

With this in mind, I would now like to ask the coaches to come up here when their age group is called to award the Best & Fairest and Spirit of Rugby awards for their respective teams for Season 2023.

First up, our Rep XVs teams…

U10 Reds – David Stenning
 Best & Fairest Back – Jude Denny
 Best & Fairest Forward – Brax Wilcox
 Spirit of Rugby – Archer Boyle

U10 Blacks – Scott Dalibozek
 Best & Fairest Back – George Johnson
 Best & Fairest Forward – Angus Webb
 Spirit of Rugby – Archie Hearne

U11 Reds – Jack Upton
 Best & Fairest Back – Jack Watt
 Best & Fairest Forward – Lachie Petric
 Spirit of Rugby – Jasper Bae

U11 Blacks – Zac Davidson
 Best & Fairest Back – Matthew Day
 Best & Fairest Forward – Will Dixon

 Spirit of Rugby – Evie Brown

U12 State Champs – Chris Malone
 Best & Fairest Back – Oliver Restall
 Best & Fairest Forward – Zac Muncaster
 Spirit of Rugby – Jale Wara

U12 Dev Squad – Scott Dalibozek
 Best & Fairest Back – Luke Bulfin
 Best & Fairest Forward – Angus Bloomfield
 Spirit of Rugby – Xavier Spencer

U13 State Champs team – Scott Dalibozek
 Best & Fairest Back – Cooper Glanville
 Best & Fairest Forward – Monty Douglass
 Spirit of Rugby – Angus Green

U14 State Champs team – Gus Spence
 Best & Fairest – Tom Symons
 Spirit of Rugby – Harrison Polin

U15 State Champs team – Sam Maley
 Best & Fairest Back – Nicholas Wendt
 Best & Fairest Forward – Luke Niulala
 Spirit of Rugby – Isaac Perkins

U16 State Champs team – Ben Furby & Will Nicholls
 Best & Fairest Back – Charlie Francis
 Best & Fairest Forward – Harry Davies
 Spirit of Rugby – Taj Mailei
 Spirit of Rugby – Archie Harris

U13 7s team – Jack Upton
 Best & Fairest – Henry Perkins
 Spirit of Rugby – Monty Douglass

U15 Girls 7s team – Caitlin Young
 Best & Fairest – Pippa Harrison

 Spirit of Rugby – Charlotte Sparks

U15 Boys 7s team – Sam Maley
 Best & Fairest – Hunter Chan
 Spirit of Rugby – Max Prykiel

U17 7s team – Will Nicholls and Ben Furby
 Best & Fairest – Franklin Mutton
 Spirit of Rugby – Will Grattan

Congratulations to all these players for their efforts during the rep season and to our coaches for guiding them through a tough rep season and of course to all the players for their dedication and commitment to Norths Juniors and representing the red and black.

Of course, one age group in particular had an exceptional State Champs in the XVs over the June LWE up in Dubbo.

Our U14s took out the NSW State Championship in a closely fought game… but for their coach, there was never ever any doubt… from the first time he saw these young men trial (& having coached them last season as well) he knew taking out the GF was a real possibility… and he trained them for exactly that.

Gus Spence, can you please invite your team up here so that we can all congratulate them, and you, and your assistant coaches Ed and Alf, and your manager Kent, on a great achievement.

1 Paddy Phillips
2 Jesse Bray
3 Callan Abbott
4 Samuel Bull
5 Edward Bateman
6 Ethan Hopper
7 Tom Symons
8 Harry Adamo
9 Makoto Chapman

10 Finn Hannon
11 Riley Jackson
12 Eddie Garcia-Wood
13 Archie Hartman
14 Archie Marshall
15 Billy O’Hara
16 Jagger Short
17 Pasquale Barbalace
18 Spencer Zuckerman
19 Harry Donohoe
20 Harrison Polin
21 James Bousie
22 Angus Bookallil

Congratulations boys and your supporters on an incredible effort.

Obviously with success on the field comes higher honours.

