Eight Ipswich State High players sign with NRL teams despite COVID-reduced matches

Eight young rugby league players from Ipswich State High School are set to make their debut with the NRL in 2021.

Of those, five are graduating year 12 students who have already moved interstate to begin training and playing with the teams that have signed them.

Director of the western Brisbane school’s Rugby League Excellence program, Joshua Bretherton, said it had been a tough year for their players.

“A lot of our players missed an opportunity to play representative football through the club system and through the school system as everything got shut down due to COVID-19,” he said.

“Our season was compressed into a much-shorter season so it was much busier during the second half of the year.”

For students with ambitions to play…