Unfortunately, the team did not play either of their inter-school games this year, due to player concern. Both
Wairarapa and Tawa were outstanding teams and played
in the hurricanes co-ed school semi finals, with both being
beaten (Tawa in the final) by eventual national champion,
Feilding High. The side was Ben Green (Captain), Eddie
Roberts, Zach Taylor, Travis Wainwright, Pounamu
Teepa-, Andreis Lindeque, Nathan Thompson, William
Wallace, Trent Palamountain, Darcy Garland, Robert
Barker, Ryan Murphy, Louis Pienaar, Jack Tichborne,
Maikara Murray, Hinkley Pogai, Kyle Lowe, Ben Popplewell,
Reuben Jones, Robert Fridd and Reid O’Leary.
D Grade
Sadly, the D Grade team fell over half way through the
season. Having a team that thought they did not need
to train drove coach Te Roa Takie into despair. They had
some very talented players, but not so talented when it
came to commitment. The team lost a few players due to
discipline problems within the school. It was disappointing
for year 10 players, Zahn Philip, Hamish Talbot and Ronan
Jordan, all very good players, to end in that situation. They
finished the season playing in different teams. The team
was Rooke Betty, Voyage Christy, Kane Daysh-Coldicutt,
Fergus Jensen, Ronan Jordan, Ross Karauria, Sheldon
Lockwood, Kairau Mangu, Jack Manupwong, Babroe
Moetu, Quintin Nuku-Stone, Mohana Pakieto, Dhayton
Patea-McKenzie, Zahn Philip, Cieran Phillips, Hamish
Talbot, Issac Waihi, Benson Wakefield and Mana Wilson.
E Grade
Ric Burns and Erwin Blokker took on the E grade
competition with a fair number of Year 9 boys in the team.
This is a tough grade with many teams involved and a
huge variance in ability. After the grading round, the
scoring settles into some form of normality. After a very
good start against one of the top teams, Ahuriri, the team
lost confidence in their own ability, but came back later in
the season to record some great wins. There are some
very good players in the team and it will be with great
interest to see how they will go in the future. The team was
Jack Ledword, Ethan Mangakahia-McLean, Jack
Morgan, Andrew Oliver, Cody Palmer, Chris Park, Sam
Percival, Liam Phelan, Sebastian Skelton, Aiden
Barnshaw, Jasper Blokker, Gabriel Coleman, Ziarn Gage,
Arua Gray, Ben Hulena, Ethan Snow-Smith, Jake Talbot,
Johnnie Fincaryk, Aidan Houghton and Aio Te
Maioha-Akuira
F Grade
Mr Fenton took charge of these boys’, and by season
end, had scrubbed the side up to be a team that all sides
were wary of. The loss of outstanding forward, Zane
Shadbolt with a broken arm early in the season didn’t
help, but he bounced back to make a big difference by
the end of the season. The team was the most
successful of the school teams over the season, with
huge parental support on the sidelines. Team members
were Patrick Beard, Arran Cargill-Brown, Thomas
Culham, Ben Curtis, Josh Every, Ciaran Foran, Jordan
Hide, Brandon Johnston, Conor McKay, Jacob Mellors,
Ryan Morton, Matt Nisbet, Josh O’Halloran, Sam Scott,
Zane Shadbolt, Jacob Tait, Josh Wait, Jack Warren, harry
Young and Tim Vandenberg.