Mini Maroons: Fair play a winner for Wolves

Cooper Roberton went the distance and made it count for when he headed to Roma for the recent Darren Lockyer Shield under 12 carnival.

The Stanley River Wolves go-getter was recognised as player of the carnival and simply “loves his footy” according to coach Campbell Burns.

“His attack and carry is outstanding. He just puts 100 per cent into it all the time and is a pretty passionate kid when it comes to his footy,” Burns said.

As the team had to leave Roma pretty quickly after their final game for the long drive home, Cooper missed the presentation, but club officials got their hands on his prize before presenting the award to him with his team at training.

“We just gave it to him and training and everyone gave him a handshake. It was good,” Burns said.

“Some of the boys went out to Roma last year – they were 11 and played up in the under 12s – so that was a good carnival and we knew what to expect, then we ended up taking the whole team, and every player went to the Mulga Cup in Charleville last year.

“As young men as a team they do learn a lot on these trips and they play a lot of footy and it’s good for them and their teambuilding and really brings them together.”

The team also had success at the Jock Butterfield Junior Carnival in the Fraser Coast town of Torbanlea, where Ryder Juffs was player of the carnival.

Burns said it all come down to a great culture throughout the club.

“Right through the club, all the teams and good, fair teams and we instil that into the boys and girls,” he said.

'Little superheroes' get the job done

A whole host of people made sure the XXXX 47th Battalion A grade carnival ran so smoothly, but Zac Mikkelsen, Noah Pethers, Blaise Edwards, Eli Pethers, Bronx Edwards, Lane Limbrick played no small part.

These six little champions helped as ball kids for two hot days rotating through 28 games on both fields.

Hunter Gersbach, Logan Dinsey, Luca McCarthy and Ashton Fletcher also did one game each to give the others a spell.

Central Highlands league and club coordinator Carmen Limbrick hailed the Emerald Tigers juniors for the amazing job of the “little superheroes”.

Marlins leaping into next level

Agnes Water Marlins has been growing in numbers and four youngsters have earned rep jumpers recently in a feather in the cap for the development at the club.

Under 10 players Slater McIntosh, Arli Ashman, Fletcher Keyworth and Under 11 Jonah Parry recently made the respective Bundaberg school representative team, playing at the regional carnival in Rockhampton on the last weekend of the school holidays.

The boys had been showing outstanding dedication just to earn their spot in the squad having made the near three hour round trip to and from Bundaberg to do what was required for the team.

Agnes Water has almost doubled in players numbers from 2022 to 2023, in part thanks to an impressive retention rate, while the club now has six female league tag teams. 

The club aims to add a new field to allow for further expansion in a growing community.