With this in mind, I’d like to call on our VP, Ben Richards, to make mention of and congratulate those players that have this season been selected for higher rep honours – honours that become available from the U14s up:

SJRU U14 Boys Sydney Blue – Tom Symons, Harry Adamo, Finn Hannon, Archie Hartman, Makoto Chapman

SJRU U14 Boys Sydney Red – Spencer Zuckerman, Paddy Phillips, Eddie Garcia-Wood

SJRU U15 Boys Sydney Blue – Luke Niulala, Kai Brennan

SJRU U15 Boys Sydney Red – Isaac Perkins, Hugh Gacitua, Henry Gardiner, Josh Harrold, Will Taylor, Nick Wendt

SJRU U15 Boys Sydney Barbarian – Oliver Smith

NSWJRU U16 Boys Presidents XV – Toby Luce, Henry Butler

U14 Girls Sydney Blue team – Charlise Cannon

U16 Girls Sydney Red team – Charlotte Sparks

 

SJRU U14 Boys Sydney Squad – Harry Adamo, Eddie Garcia-Wood, Finn Hannon, Archie Hartman, Paddy Phillips, Tom Symons
SJRU U15 Boys Sydney Squad – Luke Niulala
NSWSRU U16 Schools I team – Taj Mailei, Tom Hartman

NSWSRU U16 Schools II team – Oliver Greig, Charlie Francis

NSWSRU / Australian Schools Rugby U18 teams – Hwi Sharples, Hugo Orpin, Harry Darling, Ben Whatley

U14 NSW WARATAHS GEN BLUE – Eduardo (Eddie) Garcia-Wood, Harry Adamo, Finn Hannon, Archie Hartman

U15 NSW WARATAHS GEN BLUE – Oliver Smith, Isaac Perkins, Joseph Lane, Lawson Armstrong, Hugh Gacitua, Max Prykiel, Will Taylor, Hunter Chan, Henry Gardiner, Kai Brennan, Josh Harrold, Luke Niulala, Nick Wendt

U15 NSW WARATAHS ACADEMY – Luke Niulala, Nick Wendt

U16 NSW WARATAHS ACADEMY –  Taj Mailei, Tom Hartman

In addition to all these great achievements, it is exciting to note that we also have some Norths Juniors that have signed with Norths Seniors in their Colts program for next year: Zac Warden, Ben Whatley; and Alex Tubbs.

Congratulations to all the players for their selections.

Of course, it takes a lot of work in the background to pull something like this together, so to Ben Richards, Elise Mittelheuser, Sallie Watt and our 4 village club presidents – Henry Bateman, Justine Perkins, Andrew Chapman (and now Andrew Bunting – Bunts) and Damien Clayton, plus Bec Ho, Adam Latham, Katrina Courtenay and Darren Mackenzie (and a special shout out to
Katie Knight), thank you for all your help in making this our biggest rep season yet… it has been a long but very successful year and I am excited to see what we can do as Norths Juniors’ rep committee for next year with Mike Cross and his Try Time team of coaches supporting us and the players all the way through.

To the players and parents and carers and supporters, and our sponsors and Norths Seniors, thank you again for your support of Norths Juniors.

We hope you enjoy the rest of your afternoon at the Greens and we look forward to sharing another successful reps season with you all in 2024 – with Academy kicking off in late January – only 3.5 months away!

Cheers

Nathan

NSJRU President

Dear Parents and Players,

NSW State Champs and Gala Weekends

After a busy few weeks of gala days and State Championshipsfor our U12s through to our U16s I wanted to update you all on Norths Juniors and what we have just achieved, what we have coming up next month and what is planned for the rest of the rep season.

As touched on briefly a couple of weeks back, our U12s through to U16s teams have had some great experiences at their respective State Champs over the June LWE.

Our U12s had a tough pool down in Camden but showed they had the skill and determination to match it with the top teams by drawing with the Grand Finalist and runner-up, Manly. The U12s finished 11th overall.The experience has made the players even hungrier for next year and we can’twait to see how they go with their development over the next 12 months.

A huge thank you to Chris Malone (Coach), Henry Bateman (Asst Coach), Bardia Paki (Trainer) and Sallie Watt (Manager) for giving up their time and energy to help get our players on the field each day and put in their best efforts in the red and black.

Our U13s team travelled to Orange and were constantly coming up against some much bigger opposition throughout their tournament but despite giving away some serious weight difference in the scrums and at the breakdown, all our players came together and played some very skilful rugby and managed to make it through to the semi-finals. In the end, our players achieved a great result by placing 4th overall.

