For the first time in 10 years, the Biloela Rugby Club won the reserve grade 2015 premiership less than a fortnight ago, with a 24-23 win against rivals Mt Morgan.
And what better way to celebrate a victory than with its annual sportsmen’s dinner and presentation night at Biloela on Saturday night.
Last year the team was second, and although they lost their first four games of this season, they got a win under their belt and the rest is history.
“I think the truck tyres were everybody’s favourite,” said president Chris Dawson in his speech.
Pulling these tyres was an intrinsic – and unpopular - part of the training to build up core strength and the team would go through an obstacle course during training.
“We cursed and we swore, but it paid off.”
The team had a number of challenges to overcome – Cyclone Marcia and a resultant flood hit the region and saw the rugby club spend helping people clean up within the first two days.
There was also the fact that shift work made it difficult at times to field a full team.
While thanking the volunteers, Chris also noted that sometimes it was fraught with danger.
“Water boy Mark blew his knee out trying to keep us all hydrated!”
Coach Peter Kutz said he started with a plan, to build core strength, and also developed a questionnaire to discover what each player’s goals were.
“It might have seemed silly, but I wanted to know if we were on the same page,” he said.
Guest speaker for the night was former international rugby player, CQ Country Cup and Brahmans coach, Onehunga Mata’uiau, who was interviewed by Michael Beusch.
Onehunga explained how growing up in Samoa shaped his playing career – the youngest of nine children, his weaving and ducking to avoid a hiding from his older siblings helped later with his rugby footwork.
Also using coconuts rather than a rugby ball helped with ball skills.
“If you miss the catch, you end up with a cracked head,” he told a laughing crowd.
Onehunga said he saw passion and self-belief in the Biloela team and this was what made a winning team.
The highlight of the night was when he announced that eight of the team were included in the next season’s CQ Brahmans training squad.
Six will be in the senior’s squad and two in the under-19s.
The club has a distinguished history, having three premierships under its belt, the last in 2005, and has made finals football for the last 10 years.
