Plenty of pride and passion was on show at Beenleigh's Bill Norris Oval as the Murri v Koori Interstate Challenge made a successful return to the rugby league calendar.
In an action-packed day, the Arthur Beetson Foundation and Deadly Choices community event also served as a cultural celebration, with junior Rugby League Samoa Queensland teams also invited to take part, facing off against Murri boys and girls teams in five matches before the interstate rivalries kicked off.
In the day's main matches, the Queensland Under 16 Murri side proved too strong for the New South Wales Under 16 Koori team, claiming a 32-10 victory to take away the Steven ‘Bear’ Hall Shield.
Hooker Tait Cameron claimed player of the match honours in the game that returned to the interstate calendar after a three-year hiatus due to COVID.
"I can't fault them," Queensland coach John Buttigieg told the QRL after the match.
"The character was there, the boys had limited preparation, but the boys showed up and they did the job ... and it was great to be a part of it."
In the women's Arthur Beetson QAIHC Murri v AH&MRC Koori Interstate Rugby League Challenge match between Brisbane Natives and Dunghutti ConnXions, the home side proved triumphant 18-6 in a tough match.
Brisbane Natives skipper Patrice Chambers - who claimed player of the tournament honours in last year's Murri Carnival - showed her worth again, being named the player of the match.
For Chambers - a proud Koa / Kuku Yalanji woman - the game marked a return to the field after recovering from a fractured ankle that she suffered in the Natives’ second game of the 2022 Murri Carnival. Initially passing it off as a rolled ankle, Chambers played through the pain, not knowing the extent of the injury.
“I had an avulsion fracture. What happened was basically my ligament went to tear off the bone and a little bit of bone went with it,” Chambers told QRL.com.
In the match against Dunghutti, Chambers looked to be back to full fitness and was in everything, directing her players from dummy half. She also put her body on the line in defence, helping shut down the attack, especially the threat presented by half Simone Smith, who was a standout in a beaten team.
The men's match between Erub United and Newcastle All Blacks was a seesawing and fiery affair with multiple sinbinning marring the stop-start contest, but the visiting Koori Knockout winners showed their skill early in the game to run out 18-8 winners.
Erub United tried to mount a comeback in the later stages of the match, but Newcastle's defence proved too strong, repelling their attack which tried to find their way in over the line along the edges.
All Blacks prop Isaac Briggs was named player of the match.