Thank you to Scott Dalibozek (Coach), Cameron Douglass (Asst Coach), Grant Boorman (Trainer) and John Perkins (Manager) for all your efforts with the players over the weekend.

Our U14s had an incredible tournament in Dubbo. After losing the Grand Final to Warringah in the Sydney Cup on Sunday the players backed up and went one better on Monday in the NSW State Championships by winning the Grand Final against the ACT Junior Rugby Union Brumbies in a nail-biter (22-17).

The players were well supported by Coach Gus Spence, Asst Coach Ed Abbott, Trainer Alf Garcia-Bennett and Manager Kent Hopper.

A huge effort by all and I am sure they all can’t wait to defend the trophy in 12 months’ time.

After travelling to Orange last year, our U15s were in Concord this year. It was another big tournament for our players finishing 5th overall on Sunday in the Sydney Cup before finishing a respectable 7th in the NSW State Championships on Monday.

A big thanks to Sam Maley (Coach), Jack Upton (Asst Coach), the trainers Nick Taylor and Phil Gacitua and Justine Perkins (Manager) for all their efforts over the long weekend.

Our U16s travelled to Port Macquarie. For some this was their 7th State Champs after starting in the U10s many years ago. After some early tough matches, our players got into their rhythm and ended up finishing 6th in the Sydney Cup tournament on Sunday. With momentum on their side our team entered the NSW State Champs on Monday ready to finish off the tournament in strong form making it all the way to the Plate Grand Final where they finished second to Warringah, securing 10th overall.

Thanks to Coach Ben Furby, Asst Coach Will Nicholl, Trainer Gary Chapman and our Manager Lou Davies for keeping our players focussed and committed over the weekend. A huge effort for some of these parents too after being involved in the Norths Juniors reps program from the U10s, also.

On behalf of all the NSJRU Exec Committee I would like to congratulate all the players and parents, coaches, assistants, trainers and managers for helping make this our biggest year for Norths Juniors to date.

We would also like to extend our congratulations to all those players who have been selected for higher representative honours and wish you all the best this coming weekend as you trial for Sydney in your respective teams.

Of course, while the NSW State Champs have been run and won,our U10s, U11s and U12 Dev teams have been training very hard for their upcoming championships.

The U12 Dev team players are playing at North Narrabeen onthe 8th and 9th July in the SJRU Gala and the U10 Red and Blacks and U11 Red and Blacks are playing at Granville on the 15th and 16th July at the NSWJRU Gala.

All these players have been giving up their Sunday afternoons trialling and training as they get ready to perform in their red and black kit. For some of these players it is their first time in reps and we are very excited for them.

This Saturday afternoon all 5 teams will be presented their jerseys at North Sydney Oval prior to 1st Grade’s kick-off against Sydney University.

We encourage all Norths Juniors players, past and present to come down in your red and black and support our young rep players as they arepresented their jersey and then stay on and support Norths 1st XV asthey tear Sydney Uni apart.

NSW 7s State Champs 2023 at Forster

I am excited to announce that we have entered teams into the NSW 7s State Championships in Forster in late September/early October and wewill start trialling for these teams in late August.

We have registered teams in the U13s Boys, U15 Girls, U15 Boys and U17 Boys State Champs. The U13s play on the 23-25 September and the U15s and up play on the 6-8 October.

This tournament presents some great pathways to future 7s honours with NSW and beyond.

If anyone wants any further information, feel free to emailme or stay on our 2023 Rep Chat for further updates over the coming weeks.

For those keen to get their names in the mix for trials, please nominate here. Nominations will be open until late July but best get in quick so we can hit the ground running once trial dates are announced.

In further exciting news, Mosman and Norths Pirates have also entered their own teams for the NSW 7s Gala which will also be played at Forster on the same weekend as our U13s Norths Juniors are playing. If U11 players from Drummoyne and Hunters Hill want to put a team together, reach outto your Club Presidents and/or Team Managers and they can provide you with any further information you may require.

Thank you to everyone for your support of our reps program for the first 6 months of 2023. We still have plenty of rugby to go over the coming few months so enjoy the school break (but not the break from rugby!) and we look forward to crossing paths on the sidelines in the coming weeks andmonths.

Cheers,

Nathan

President – NSJRU