Sunbury Tigers’ Antonio Sanele has made an instant impact in the Queensland Rugby League’s Cyril Connell Cup competition.
The competition, which has four pools of teams across the nation, gives the opportunity for talented under-16s to play against the best in their age group.
Playing for the Victorian Rugby League, Sanele scored a hat-trick of tries in a 36-24 win over Wynnum Manly Seagulls in the team’s opening Pool C match in Brisbane.
Victoria then beat Redcliffe Dolphins 14-0 in Melbourne and followed that with a 24-18 loss to Norths Devils.
Then Sanele was one of his team’s six try- scorers when Victoria beat Redcliffe 36-14 in Brisbane on Saturday. The Victorian team is now in the finals and waiting to find out its first opponent.
It’s been a big 18 months for Sanele, who represented Victoria at a national under-15s tournament in Sydney last year. He was selected in the Australian B team after excelling in that event.
But it all could have been so different for Sanele if he hadn’t moved to Australia. “I started playing rugby union when I lived in New Zealand,” he said. “When I moved to Brisbane my uncle signed me up to play league and when I moved to Wallan I played for Sunbury.”
The 15-year-old, who is a centre, has dreams of playing in the NRL and his idols are cross-code star Sonny Bill Williams and current Brisbane Broncos player Anthony Milford.
But for now his first aim is to help the Tigers under-16s advance further in the Cyril Connell Cup than last year. “We made the semis last year,” he says. “This year we want to make the grand final.”
