The anticipation around a bumper 2025 season was everywhere at the Queensland Reds Season Launch Long Lunch.
We get to dive right in on Friday night when the Reds bring Super Rugby Pacific back to Suncorp Stadium for their first match of 2025 against Ardie Savea and Moana Pasifika.
There’s a moment in early February every year where even the most ardent cricket fan says “enough”.
The skies may still scream summer but there’s a moment where “Bring on the footy” is the buzz on everyone’s lips.
That was the clear vibe at Brisbane City Hall last Friday for a soldout gathering of more than 500 people for the season launch function.
The Queensland men’s and women’s teams were introduced with some fanfare.
Established co-captains (Tate McDermott and Liam Wright) and ambitious new ones (Jemma Bemrose and Ivania Wong) were introduced.
With more than 70 players ushered onto the tiered stage, it took just one to put a smile of pure delight on the whole show.
Winger Filipo Daugunu entered from behind the backstage curtain with a strut, muscle flex, smile and wave as good as most ring walks.
The scene-setting of Queensland Rugby Union chief executive David Hanham gave perspective to the final countdown to Friday night.
Super Rugby Pacific for 2024 ended in June, 2024. To sit idle in the eight months since was to go backwards.
That’s why the Reds have led the way in seeking out extra games and experiences to develop their squad with the six-match Reds International Program.
Matches against Wales, Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights (two), Bristol and Ulster have taken an enormous amount of organising but all for the cause of improving the Reds squad, young and experienced alike.
Former Wallaroo Bronwyn Laidlaw, Wallabies wing great Brendan Moon and master coach John Connolly were ushered into the QRU Hall of Fame.
All had a take on how much rugby meant to them in life beyond the 80 minutes of catching, passing and shunting.
Laidlaw had two tables of boisterous friends and ex-teammates making as much noise for her appearance on stage as any at the lunch.
Fellow Hall of Famers Selena Worsley and Tanya Osborne were amongst them.
In the early 1990s, there were voices opposed to women’s rugby even starting. Now, a fourth female is a worthy Hall of Fame inductee.
As the Co-ordinator-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Moon was fortunate to even be in the room between engagements. The north Queensland floods and Cyclone Zelia in Western Australia were tugging at his time.
To see former teammates like Andrew Slack, Ross Hanley, Tony Shaw and James Windsor in the crowd only added to the day for him.
Connolly’s appearance was appreciated fully. “Knuckles” has been wheelchair-bound since a cruel fall in 2021 but his mind and views are as sharp as ever.
The new Super Rugby Pacific season has dawned with upbeat wins by the NSW Waratahs, ACT Brumbies and Western Force on the opening weekend.
At the lunch, Wallabies greats Lawton, Dan Herbert and James Horwill were the panel to preview how big the rugby crescendo will be by June-July.
The British & Irish Lions are coming.
Lawton openly admitted of his 1989 experience: “I didn’t appreciate the magnitude of a Lions tour until it was right on top of us.”
Many sports-loving fans still don’t because it’s a once-in-12-years experience. The influx of fans, the fanfare and the hype will be off the charts by the Tests in July.
Herbert gave an inkling of how the public’s imagination can be captured. The day after the series-winning triumph over the 2001 Lions in Sydney, he sought out a Sydney hotel for a drink with opponent Will Greenwood.
In no time, fans identified him and swept him up. He was being crowd-surfed to the bar for a free drink.
The scene-setting has been done. Let’s rip into the rugby. See you Friday at Suncorp Stadium.
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At club level, the season kicks off in style with the Australian Club Championship at Crosby Park on March 8.
The Queensland-NSW rivalry amps this one up with StoreLocal Hospital Cup champions Brothers hosting Sydney’s Shute Shield premiers Easts.
The 3:30pm clash will be proceeded by the Australian Women’s Club Championship with Bond University up against Sydney University.
It’s free entry with a stacked program that includes two bush rugby matches as well.
Brothers head to Toowoomba for a pre-season fixture against Wests on March 1.
It’s a quality trial between last year’s Hospital Cup grand finalists before the Classic Wallabies meet Downs Rugby’s Team of the Decade.
All the family-friendly fun at Toowoomba Sports Ground includes a Gold Blooded Tour Kids’ Clinic and a Reds vs Western Force Watch Party.
All funds raised from the Classic Wallabies visit will go directly toward funding a much-needed, locally-based Development Officer and Downs Rugby's 2025 representative tour to Townsville.
