RUGBY LEAGUE
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By the time the third and deciding State of Origin game has kicked off tonight this group of 13 rugby league players will already be buzzing.
The team from Morpeth Public School will today compete in Knights Knockout finals at Hunter Stadium.
They will take on Swansea in division B of the primary school section, designed for smaller schools.
The squad will take confidence into the top-two showdown from their form in qualifying events earlier this year.
Morpeth went through undefeated at the initial Knights Knockout gala day played at Harker Oval, including a triumph against Dungog in the final, and they were also runners-up to Rosary Park Catholic School in the Steve Simpson Shield.
“They have played really well as a team,” Morpeth coach Jess Stevens said.
“It has been all they have talked about since coming back from holidays and whatever the result in the final it has been a great achievement to even make it this far.”
Stevens thanked Shaun Hopkins, the father of Morpeth player Tyler, for his assistance with coaching the team.
Morpeth will be joined in the Knights Knockout finals by All Saints College, St Jospeh’s Campus, Lochinvar.
All four of the school’s teams – from under 13s to under 16s – qualified for the 2013 deciders.
The clean sweep is one of, if not the only, time this has occurred since the inception of the Hunter Valley knockout competition three decades ago.
Lochinvar will meet St Joseph’s, Aberdeen (under 13s), St Pius, Adamstown (under 14s), Whitebridge (under 15s) and St Mary’s, Gateshead (under 16s) in today’s games.
Play starts at 11.45am.