St Angela's Primary School, Castle Hill have held their own against the best school Aussie rules teams in NSW and the ACT to claim a fourth-place finish at the Paul Kelly Cup state finals.
Open to all primary schools in the state, the Paul Kelly Cup is the largest AFL primary school competition in Australia.
St Angela’s were one of the top 24 boys teams in action at the finals, which were held at GIANTS Stadium on Monday, August 5.
After claiming two wins and a loss through their pool stage, St Angela’s took on two-time defending champions Knox Grammar in the semi-finals. Despite a phenomenal effort, St Angela’s weren’t able to overcome their more favoured opponents, going down in an agonising 1.3 (9)- 1.2 (8) defeat.
Dudley Public School were then too good for St Angela’s in the third-place playoff, winning 2.3 (15)- 1.5 (11).
St Angela's coach Alexander Van Vliet said he couldn’t more proud of the team’s effort throughout the entire tournament.
“They had a fantastic experience,” he said.
“We had boys who all brought something different to our team, combining from a variety of sporting backgrounds.
“It’s great to see the boys get an experience like this to play at an elite AFL stadium and they enjoyed every moment.”
St Angela’s Primary School’s Paul Kelly Cup team are a Hills Shire Times Team of Excellence nominee for the 2019 Local Sports Stars competition.