The BMD Wynnum Manly Seagulls held our Presentation Gala on Friday night to conclude our 2023 season.

Players, coaches, staff, sponsors and guests arrived at the Wynnum Manly Leagues Club, eager to see the winner of numerous Seagulls awards, in particular the Hostplus Cup and BMD Premiership Player of Year.

A few special awards were announced on the night, including Daryl Short being awarded the Mitch Cronin Medal as the Club Person of the Year. In 2023, ‘Shorty’ coached our Hastings Deering Colts to the Top 8, managed the football operations and player welfare at the club, and was also the groundsman at BMD Kougari Oval. Safe to say he’s a valued member of the Seagulls community and the club would struggle to run without his input.

Josh Rogers was recognised for setting a single-season points record (241) for the Seagulls, and Matt Milson won the Anthony ‘Chook’ Schweitzer Memorial Trophy as the supporter’s best player of the season. Our Volunteer of the Year was announced as Jason Salisbury who was stationed in the Chook Pen this season. Our supporters have Jason to thank for their smooth experience at the Chook Pen bar during 2023.

Matthew Milson won the Hostplus Cup Player of the Year after returning to the club he played 4 games for across the 2018-19 seasons. Milson had 12 tries, 11 try assists, 11 linebreaks, and ran for 3,313m, while playing in all 23 Hostplus Cup game this season. He was electric at fullback, reliable under the high ball, and heavily involved in the Seagulls attack as his impressive stats show.

Julia Robinson won the BMD Premiership Player of the Year after a fantastic debut season at the Seagulls. Robinson played 8 games and scored 2 tries, had 2 try assists, 6 linebreaks, made 70 tackles and ran for nearly 1000m across the season.

Full list of Seagulls award winners:
Hostplus Cup Player of the Year (Presented by Wynnum Manly Leagues Club) – Matt Milson
Hostplus Cup Players’ Players (Presented by BMD) – Ollie Pascoe

Mitch Cronin Medal (Club Person of the Year) – Daryl Short

BMD Premiership Player of the Year (Presented by Joan Pease MP) – Julia Robinson
BMD Premiership Players’ Player (Presented by BMD) – Jayda Lofipo

Hastings Deering Colts Player of the Year – John Radel
Hastings Deering Colts Players’ Player – John Radel

Most Diligent Player (Presented by Wynnum Manly Old Boys) – Cooper Page-Wilson
Arch Geary Shield (Volunteer of the Year) – Jason Salisbury
Anthony Schweitzer Memorial Trophy (Supporter’s Award – Presented by Sean Oliver) – Matt Milson
Single Season Points Record – Josh Rogers (241 points)

Trevor Niebling Shield (Best Junior to Senior)
Male – Blake Anders
Female – Destiny Mino-Sinapati

Cyril Connell Challenge U16s Player of the Year – Chaev Kolone
Cyril Connell Challenge U16s Players’ Player – Tyler Pereira
Mal Meninga Cup U18s Player of the Year – Kylem Vunipola
Mal Meninga Cup U18s Players’ Player – Beni Allen
Harvey Norman Women U19s Player of the Year – Destiny Mino-Sinapati
Harvey Norman Women U19s Players’ Player – Sienna Lofipo

Rugby league icon and Seagulls legend, Lionel Morgan, has passed away aged 85.

Lionel was a pioneer of rugby league and is widely recognised as the first Indigenous player to represent Australia in any major sporting code.

Representing the Wynnum Manly Seagulls from 1959-68, Lionel also played for QLD 12 times and Australia 3 times. In 2008, Lionel was named on the wing in the Indigenous Team of the Century.

He still holds the club record for the most tries in one match – six against Souths at Davies Park in 1964. He was Wynnum Manly’s captain-coach between 1965-67.

The 4 Morgan sons, David, Brad, Earl and Chris, all spent time playing for Wynnum Manly throughout their rugby league careers.

Lionel left a significant legacy at the Seagulls, and we tried to honour him through the introduction of the Lionel Morgan Medal for our Player of the Match on North Stradbroke Island in recent years. Lionel was also the first player to appear on our Seagulls ‘walk of fame’ at our front entry gate, given his incredible contribution to the game and the inspiration he has provided to Indigenous youth.

The Seagulls express our condolences to the entire Morgan family at this time.

Our Seagulls Hastings Deering Colts finished their season in the first week of finals football last Sunday.

After finishing the season 7th on the ladder, they travelled to Redcliffe to play the Sunshine Coast Falcons (6th) at midday on Sunday.

Coached by Daryl Short, our Colts were confident of causing an upset given the open nature of the competition.

They had started their season with 3 wins in a row and sat atop the ladder.

Following that, our Colts only spent 2 weeks outside the Top 8, and generally fluctuated around the middle of the 8.

We’d like to thank our major jersey partners BMD, Bartons, Lipke Motors, TFH, Place Estate Agents and Moreton Island Adventures, as well as McDonalds Bayside as our Seagulls Academy Partner.

With the Colts competition not going ahead in 2024, a lot of the these boys will move up into the Seagulls Hostplus Cup system.

The Seagulls have enjoyed a very successful period in the Hasting Deering Colts competition, including a Premiership and two Minor Premierships in the last 3 years, and we’re proud of our 2023 group for another finals finish.

 

I write to all our passionate fans, supporters, and the wider Wynnum Manly community today to address an issue that has been a sticking point within our community for the past 18 months.

