It is important for us to collectively acknowledge the support of our sponsors and partners who made this Event possible. These include Experience Gold Coast, Ev2 Sportswear, Gallagher and ENP Fitouts.

 

The 2025 City v Country series was incredibly close. We had arguably the tightest Event on record with all four disciplines going to third and final deciding games. Country had players featuring from Cairns, Townsville, Longreach, Blackall, Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Wynnum, Ipswich, Logan, Beenleigh and the Gold Coast; whilst City had players that features across the Brisbane City competitions.

 

 

In Men’s, City clinched the decider 6-5 in what truly showcased just how close these two teams were. In the end Troy Ford was the difference with him setting up and scoring numerous tries across the series (and rightfully claiming player-of-the series).

 

 

In Men’s 30s, after two draws in the first two games, City again pipped Country by one point in the decider with the experience and guile of Dan Moloney from City, proving the difference. That said Matt Chapman for Country was immense as was Paul Dewstow who took out player-of-the series.

 

 

In Mixed, it was a scintillating series with Country’s second game win of 9-7 being one of the most exciting victories in recent memory. In the end the combination of Cummins and O’Farrell for City was too good in that final game with City taking it out 8-3. Special mention to Riley Matenga-Hongara from Country for taking out the player-of the-series award.

 

 

Finally in Women’s, this was all locked up at the end of regular time in the deciding game of the series, with the game going into extra time. With both teams down to four players, Imogene Davidson stood up for Country delivering a 20m cut out pass to her winger to score unopposed in the corner. This was the first series Country has won in the Women’s discipline and it is fair to say there were some wild scenes to celebrate this epic victory. Special mention to Jess Sleep (City) who took out the player-of-the-series award on the side of a losing team.

 

 

The 2025 QLD State Championships was held from May 2 to 4 and was like no other as we welcomed for the first time, teams from outback QLD (playing under the Regional Emus banner) to our Event. In total, 64 teams competed across Women’s, Mixed, Men’s and Men’s 30s divisions.

 

 

In the Women’s competition, we saw significant growth on our Australian Championships representation. In particular University should be commended for bringing two sides to the Competition – a reflection on the time investment from Brad Plant and his team on growing the representative TRL pathway for female players at UQ.

 

 

The Competition also welcomed the Regional Emus who had a red hot crack coming fourth after the regular rounds and making the Premier League finals. The team featured a number of new faces which I firmly believe could go on to dominate the Women’s competition at the elite level, in years to come.

 

 

After all the round games, the top 4 (to play in the Premier League) included Kingston, Kedron, Petrie and the Regional Emus. After two tight semi-finals, Kingston came up against Kedron in what was an epic grand-final. With scores locked at full-time, and after a drop-off which got down to 3 v 3, the Kedron Colts (pictured below) through Izzy Buirski scored a scintillating try to seal the win. Kingston were devastated but no doubt now the dust has settled will be proud to have featured in one of the all-time great grand-finals in TRL history.

 

 

The next 4 teams played off in the Cup finals and featured Sunnybank, Richlands, UQIC and Carina. Sunnybank have been to the big dance on many occasions (often featuring in Premier League finals in years gone by) so it was little wonder they rose to the occasion to take out the Cup grand-final. They will no doubt be motivated to go one better and make the Premier League finals at their next major Tournament.

 

 

There was little separating the top four teams in the Men’s 30s competition with results see-sawing through the round games. Mt Gravatt and Kedron both looked formidable at times and despite neither making the grand-final, arguably had the potential to win. In the end Kingston came up against Carrara. Many were tipping the experience and strike power of Kingston to be too much in the grand-final but Carrara came out of the blocks playing fast up-tempo TRL. Carrara were also able to pull off two pin-point AFL tries courtesy of Men’s 30s player of the Tournament, Ben Henderson. In the end it also felt like they wanted it more than their opponents and they closed the game out comfortably.

 

 

Mixed had plenty of size and depth with four mixed pools competing across the three days. There were plenty of highlights through the round games with the fancied teams all performing well. In addition, the Regional Emus were again a standout performer through the first part of the round games showing genuine class and speed with ball in hand. They failed though to close out a few games late in the peace and this ended up costing them a spot in the finals.

 

 

In the Plate grand-final, Petrie Phins QPL were too strong for the Beenleigh Bulls Black winning 11-3.Their dominance in the grand-final probably had them wondering ‘what might have been’ and they will no doubt be aiming to feature in the higher grade finals in future Events.

 

 

In the Cup grand-final, Anthony Nguyen led his Richlands Rattlesnakes side to a stunning 5-2 victory over Kedron Colts (captained by Jordyn Ryan). Anthony has been planning this team for 6 months and has put significant time into not only preparing for this Event but helping the West Brisbane region, generally. The victory was certainly well deserved.

 

 

Finally, in the Premier League grand-final, Kingston Kings Black took on Kingston Kings White in what was an all-Logan affair. It was a tight game with both units playing a very similar style of TRL. In the end, Kingston Kings White were victorious 3-0.

 

 

Men’s showcased significant skill and capability with plenty of new faces (and teams) joining the representative Event circuit. Special mention to the Townsville Heat who made it through to Sunday featuring in the Plate semi-finals. This team featured many new faces and credit must be given to Stephen Whitley who put the trip together. Stephen, Thomas and Richard were also incredibly involved as referees across the Event and deserve praise for backing up in Orange when they were not playing.

 

 

In the Plate grand-final, Carrara took on UQIC and used their home ground advantage to devastating effect closing the game out and recording a second grand-final victory to the Gold Coast club. In the Cup final, Sunnybank proved too strong for Maroochydore. Finally, in the Premier League final, Kingston Kings White again took on Kingston Kings Black with White reigning supreme despite trailing at the half-time break.

 

 

There were a number of standout performers across the Event. These players (and official) are listed below:

• Women’s player of the Tournament: Gabby Rice (Kedron Colts)
• Mixed player of the Tournament: Kaya Raupitu-Kihi (Kingston Kings White)
• Men’s player of the Tournament: Arthur Butler (Kingston Kings White)
• Men’s 30s player of the Tournament: Ben Henderson (Carrara Chargers)
• Golden Whistle (Best Referee): Rowan Crouch (Melbourne)

Finally, a big thankyou to all our region managers, staff and referees for what was an extremely successful Event. We will see many of you at the World Cup in July and those we don’t, hopefully at the Australian Championships in October.