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Places on the world champion Australian Steelers wheelchair rugby team for the Paris 2024 Paralympics are up for grabs to any of the 12 national development squad rising stars set to play Japan at the Shibuya Cup, starting on Thursday in Tokyo.
Breaking into the team that captured its first world championship since 2014 in Denmark last month might seem like a daunting task. But Paralympics Australia development coach Jason Lees has challenged his players to stake a claim for selection.
“The Steelers program is very hard to break into with the success they’ve had and the great athletes that are part of the team.” said Lees, who was assistant to head coach Brad Dubberley in Denmark.
“But it’s all about keeping things evolving. That team that won the world championship definitely wasn’t the same team that went to Tokyo 2020, so there will probably be some opportunities for some of these guys to take a spot on the team for Paris. It’s a really exciting time to see who can take that opportunity.”
It will be the Australian development squad’s second international series, after a tour to New Zealand in September, and they’ll play four games against their Japanese development squad counterparts.
History made: our AUS #WheelchairRugby Development Squad experienced their first taste of international competition when they travelled across the ditch to compete at the New Zealand National Championships.
— AUS Paralympic Team (@AUSParalympics) September 7, 2022
Find out more: https://t.co/Vb0bQytlt3
📸: Wheel Blacks via Instagram pic.twitter.com/fOdSaiwPxR
Among the players to watch is Brayden Foxley-Conolly, who represented Australia at the U23 wheelchair basketball World Championship in Thailand in September. Also featured is Robyn Lambird, who won a Para-athletics bronze medal in the 100 metres T34 at Tokyo 2020.
Lees said the development concept aimed to deepen the talent pool in Australian wheelchair rugby.
“It’s quite a big jump from playing in the National League to playing for Australia,” he said.
“Having this development team opens up opportunities and shows the players there is a pathway they can strive for. We want to give all our developing players a good chance to travel internationally and play in a high performance environment.
“Next year we’re going to have some opportunities for some of these guys to break into the Steelers program and it’s going to be interesting for us to see who can take that next step.”
Lees is himself growing his skills, now as a coach after being part of the Steelers squad that won Paralympic gold in 2012 and 2016.
“The whole experience of going to the World Championships and working with Brad on that campaign was awesome. I got to learn a hell of a lot,” he said.
“I’ll definitely be using some of that knowledge with these newer players. We’re going to try and transfer a lot of the generalised game plan to this development team so that when a few of these players do move up to the senior team, they’ll be across a lot of the same terminology and plays and processes that we use.”
AUS #WheelchairRugby Development Squad head coach Jason Lees says spots on the Steelers team for #Paris2024 will be up for grabs when the 12 rising stars take the court in Tokyo this week for the Shibuya Cup: https://t.co/ciEZMLU3O5@ww_rugby @JWRF2020 pic.twitter.com/ZsbSs35rVT
— AUS Paralympic Team (@AUSParalympics) November 14, 2022
Squad
Brayden Foxley-Conolly 3.5
Robyn Lambird* 3.0
Luke Matthews 2.5
Cam Whittaker 2.0
Jayden Jackson 2.0
Justin Goh 2.0
Darren Cuomo 2.0
Ben Leaudais 2.0
Tai Martin-Page 1.5
Ash Treseder 1.5
Rubie Gallagher* 1.0
Damian Mortaud 0.5
Staff
Team Manager: Sam Fox
Head Coach: Jason Lees
S&C Lead: Greg Smith
Assistant Coach: Ben Newton
Assistant Coach/Mechanic: Andy Phillips
Performance Analyst: Lewis Quin
Team Physio: Jason Bryant
Team Carer: Lily Pridham
Team Carer: Suzana Grgic
By: David Sygall, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 15 November 2022
