There’s been a changing of the guard at Churchie, with new coach Dale Roberson set to unleash a youthful squad featuring just four Year 12 players on the 2019 GPS competition. 

Robertson, the former Australian Women’s Sevens assistant coach, is excited about the future but also sounds quietly confident that his young side will be able to match it with the best teams this season. 

Overview with Dale Roberson: 

“It’s been really exciting. It’s obviously a new challenge for me and it’s been interesting to get my head around how the GPS system works from within a school,” Roberson told Rugby News

“It’s incredible to see the amount to work the boys put in through that preparation period ahead of an eight game season that doesn’t start until term three. It’s a little different and it’s a much shorter season to say club footy, but I’m loving every moment of it. 

“It’s very traditional and I like the way the schools get behind their programs. It’s very serious but at the end of the day, it’s still schoolboy rugby. For some of the boys, this will be the pinnacle of their rugby, so we want to make the experience as enjoyable as possible for them. 

“We just finished a camp up at Caloundra on the weekend and we put the final touches on our preparations up there. We also had a three-way trial against BBC and Ipswich Grammar. 

“Prior to that we played four trial matches through the second half of term two. It’s been quite a good preparation and I quite like the idea of playing most of the sides before the start of the season. 

“I took a lot of heart out of our trial performances. We set a few objectives to work really hard in those games and to play for each other and the boys did that in every trial. From there we’ve been able to build on those foundations ahead of round one this weekend.”

2019 Squad: 

“It’s a new look squad with only four boys returning from last year. We’ve also only got four Year 12 boys in the team so it’s a young squad and we’re really excited about that because we’ve been competitive through all of our trials.

“The four boys that are returning put a lot into the team in terms of leadership. They’ve been a great help for me and for the group because they’ve got the experience of playing a first XV season and that’s really valuable. 

“We’ve got two or three Year 10 boys, then the rest of the squad is in Year 11 so it’s exciting for this year and exciting for the future. 

“We’re going to play a bit of a blend, we don’t have a distinct style but we want to be really good in the technical aspects of the game. We want to lay a platform through our set piece and then have the ability to play from different scenarios across the field.”

Key areas of improvement: 

“I had a good look at last season’s games and looked at the strengths of that team and the strengths of the teams that they played last year,” the coach said. 

“We’ve tried hard to build on that through our set piece and forward play. We also want to be really strong in the rugby parts of the game. By that I mean our ruck and maul, our ball presentation, all of those small areas, we want to make them strengths of our game. 

“Then we want to be able to read the game and play expansive footy when opportunities present themselves. We want the boys to look up, see what’s available and then play based on what they see.”

Hopes and expectations for the season: 

“We want to be really competitive in every game and we want every side we play to go away and know they’ve played a Churchie rugby side. 

“We haven’t set goals in terms of how many games we want to win, we’re setting goals for each game we play and we want to be known as a team that other sides know they’ve played and don’t like to play.”

Bold prediction for 2019: 

“From the trials, I think each team has a handful of X factor players who can win a game off their own back. I was really impressed with Ipswich Grammar on the weekend, without Sam Walker playing. 

“We’ve also played Gregory Terrace and they’ve got some quality outside backs, we played Nudgee who were also very strong and BBC who can beat anyone on their day. 

“There’s quite a spread of very good players right across the competition so a bold prediction would be for a few upsets throughout the season.”