Trivia Night Thankyou

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE NIGHT! I am beyond thankful to our St Joseph’s community for the contribution, support and generosity to this event. Last Friday night, we held the trivia fundraiser for the 2025 sporting team programs and it was great to see everyone in their best dressed sporting outfits. The night featured 6 rounds of trivia with a heads and tails competition, 3 point basketball challenge, best dressed and coin toss.

Some highlights of the night were teacher Mrs Foster taking out the best dressed in her finest Ice Hockey outfit (missing a tooth) with tough competition from our Sumo wrestler. We also had some tough competition in the 3pt basketball challenge where a signed Hawks jersey was up for grabs. Teacher Mrs Musgrave came swooping in with a basket on her first shot and moved into the final rounds of the competition, unfortunately she couldn’t grab the win but it was great to see her skill and talent in the basketball department.

This night could not have run the way it did without the support of my fellow staff Nicole Robinson, Sue Easter and Jenna Attard who were phenomenal in getting this night up and running. Shoutout to Kerry Sweeney who also assisted with organisation on the night and Chris Shelton for his support and great raffle drawing skills. I would also like to thank all the staff who attended on the night or bought raffle tickets to support this event.

A massive thanks goes to the greater community outside of St Joseph’s for their contribution and donations to this night to make some amazing raffle prizes and overall trivia prizes. Altogether we had a raffle of 12 prizes worth over $3000 and it was great to see so many winners present on the night it was drawn. Our winning trivia table ended up taking home over $600 worth of prizes.

The final tally has come in with around $4000 raised all going toward our sporting teams for 2025. This was such a great effort by all and good news is…..WE ARE BACK IN 2025!

Girls AFL

What a phenomenal day out with the girls who have been working so hard in training to improve their skills. With only 2 of the 15 girls having played AFL it was great to see the girls take on a new sport. Highlights of the day included seeing our netball girls, Halle Bryson and Libby Knight take on the ruck whilst Emma-Lee Sutton featured as back up ruck and displayed incredible defence skills in the backs.

Emily Hollingsworth and Addison Doherty worked hard through the centres and forwards and were crucial to our game successes on the day. Our first game was against John Therry where we claimed a comfortable win and it was a good introduction to the game for our girls. We then played against Corpus Christi which was a nervous start for the girls, but once we got started they stuck to the game plan and came out on top. In our third game we faced off against the strong St Mary’s side and whilst they were too good to beat we were one of the highest scoring teams against them. This left us to face Holy Spirit in our last game of the pool. It was a close game but in the end our girls were too strong and worked together to claim the win. This placed us 2nd in our pool with St Marys on top.

After some delivery of ice blocks from the wonderful Aperau-Bob family, the girls were pumped to play against St Patrick’s in the semi final to make the grand final. Our girls started strong with Emily working hard to get the ball up to our end to score. The St Pat’s team showed some class in this game to stay calm and ended up taking the win. This left us in the final play off of the day against St John’s, unfortunately our girls were exhausted and whilst they got some points on the board we unfortunately could not get the win.

Overall, the girls have come such a long way improving on their results from last year’s carnival and placing 4th overall in the Diocese. I am one very very proud coach and it has been a pleasure teaching these girls and seeing them grow in their confidence to take on this game.

MVP - Emily Hollingsworth

Boys AFL

The gala day for AFL was held at Dalton Park on Monday the 28th of October. The team consisted of the following players Callum Attard, Jake Burling, Deakin Cook, Max Elliott, Mason Hili, Mandela Moore, Anthony Millan, James Millan, Jake Primmer, Josh Sail, Chase Smith, Ben Street, Mitchell Whalan and Noah Worth.

The team was led by Deakin Cook, the most experienced player, whose skill and effort were on display for the four matches played. Ben Street didn’t stop trying, displaying skills in all the aspects of the game, across several positions. The athletic abilities of Callum Attard, Mason Hili, Josh Sail and Chase Smith helped the team to be able to adapt to the windy conditions and the fast-paced matches.

