2004 has been an extraordinarily successful year at Keebra Park with 8 of this years Rugby League program graduates heading off this year after securing either contracts or selection with NRL teams. Junior Kiwi Sam Moa, nifty Half Rangi Chase and utility Kim Uasi are set to commence contracts with the Wests Tigers while Mufoa Filipe, Joe Harris and Nigel Fruen will join last years graduate Sean Morris in the Jersey Flegg squad. Brothers Greg and Shane Eastwood have also enjoyed a phenomenal season which has seen them rewarded with inclusion in the Brisbane Broncos top 30 contracted players squad.

Keebra Park football manager Peter Craig was pleased with these results and the success of the program. “Its great to see the professionalism and discipline of the program manifest itself into actual career opportunities for our students” he said. “These results are an excellent form of feedback on our program and indicate to me that we seem to be doing something right”

An affiliation with the Wests Tigers NRL club has seen the league program go from strength to strength with this close link allowing the school to be well informed of all the latest innovations in the rugby league world. The school coaching staff work closely with their professional colleagues in Sydney and receive immense benefit from this exchange of information. Regular coaching clinics involving Tigers players and more recently head coach Tim Sheens provide such a forum and inform the school where it needs to head with their program in order that the graduates are prepared for careers in league.

“These days a career in sport is just as viable as a career in one of the more traditional professions or vocational areas ” said Mr Craig. “And just as school subjects such as Manual Arts prepare students for apprenticeships, our football program prepares our students as professional athletes”