There was a concerned group of supporters who were misinformed, and led to believe that we would be abandoning our post at BMD Kougari Oval, and moving to a state of the art stadium built at Kitchener park.

While there is some truth to these rumors, we were never intending to leave BMD Kougari Oval.

We were however looking to increase our available space with a facilities upgrade to Kitchener Park, and only if we found a suitable new home for the Wynnum Manly Juniors to settle and grow into.

As the latter did not progress past ideas, there was never anything concrete put in place for this project to go ahead.

We, as your club directors, are always looking for improvements within the rugby league community, and it was never our intention to cause division, but to look for strategic avenues in which we could expand our presence and our reach within the community.

We will continue to explore our options to do so, but at this time, the Kitchener Park redevelopment is no longer viable, and will not be taken any further.

I want to assure everyone that Kougari Oval will remain the home of the Wynnum Manly Seagulls for years to come, and that the aforementioned Kitchener Park project has now been put behind us.

In saying that, I would like us, as a community, to unite once again, and what better time than going into a Hostplus Cup semi final. Thank you for your support of the Seagulls, and please stick by us for the remainder of the finals series.

Regards,

Tom Solah

Chairman – Wynnum Manly Seagulls

Thank you to everyone that attended on Sunday in what was our biggest crowd of the Hostplus Cup season.

The support for our Seagulls was incredible and we have appreciated it all season.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the win on Sunday, but that means we will now host an elimination final on Sunday at 4pm against the Northern Pride.

In a battle of 6th vs 7th, the loser of this match will see their season end, while the winner will progress to face the loser of Souths Logan (2nd) vs Brisbane Tigers (3rd).

Our Hastings Deering Colts finished the season in 7th position and will take on the Sunshine Coast Falcons (6th) at Redcliffe’s Kayo Stadium on Sunday at midday.

This will be the last home game of our season and we’d love to see a huge crowd again this weekend.

Come down to BMD Kougari oval on Sunday at 4pm and support our boys in a knockout final!

#UpTheGulls

Seagulls icon Jim Lewis, unfortunately passed away yesterday after a long battle with dementia.

Lewis, father to Wally, was awarded Wynnum Manly Seagulls Life Membership in 2022 at our end of season Presentation Gala.

Jim and Wally are still the only father-son pairing to coach Wynnum Manly since the club’s inception in 1951.

Lewis retired at the end of the 1976 season, after coaching Wynnum Manly teams for the previous 16 years.

He was very popular with the players and had a policy that all credit belonged to his team when dealing with the media. He had the uncanny knack to bring out the best in his players.

Lewis was the Seagulls U18 coach from 1963-67, and then coached the 1969 Colts and the 1972 3rd Grade sides to their first ever premierships. He also coached the 1975 reserve grade premiership team.

He then finished his coaching career by taking charge of the Seagulls first grade side in 1976.

The BMD Wynnum Manly Seagulls would like to express our condolences to Jim’s wife June and the extended Lewis family and their friends.

 

The BMD Wynnum Manly Seagulls are excited to confirm that we have extended our partnership with the Brisbane Broncos for another three years.

The partnership for the 2024-26 seasons will continue to see NRL-contracted players allocated to play at the Seagulls in the Hostplus Cup, along with opportunities for players to progress to the NRL.

The Seagulls are joined by Souths Logan and Burleigh as the Broncos three affiliate clubs from 2024 onwards.

Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy said: “We draw real strength from our relationships with our Affiliate Clubs – they play a vital role in our pursuit of success and development of our talent base.

“Our Affiliate partnerships provide a true connection to grassroots rugby league and a talent pathway that produces benefits we can all share in as a result.

“We are really proud of the long-term relationships we have with both Souths Logan and Wynnum Manly and we are delighted that those partnerships will continue for another three years.”

Wynnum Manly Seagulls CEO Wayne Weekes said: “We are excited to continue our long standing partnership with the Brisbane Broncos.

“Both organisations have a wonderful opportunity to solidify our men’s and women’s rugby league development programs to create genuine pathways and strengthen our footprint within the wider community for both brands.

“Wynnum Manly Seagulls would like to thank Brisbane Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy and Recruitment & Academy Manager Simon Scanlan for their continued support.”

Up The Gulls

The Wynnum Manly Seagulls are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our former Queensland Cup Head Coach Shane McNally.

Shane was a pure rugby league man who dedicated most of his life to rugby league as a player, coach, and administrator.

As a player, Shane was a goal-kicking front rower with Northern Suburbs, Western Suburbs, Gatton; and East Tigers as a premiership winner.

Shane also represented Queensland in 1983 captained by Wally Lewis and coached by Arthur Beetson – the first time the state had made a Northern Hemisphere tour.

Shane’s Coaching Career included stints with Easts Tigers, and Wakefield Trinity where he was awarded coach of the year in the English Super League. Shane coached the Wynnum Manly Seagulls for 63 games in the Queensland Cup from 2007 to 2009, making the finals in 2008.

As a rugby league administrator, Shane worked for the QRL as a Development Officer and as the Manager for the BRL competitions.

Wynnum Manly Seagulls CEO Wayne Weekes said “Shane McNally was a wonderful rugby league person who was a pleasure to work with, a true professional, and a genuinely humble person who cared for his players and the game of rugby league. Wynnum Manly Seagulls would like to pass on our sincere condolences to Shane’s wife Maxine and his wider family. We have lost a good one today”.