School sport is a fine balance between participation for all who wish to take part whilst also maintaining a focus on performance and winning. Across the board the standard of Associated Independent Colleges (AIC) Sport is improving year on year. The Sport Department are ambitious about where we want to get to with the College’s Sporting programme and the results we achieve. 2024 will go down as one of the most successful years ever in the history of AIC Sport at St Patrick’s College.


Premiership Winning Teams

Over the course of the year, we have had 16 Teams that have won AIC Premierships in 7 different Sports. Of those 16 Premierships, 10 of those teams went unbeaten through their respective competitions. Our U15 Rugby Squad were also crowned as the winners of the prestigious Ballymore Cup Competition.

In the past, St Patrick’s teams were often viewed by the opposition as the easy beats, but I am glad to say that that tag is changing. Opposition schools now take St Patrick’s College lightly at their peril.


- Year 5/6 AIC Touch Champions (undefeated)
- 7A Volleyball (undefeated)
- 7A Cricket (undefeated)
- 8A Cricket (undefeated)
- 8B Cricket
- 8C Cricket
- 8A Basketball (undefeated)
- 8A Tennis (undefeated)
- 8B Tennis (undefeated)
- 8A Rugby League (undefeated)
- 8C Football
- 9A Cricket (undefeated)
- 9B Cricket
- 9C Cricket
- 9A Basketball (undefeated)
- 10 B Cricket
- U15 Rugby – Ballymore Cup Winners

As well as the teams that finished top, we also had a further 9 teams that finished in second place in their respective competitions including a second-place finish for the 1st XI Football team and the 1st V Basketball team.


Improved Performance at AIC Aggregate Level

As well as individual team Premierships, in each Sport there is also an AIC aggregate trophy for the school that is most successful across all its teams. The aggregate competitions are a marker of the overall strength of a school in each sport. This year St Pat’s recorded some of its best overall finishes ever. Our Football teams placed fourth overall, the highest we have ever finished. Our Tennis teams finished in third place, the highest finish in the last 10 years. The highlight however was in Term 1. Up until this year the aggregate Trophy for Cricket had only ever been won by either Marist Ashgrove or Villanova College. This year it went down to the final round, but following a memorable day of wins against Iona College, St Patrick’s were crowned as the 2024 AIC Aggregate Champions for Cricket. This was an amazing achievement and richly deserved by the whole St Patrick’s Cricket community.


Athlete Development

A significant factor in our overall improved performance has been the number of students that are now completing a regular gym program as part of their weekly training. The College has invested in some state-of-the-art equipment, and we are fortunate enough to have some excellent staff and coaches who deliver our strength and conditioning programmes. As one of the smallest AIC schools, for our teams to be competitive, it is imperative that our students are as fit, strong, and fast as possible.

The added benefit of getting stronger is that it protects young athletes from injury and makes them more resilient. The younger the age that you start training, the greater the benefit as students reach their Senior years. There are no shortcuts to long-term athletic development, but I am delighted with the improved attitude and effort, especially from our students in Years 7, 8 and 9.


Australian Sport Representatives:

In the Christian Brothers Building we have the St Patrick’s College Australian representative Hall of Fame. In 2024 we have 3 students whose Jerseys will be added to the wall in recognition of their representation at Australian level:

Zac Leggett – Australian U18 Baseball

Manaaki Bateman – Australian Schoolboys Rugby

Steven Hogan – Australian U19 Cricket tour of India


This is a fantastic effort by these three young men. I hope it will serve as an inspiration for other students to aspire to reach this level.


The Sports program at St Patrick’s College is a significant undertaking. Over the course of the year we fielded over 160 different teams in AIC Competitions. Co-ordinating, coaching and managing these teams is a huge task and I am indebted to the Coaches and Staff who give up their time to assist. In 2024 the program engaged more than 200 Coaches and Support Staff. Without the assistance and contribution of these people St Patrick’s sport would not run.


Behind the scenes there are two groups of people who go above and beyond each week to ensure that our students can play sport each week.


Thank you to the Ground staff at Curlew Park. Mr Dave Brushfield, Mr Wally Anderson and Mr Ian Black do an amazing job to provide our teams with some of the best playing surfaces in the AIC Competition.


The Sports staff team of Mr Dan Nethery, Mr Ben Fleiter, Mr Junior Mautairi and Mrs Kate Grainger are the glue behind it all. These four people work tirelessly every week to make sure that everything is in place for our teams to train and compete. It is a thankless task. Often, they are the first people to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at the end of the day. There are so many moving parts that make up the program and this team do an amazing job. The St Patrick’s Sport programme is making incremental progress each year and it is largely down to the passion and expertise that this team bring to their positions.


2024 has been a memorable year for St Patrick’s Sport with some incredible performances and victories. I thank the outgoing Year 12s for their contribution over their school careers and the memories that they have left us with.


For all the students returning next year the bar has been set. The challenge for 2025 is to try and better it!


Article written by Mr Jim Potts (Head of Sport)