Churchie were right in the mix again last season but suffered narrow defeats against eventual premiers Nudgee and big improvers Toowoomba.

New coach Andrew Brownhill has inherited a young, mobile squad in 2024 and is looking to play a different style of rugby this season.

Overview with Andrew Brownhill: 

“We’ve got one last trial against BBC this weekend and at the moment, it looks as though it is going ahead, which is fortunate,” a hopeful Brownhill said during the week. 

“We’re looking good at the moment but like all schools, we’ve had to battle through some injuries during the trials.

“We’ll play a different style of rugby to what you’ve seen from Churchie over the last few years and we’re excited to see how we match up against the other sides in the competition rounds. 

“(Departing coach) Ryan (Schultz) did a bang up job at Churchie for a number of years. He really professionalised the program. Andrew Moloney, our Director of Rugby, continues that good work and has made my job really easy. 

“I’ve come from working in professional environments and the program here is as good as any academy set up I’ve seen around the world. 

“The players have been great to work with. For 15/16/17 year olds, their thirst for learning is fantastic and I’m really enjoying working with them. 

“Our first XV had a great year last year finishing second. They lost to Nudgee by a try and Toowoomba by less than a try I believe, so they were right in those matches as well. 

“We want to do something similar this year and make sure we’re right in every game with 10 or so minutes to go. If we can do that and the bounce of the ball goes our way, then we’ll have every chance of going one better.”

2024 Squad: 

“We had a great year 12 cohort that graduated last year so we’re a young group in 2024. 

“We’ve got quite a lot of year 11 and a few year 10 boys in the mix as well, which is always exciting. 

“We also aren’t as big as last year’s side, so we’ve adapted things and we’ll look to play a high tempo game with lots of offloads to suit the make up of the team. 

What type of rugby will we see from Churchie this year? 

“We want to play from anywhere on the field and kick a lot less than we have previously. 

“Our big emphasis is to keep the ball alive at every opportunity. If we’re getting tackled, we want our players to look to pop the ball up or get an offload. 

“We want as many bodies around the ball as possible so that we can keep rucks to a minimum and keep the bigger sides we’re playing against moving all game.”

What are you expecting from this season?

“Nudgee are always one of if not the team to beat in this competition. They are very well drilled, they are very well coached and they always have plenty of talent around the park. 

“BBC have obviously welcomed Brad Thorn so they’ll be well drilled. We play them on the weekend again and we also played them in our first trial and got pipped in the last minute. 

“Nudgee and BBC will be right up there but I think we’ve got the talent to match them. 

“We’ve got some real x-factor in our backline with players that can turn a game on a dime so I’m excited to see what they can do come round one.”