As the 2024 season hits the halfway mark, it’s a good time to reflect on the people, performances and progress driving Bond University Rugby forward. From breakout talent and seasoned leaders to coaches, staff and volunteers who do the hard work behind the scenes, this year’s campaign has been built on a shared commitment to the jersey and to each other.
There have been milestone matches and magic moments — some serious, some light-hearted — along with signs of improvement across all programs. Whether it’s the bedding down of a defensive system, team culture strengthening, or a set piece starting to dominate, the work put in week-to-week is beginning to pay off.
The Women’s Premier Rugby competition kicks off in earnest this weekend against Wests and we’ve also taken a look at how our three-time champions have prepared for their title defence through the Challenge Series.
Head of Rugby, Grant Anderson says there’s plenty to celebrate — and just as much still to sharpen. In his half-yearly wrap, he highlights the players standing tall, the personalities keeping morale high, the stories worth retelling and the key areas that need attention as the club pushes toward the business end of the season.
The Standouts
First Grade
Kobe Walters, the new backrower who has come over from New Zealand. He has brought some size and physicality to our forward pack and has won two man-of-the-match awards so far. He missed a few games with a knee injury and worked really hard to come back. He has fitted in around the group really well and has shown some leadership skills and really challenges players to get better. Dion Samuela has also done really well. He has been moved to the 10 which isn’t his favourite position, but he is coping well. He is a dangerous broken-field player. And then there’s Deon Evans-Alo-Leifi, I really like how he has fitted in, his training and how he acts on the training field.
Colts 1
It is hard to pick one player there, I think it is the pack as a whole and in particular the front row. Jonah Rangiwai the big tight head prop has made a major impact, Blaze Moana has been very good and Jake Leck – those three as a unit have been really effective. Charlie McCauley leads that team around, just by his actions on the field. He is really experienced and big and physical.
The Surprise Packet
For me it is Keanu Rasch in Colts 1. He is big and physical and gets on with his job. He doesn’t say much but is really action based.
And it is hard to be surprised about any members of the women’s side that has won the past three QPR grand finals, but Paris Mohr has really stepped up this year and improved her game a lot. She has worked hard on her contact skills. She's done a lot of work in the gym and she is standing out in their forward pack. We will get the likes of Zoe Hanna and Jemma Bemrose back at some point, Eva Karpani will play this week. But I think Paris is the standout forward at this stage.
The People’s Champ
Toby Mayes in the Second Grade group does a great job. His positivity and energy around all the teams is really good. He acts as the club captain and he's the one that tries to drive cultural standards.
Jordan Lenac does a really good job also. He’s personable, everyone likes him, and he tries to bridge the gap as much as he can between the programs as part of that senior leadership group.
It's a rugby club and there's a lot of big personalities and within each program there's probably a few. But across the whole club, I think Toby and Jordan are the glue that holds everyone together.
A special shoutout
Peter Jones is the obvious one, he’s a life member who does so much work around the place. He's here from the kick off for Colts 2 right through to the end of the day. He manages teams, does all the gear, takes the trailer and packs and unpacks it each week.
Moments to remember
JB (Justin Bernstein) reaching his 200th was massive. There's not a lot of people that have played 200 games at the club. Jeremy Smith will get his 100th game in the next couple of weeks, and he has been here since Colts.
And there was another moment none of us will forget in the Colts 2 game against Sunnybank when our forward pack muscled their way towards a pushover try from about eight metres out. That just doesn't happen in Colts 2. But as the scrum crossed the tryline our No.8 Jack Tee was so excited, he threw his hands into the air in a sign of victory and forgot to dive on the ball and score the try. And the Sunnybank halfback got in there and dived on the ball and forced a drop out. So, we didn't score there, but we did everything we could, and everyone had a laugh about it and the boys were pumped.
What’s clicking
I think having all the teams training here has really helped bring the club together. Tuesdays before training, we have a whole club meeting where we do some awards and reviews from the weekend. That has been a big change from the last few years where teams trained at different venues and having everyone together, I think has been a real positive step for us. In any club you have got to celebrate the little wins as well and you don’t do that enough because you are so focused on the big prize. And that is what Tuesday night is all about celebrating things from the weekend’s games and people that have worked for the club off the field with the Unbreakable Bond award.
First Grade Focus
It is the second year of the Mick Heenan and Sean Hedger coaching team, and the guys are starting to get a greater understanding of what they need to do to play in the system that that Mick and Hedge have introduced. Hats off to Hedge, he has really improved the defence, both in system and in tackle technique as well. The players are all working hard to get their roles right, particularly around the ball carry and breakdown, which has been good and we're seeing that in games. We've lost five games by less than two points, they can go either way and we've just got to learn how to win a little bit more.
Colts Kicking On
We've won five of our last six games and I think the forwards have a real understanding of what their role is now. We're developing a dominant set piece which is critical to winning comps.
Premiership Pedigree
Bringing our 2022 premiership winning coach Setu Naseri back into that group has really taken a lot of pressure off last year’s title architect Lawrence Faifua and added an injection of coaching experience which has been great. Between them they have been involved in the clean sweep of 15s and 7s competitions across the past three years.
Culture as a constant
The culture of the club's not something that you just instil and forget about. You have got to work on it, week in and week out. Every night there has to be something about how you're going to build your culture. It is it players giving each other feedback? Is it players giving coaches feedback in front of the group? Whatever it is we 've got to continue to work on our culture to get everyone to buy into it.
Areas for improvement
Transferring what you do on the training field into games is also really important and that's definitely an area that we can approve on across all the programs.
First Grade
High performing teams have high performing leaders and we can continue to work hard on our leadership skills with our leadership group. Making sure that everybody is taking accountability for their own actions first and then really rewarding and challenging the other players to get better as well.
Colts 1
We need to get more cohesion in our backline. They are all exceptional players in their own right but bringing them together in a unit is the challenge.
Don’t miss
The Old Boys Day this weekend will be a great event. And I think everyone's looking forward to Ladies Day on July 12. Ringers Western have come on board as a sponsor of Ladies Day, so there'll be a real outback cowboy theme with line dancing and a mechanical bull, it is going to be great.
Coaches Corner
Mick Heenan
“If in pre-season we were told we were going to be fourth at the halfway mark we would have taken it. But I would have liked a few more wins. We just have to keep improving. We don’t fear anyone in the competition, but we also know if we don’t put our best on the field we will lose. We took a bit of a step backwards against Norths on Saturday, but across the season so far, we have been improving.”
Rico Gear
“I don’t focus on what we have done so far. It is all about moving forward. I think we just have to start again, there is a lot of rugby between now and the end of the season and we have to front up every single week with the right attitude and that starts now against Wests. We think we need 25 points over the back half of the season and we want to do everything we can in our preparation and the way we play each week to achieve that.”
Lawrence Faifua
“I think we are in pretty good shape. We have picked the final squad that will take us through the season. The things we have been working on through the pre-season Challenge Cup have really helped us out. I’m confident that if we can execute all the things we have trained on – the fundamentals and game plan, we are going to do well in this competition.”