Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to congratulate two amazing sporting clubs in my electorate who played in the local rugby championships last month. Well done to the talented players and their coaches who competed over the grand final weekend from both local Brisbane clubs, GPS and Brothers. GPS entered their first-grade match as the underdogs but went on to beat University 23-16 and claimed the Queensland premier rugby title, breaking a 22-year premiership drought. The last time GPS had the premiership trophy was in 1996. Well done to head coach Anthony Mathison and the fantastic performances of all the players, but particularly Dan Gorman, Michael Richards, try scorer Alfonso Horomia and reliable goal kicker James Tittle. Congratulations to GPS's Matt Gicquel, who won the Tony Shaw Medal for Player of the Match in the grand final.

Turning now to Brothers Rugby Club, while they didn't make the first-grade grand final this year, they were in the grand finals for all eight of the other grades. Four of these Brothers teams won their grand final matches at Ballymore, making Brothers Brisbane's most successful rugby club in 2018. Brothers also won the Doherty Shield, awarded annually to the champion Brisbane club based on competition points won across all participating teams. Big congratulations also to Harry Wilson, who won Player of the Year.

Next year I hope to see GPS and Brothers both in the first-grade grand final, because what a great match that would be.