Championships won and done in Brisbane for week one of Summer Slam

The champions of the 16&U and 18&U age groups have been crowned after a jam packed finals day at the Summer Slam in Brisbane.

After a thrilling three days of competition, all eyes were on the Valley Pool today for the all important gold medal matches.

16&U GIRLS - NSW BLUES 10 d QLD MAROON 9

The 16&U Girls descended on Valley Pool for the first gold medal game of the 2022 Summer Slam.

NSW Blues entered the match undefeated, having won all six of their games leading up to the gold medal game.

But Queensland Maroon were not to be discounted, having recorded five out of six wins.

The NSW Blues came out strong, managing to notch up at 9-3 lead at one stage. But Queensland Maroon weren’t going down without a fight, scoring in quick succession to level the scores 9-9 with only minutes remaining on the clock.

However, with 40 seconds to go NSW Blues called a time out, capitalised on their possession and scored a goal to secure the win.

NSW’s Tilly Waugh said her team were thrilled to be the Summer Slam champions.

“This is a pretty great feeling - we worked so hard to get here and it’s amazing to know that it’s all paid off,” Waugh said.

“We were stressing and getting a bit panicky when Queensland started to come back, but we just tried to remain calm and play our game.

“Our coach just reminded us to attack, stick to our plan and stay strong,” she said.

With the championship title being the highlight, Waugh also said she was grateful to have the opportunity to play this week.

“It’s been pretty exciting to be back in the pool with all my friends, it’s been so fun and such a great competition,” Waugh said.

18&U GIRLS - QLD MAROON 11 d NSW WARATAHS 8

The second gold medal match of the day was a hard fought battle from both Queensland Maroon and NSW Waratahs.

Both teams were strong throughout the round games, Queensland with seven wins and NSW with five heading into the final game.

Scores were neck and neck throughout the match, Queensland managing to hold onto a narrow lead.

In the end, the dominant Queensland prevailed, with a three goal advantage proving enough to hold out their cross border rivals.

Queensland’s Lulu Elliott said it was great to be able to get the win in front of a home crowd.

“We’re pretty happy with that - it’s been a long time coming with tournaments cancelled in the last two years,” Elliott said.

“We worked hard in the lead up, and I think we were lucky really not having the added challenge of lockdowns like some of the other states.

“We’ve trained hard, we worked hard and we gel really well together as a team and I think that really showed.

“We executed lots of our set attacks quite well, so we’re really happy,” she said.

Elliott welcomed the return of national level competitions, and state versus state rivalries.

“It’s great to be able to see everyone from interstate again,” Elliott said.

“And to get a hit out has been great after having a long time out of the pool,” she said.

16&U BOYS - NSW BLUES 9 d QLD MAROON

With the girls champions crowned, focus turned to the boys divisions, with the 16&U Boys the first in the pool.

Having won all of their games leading up to the gold medal match, NSW Blues were hot favourites to take out the Summer Slam title.

Queensland Maroon put up a good fight, but it wasn’t enough to hold off a dominant NSW Blues, who claimed an eventual five goal win.

NSW representative Xavier Nicholas said it was a relief to be able to take the win.

“I’m just so relieved - I think we were all a bit worried about that game and how it was going to go,” Nicholas said.

“Personally, I’m happy that I played well and it’s a big relief to get the win today.

“It’s been ages since we’ve been able to play in a tournament like this, so it’s been great to get back in the pool this week,” he said.

As well as the bragging rights of winning the title, Nicholas was proud to be named the 16&U Boys Goalkeeper of the Tournament as well as the Australian Cadet squad.

“I’m really honoured and happy to be named the goalkeeper of the tournament,” Nicholas said.

“And also to be named in the Australian squad - it’s such a high level achievement and I never thought I would make it this far.

“I’m just really thankful for the opportunity,” he said.

18&U BOYS - NSW BLUES 7 d NSW WARATAHS 6

It was an intrastate battle for the gold medal in the 18&U boys division, with the NSW Blues and NSW Waratahs going head to head for hometown bragging rights.

Having met earlier in the tournament, where NSW Waratahs managed to get the upper hand with a 13-7 win, it was framed to be a thrilling match from the outset.

NSW Blues proved to be a force to be reckoned with, but NSW Waratahs weren’t going down without trying.

Managing to keep the scores close for all four quarters, it was the endurance of the NSW Blues that shone through in the end and saw them claim a 7-6 win.

Blues Josh Keepkie said that he was proud of the teams efforts despite a few set backs heading into the tournament.

“We came in not having a coach as ours unfortunately got COVID, but then Patrick put his hand up to help us out which was great,” Keepkie said.

“We knew we were going to have to pull together as a team, which we did and we managed to make things happen.

“We had some games where we played really well, and that gave us some confidence heading into today.

“The one loss we had coming in really humbled us, and gave us a bit of a reality check.

“But I’m just proud of the boys, and it’s been so great being here after such a long time,” he said.

Want to watch the replays of all the Summer Slam action this week? CLICK HERE

There’s more to come! The 20&U age group will contest the Summer Slam next week, with all the action getting underway on Monday 17 January 2022.