Photo: Stephen Tremain

Brisbane State High School battled through 2019 and ended the GPS season seventh, their only two wins coming over the two sides that finished below them in Gregory Terrace (43-31) and Brisbane Grammar School (47-21).

Those victories came in rounds three and eight respectively and while BSHS at times competed with the competition’s remaining sides they did prove outclassed in a number of games.

But, as coach Pat Byron said, they were up against the odds for the entire season after suffering a monumental injury toll, something he hopes won’t happen in 2020.

OVERVIEW WITH PAT BYRON

“It was a pretty tough season, obviously we’d have loved to win a few more games … but it was always going to be tough to beat the likes of TSS, BCC and Nudgee, but that’s the way it goes,” Byron said.

“It was a pretty frustrating year in a way too just in terms of having so many injured players. I think we ended up going through 29 starting players throughout the season, it was a pretty big injury toll.

“That always makes it tough to build consistency and combinations in the team but you can never foresee that coming and I guess an upside to that is the fact that a lot of guys who might not have played in the first XV got the opportunity throughout the season.

“A lot of guys in year 11 and even year 10 got valuable first XV experience which was great for them and whether it was one game, five games or eight games I think that will definitely serve them well going into next season, so there’s always a silver lining in a way.”

WHO IS THE GRADUATING PLAYER TO WATCH?

“Our tighthead prop Jaiden Christian had a sensational year, he was one of our best players and he ended up being rewarded with selection in the Queensland under-18 side and he’s just been called into the Brisbane City under-19 team as well,” Byron explained.

“He’s deserved those rewards after the season he had and he’s definitely a player I think could really come out and grow as a player at the higher levels in the next few years, he was great.”

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN BETWEEN NOW AND ROUND ONE NEXT YEAR?

“I think we’ll need to look at the way we prepare, and our conditioning to try improve there,” Byron said.

“The injuries we had this year, I certainly don’t think they were coming from poor training but I think we do need to keep trying to work out the best way to train and make sure the boys aren’t over-trained.

“I think that’s the biggest thing, nutting out the best way to prepare to give ourselves the best chance.”

BOLD PREDICTION FOR 2020

“We’ll have a lot of younger guys coming back who now have first XV experience and our under-15 side won the premiership too, which was great for them and they’ll obviously be a year older,” Byron said.

“That’s a really good base and we’ll be hopeful to build from that and be there or thereabouts next year. It’s always tough to tell so far out obviously, but we’re hopeful that we’ll be there contending in 2020.”