FIVE Newcastle Knights SG Ball players have been selected in the NSW under-18 squad ahead of the side’s match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before State of Origin game one.
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New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) announced the 20-man squad on Monday, which will drop to a side of 18 before they travel to Victoria next Monday.
From the Knights, SG Ball NSWRL player of the year Jock Madden made the squad, along with Knights SG Ball player of the year Jaron Purcell and Knights SG Ball players’ player Bradman Best.
Halfback Phoenix Crossland and Brock Gardner round out the Knights juniors who will be part of coach Mark O’Meley’s squad.
Both Purcell and Best were part of the under-16 NSW side in 2017 – coached by NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler – that beat Queensland 22-16 at Suncorp Stadium.
The match was headlined by Best’s stunning match-winning try towards the end of the game.
The under-18 State of Origin clash will kick off at 5.15pm next Wednesday. The game will be live-streamed on the NSWRL website.
CHS Basketball
The Hunter CHS girls basketball team finished third at the NSW Combined High Schools Championships last week in Port Macquarie.
The girls topped their pool, but faced Sydney North in the semi-final and went down 61-85. In the third vs. fourth playoff, they defeated Western 64-57. Lambton High School’s Chyra Evans was named Hunter’s most valuable player.
BILL TURNER DAY
Eight schools will contest round two of the Bill Turner Trophy at Rutherford on Wednesday in an Upper Hunter/coalfields gala day.
Contesting sides will play round three games on the same day should they win.
Matches include: ASC St Peters v Mount View, Maitland Grossmann v Maitland (9am); St Josephs Lochinvar v St Josephs Aberdeen, Hunter Valley Grammar v Kurri Kurri (10.15am).
The Bill Turner Cup (boys) and Bill Turner Trophy (girls) is an under-15 competition of 850 schools from Queensland, NSW, ACT and Victoria. It is regarded as one of the largest sports team competitions in the world. The national finals of both competitions will be held at Speers Point in September.
BASEBALL GESTURE
Newcastle Eagles Senior League Baseball team should be proud of their efforts at the Australian Senior League National Championships in more ways than one.
The boys finished in sixth place out of 11 teams after recording two wins and four losses.
But it was a gesture off the pitch the boys should be most proud of, kindly donating their leftover food from the competition to a local charity in Lismore.