January 20, 2020
It looks like it’s going to be a year for rugby league in the South Burnett with five teams – including 2018 premiers Nanango – confirmed for the senior competition.
The centenary of the South Burnett Rugby League will also be celebrated, with a big dinner planned at Kingaroy Town Hall on Saturday, April 4.
While the final draw is yet to be completed, the Seniors are expected to kick off the competition with a double header the night before the Centenary Dinner (April 3).
Junior games will get under way a week earlier (dates to be confirmed).
The focus was on junior rugby league at the weekend with a three-day Beyond The Nest rugby league development camp held at Murgon Showgrounds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
More than 60 junior players camped at the PCYC and took part in training activities, supported by a $3000 sponsorship from the South Burnett Regional Council.
On Monday, the South Burnett Rugby League hosted a women’s Come And Try afternoon at T.J. O’Neill Oval in Kingaroy.
Fourteen girls of various ages took part in the skills session under the watchful eye of recently appointed NRL Game Development Officer Brennan Brown.
Brennan said the afternoon was an opportunity to gauge the possibilities of entering girls teams in the Toowoomba Rugby League competition again this season.
Last year, the South Burnett entered U12s, U14s and U17s women’s teams in the TRL competition.
South Burnett players also joined with Beerwah in the Sunshine Coast competition.
Two big festivals of rugby league have also been planned at Cherbourg this year.
The International Legends of League are scheduled to return on February 7-8.
And on March 7-8, the Queensland Rugby League has joined with the South Burnett Rugby League and the Cherbourg Hornets to hold the inaugural QRL Central Region First Nations Cup.
This has been named in honour of legendary Cherbourg sportsman Frank Fisher who twice played against a touring Great Britain side in the 1930s.
“Bigshot” Fisher, who died in 1980, was named in the Cherbourg Team Of The Century, the South Burnett Team Of The Century and the Wide Bay Team Of The Century.
In 2008, he was named in the Indigenous Team Of The Century alongside modern rugby league greats such as Eric Simms, Steve Renouf, Greg Inglis, Johnathan Thurston, Arthur Beetson and Cliff Lyons.
