St Joseph's Nudgee College

August 25, 2008

Approximately 100 students from St Joseph's Nudgee College's AFL teams met Brisbane Lions forward Lachie Hendersen at a recent training session.

Master in Charge of Aussie Rules and First 18 Coach John Stackpoole said the visit was a surprise.

"I didn't tell the boys he was coming so it was a big surprise for them when they turned up for training and saw Lachie there," Mr Stackpoole said.

Lachie, originally from the Geelong Falcons, is an AIS-AFL Academy graduate and was the Lions first draft pick this season.

The training session was held on Ross Oval and involved all the College's AFL teams, including skills sessions on passing, kicking and catching before the boys gathered in the Ross Oval grandstand for a question and answer session.

This is the third year Nudgee has been lucky enough to have Lions players visit.

"Each year about this time the Lions send players out to schools to help run coaching sessions," Mr Stackpoole said.

"In the past we've had Nudgee Old Boys Jason Akermanis and Jamie Charman come out as well as some of their team mates. It's great for the boys to be able to learn from such talented footballers and they really enjoy the sessions."

Nudgee College will this year field seven teams in the Queensland Independent Schools Australian Football League (QISAFL) where the First 18 are looking to continue Nudgee's exceptional undefeated record of the past two seasons.

AFL is not a GPS sport although teams do play several GPS schools during the Division 1 competition such as TSS, BBC and IGS. ACGS also competes in Division 1.

Since entering the competition in 1998, Nudgee has won a total of eight premierships:

• First 18 - 2000, 2006, 2007
• Second 18 - 2002, 2003, 2007
• Third 18 - 2006
• Under 15 - 2005

Earlier this year the Nudgee U13 team won the state final of the Jonathan Brown Cup Competition (SEQ School Boys division) at Carrara Stadium.