Jake Primmer, Anthony and James Millan and Mitchell Whalan all adapted their rugby league skills to AFL well throughout the day. Their defensive skills and kicking ability were on show in the trying conditions with some big hits carried out.

The height of Jake Burling, Max Elliot, Noah Worth and Mandela Mboro were an advantage in contested marks and possessions. Jake Burling showed very good skills learnt from basketball to win most of the clearances from the centre and intercepted possessions during general play. Max Elliott showed very good determination in defence saving numerous goals and accuracy with kicking.

The team lost two close matches against Holy Spirit (winners of the competition) and John Therry with another loss against St Johns. The boys all gathered in a huddle before the last match and to the surprise of some spectators, prayed the Our Father. The boys played with passion and improved skill and come off with a resounding win against Mt Carmel. A thanks to Pacey and Tasha Moylan for scoring and helping umpire throughout the day. A big thank you to Mr Bowers who trained the team leading up to the event.

John Lowrie

Blues Tag

14s Girls

It was a lovely day at Croome Road on Tuesday for the U14's Blues Tag competition. The girls started their first game against Dapto strong, holding off the offence for majority of the game. First try of the day by Ruby Evans resulting in a 4-4 draw. The second game against Illawarra Sports High was a tough one but the girls stayed strong on their defence with some great tags by Lani Graham and intercepts by Jayda Stringer. We gained our confidence back in the third game against Figtree coming out with a 12-0 win with tries from Ruby and Scarlet Richardson, again with great defence from the whole team. Unfortunately we walked away with a loss in our last game against the second Dapto team but the girls kept their spirits high the entire day. A huge congratulations to all the girls on their team for their sportsmanship and teamwork throughout the day.

MVP: Scarlet Richardson

16s Girls

The 16s Girls Blues Tag team put on an impressive display to finish 2nd overall against 9 schools from the Illawarra, showcasing skill, determination, and teamwork. Throughout the competition, they remained undefeated in four big matches defeating Woonona High School, Figtree High School, Dapto High School and Illawarra Sports High School, demonstrating their dominance and resilience on the field. Their flawless run to the final highlighted the team cohesion and their ability to listen to captains Mia Tarlinton and Emily Hollingsworth.

Entering the final with high momentum, they faced a challenging match against Holy Spirit College but gave it their all, showcasing a strong competitive spirit. Although they ultimately took second place, their impressive journey to the final highlighted their potential and growth as a team with the majority of the team in Year 9 and another year to play together next year.

Whilst I filled in on the day for Mr Hetherington, I was so lucky to witness these girls and their games. It was a real privilege to see them grow in confidence and self-belief and their positive vibes were incredible to be around. Special shout out and thanks goes to Lilly Mowbray and Brianna Memmo who were great assistants on the day motivating the girls and running messages to them. Jobs not done girls…onwards to 2025!

MVP: Emily Hollingsworth

Berg Shield Round 2  - St Joey’s vs St Paul’s GreyStanes

On the 25th of October our Junior boys Cricket side took on St Paul's from Greystanes for Round 2 of the Berg Shield.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Sydney and captain Cody won the toss and followed coaches orders and bowled first. The boys put up a solid effort, with Sam and Mitch  opening strong and Ben Malony and Zac tightening things up. St Paul's reached 1-121 after 20 overs. The boys held their ground in the field and the scoring never really got away from us.

Our batting chase began with fire, as Ben Gooda and Cody powered us to 0-52 off 6 overs. But things got tense with Cody and Ben falling in quick succession. Lucas Glover and Mitch steady the ship but we found ourselves at 5-97 with 5 overs left. Sam then came in and played a great innings to see the boys home. Sam finished with 27 runs off not many balls and we won the game with an over to spare.

It was a great game and a great win. Never easy to travel to Sydney and come away with a win. Congratulations to all players and thank you to Mr Moran for driving the bus.

Sports Assembly