Stuart McLennan
NSW Universities Men’s head coach Peter Palmer admits to being disappointed with his team's 28-12 loss to Queensland Universities at CBus Stadium on the Gold Coast last year, but says he will be better prepared in his second year at the helm.
“Being my first year I thought we prepared very well,” said Palmer, who is an assistant coach for the South Sydney Rabbitohs team in The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup coach.
“Going up to Queensland is always pretty tough to play the opposition on their own turf.
“Queensland played a better brand of footy than us and we genuinely got beaten last year.”
The 2025 NSW v QLD Universities clash is on Sunday 18 May at North Sydney Oval. Kick-off is 1pm.
“Coming into this year, we really wanted to identify some areas where we could be better, not only on the field, but off the field in the recruitment side of things,” Palmer said.
“We've worked really hard over the last six to eight months to prepare for this game. I'm really looking forward to the game at North Sydney Oval.”
Palmer says he’s been thinking about how to extract revenge on the Queensland side since returning from the Gold Coast to Sydney last October.
“There's an old saying ‘you either win or you learn’,” he said.
“Coming back from Queensland last year I just wanted to get to work straight away.
"I guess this year it's a case of unfinished business and you could say it's revenge but it's more about working harder. There's no shortcuts in this game.
“Queensland are a very aggressive side, traditionally very aggressive in defence. We need to figure out how to play smarter.
“This year I tried to source which university students play in our NSW Rugby League competitions and we've actually discovered quite a few players.”
With a number of new players coming into the NSW side, Palmer will rely on a few experienced campaigners when it comes to setting the tone for leadership and culture.
“We've got a couple of leaders that have been around the system for a long period of time like Thomas Fisher (Wests Tigers), Josh Rizk (Wyong Roos) and Riley Lack (Tweed Coast Raiders)," he said.
"Those guys are natural leaders. They drive the culture within New South Wales Universities and they’ll do that again.”
NSW Universities 20 player squad (reduced to 18 before prior to game day) v QLD Universities at North Sydney Oval on Sunday 18 May:
Byron Aiolupotea (Fit Fire IndustryTraining), Joshua Alhazim (University of Western Sydney), Thomas Baker (University of Southern Queensland), Ryan Barbuto (TAFE Padstow), Harry Delaney, (TAFE Wollongong), Thomas Fisher (University of Wollongong), Riley Frame (TAFE NSW), Ben Geary (TAFE Meadowbank), Harrison Geraghty (Certified Australia), Ben Ireland (TAFE NSW), Zac Jones (University of Wollongong), Riley Lack (Griffith University), Jordan Plath (TAFE NSW), Nicholas Quinn (University of Wollongong), Noah Reed (University of Newcastle), Joshua Rizk (University of Western Sydney), Isaac Rosario (University of Technology, Sydney), Jackson Shade (TAFE NSW), Samuel Stratis (TAFE NSW), Ben Williamson (Australian College of Physical Education).
