Matt Grice, Director of Sport
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Cranbrook’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sailing teams competed over the weekend at the State Sailing Championships, held at Georges River Sailing Club. The competition has become one of the highlights of the school sailing calendar, and for the past four years, the final has been a tightly contested battle between the Scots 1sts and Cranbrook 1sts. This year, however, history was made. Our Cranbrook 2nds delivered a sensational performance, knocking out the Scots 1sts in a dramatic semi-final. This remarkable achievement set up an all-Cranbrook final for the first time in the competition’s history.
In the final, our 1sts narrowly edged out the 2nds in a thrilling and highly competitive series of races. Both teams are to be commended not only for their exceptional sailing but also for their outstanding sportsmanship and conduct throughout the event.
Meanwhile, our 3rds also had a fantastic regatta, finishing a very respectable 7th place in a strong field.
A huge congratulations to the entire Cranbrook sailing community for their hard work, determination, and richly deserved results. It was a weekend to remember!
A quick shout out to our Head Groundsman Matthew O’Brien and his team for all their hard work over the break with all of our fields. Hordern certainly looks amazing at the moment! Rain unfortunately did cancel quite a few matches on council grounds but a huge thank you to Mr Lewis and Mr Roughan for their help at 6:00am Saturday morning, removing covers and water off Dangar and Hordern to get them ready for the day’s play.
Last Saturday marked the beginning of the CAS Competition for most of our Winter sports, with rugby beginning its trial matches. Football kicked off the season with a challenging fixture against a strong Barker side. The 1st XI faced a tough loss and will be working hard this week to regroup ahead of their upcoming match against Trinity. The 2nd XI also suffered a narrow defeat, conceding an injury-time goal in what was a highly entertaining and closely contested match.
Our Year 7 Football teams had a fantastic start to their winter season, achieving victories across all grades—a tremendous achievement that sets a positive tone for the term ahead.
A big congratulations to the Volleyball program, which started the season with a bang. All Opens teams—1sts, 2nds, 3rds, and 4ths—secured emphatic 3-0 victories against Barker, showcasing depth and strong preparation across the board.
Rugby took on GPS powerhouse Riverview in trial matches. Once again, our Year 7 students led from the front, demonstrating grit and competitiveness in their games. A special mention goes to Mr Meakin’s mighty 3rds, who pulled off a thrilling win with a try in the final play of the game.
The Mighty 3rd XV
Earlier this week, Cranbrook sent a team of 12 students to the CIS Swimming Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park on Monday, 5 May, and Tuesday, 6 May.
Over two days of strong racing, our students delivered an extraordinary set of performances, breaking 10 School Records, 3 CIS Records, and achieving 11 Gold, 2 Silver, and 4 Bronze medals—our best CIS result ever. This resulted in 7 students qualifying for All Schools. We extend our congratulations to Year 7 Student Thomas Penny , who was awarded the male swimmer of the meet. Well done to all involved.
With the Winter Season officially underway, we recognised and celebrated the 2025 Winter Sport Captains at the Whole School Assembly. These students will guide their teams and their sports through the season, celebrating victories and performances and supporting their teams through the challenges that lie ahead. Congratulations to you all.
2025 Winter Sport Captains:
| Sport | Captain | Vice-Captain |
| AFL | Edward Neal | Co-Vice Captains: Jack Tremain and Noah Doherty |
| Cross Country | Huon Groves | |
| Football | Shannon Selby | Ben Olschewski |
| Rugby | Co-Captains: Baxter Torrance and Jack Weeks | |
| Snow Sports | Co-Captains: Sach Edwards and Elliot Roberts | |
| Winter Tennis | Oliver Berger | Wentworth Twaits |
| Winter Volleyball | William Rowe | Charles Cox |
Lewis Report: AFL 1st XVIII
Round 1 of the 2025 Winter season saw our 1st XVIII AFL side take on St Aloysius on Saturday afternoon. A week of rain meant the fixture was rescheduled from Friday night to Saturday afternoon. The sun was shining and the field was set for a great game of Aussie Rules.
Our team came out strong, scoring the first goal of the match. St Aloysius quickly replied with a goal of their own, and it was tick for tack for the rest of the quarter. Eddy Chubb put 2 through the middle to give Cranbrook a 21-13 lead at quarter time.
The second quarter saw new skipper Ed Neal score as well as Oscar Wright continuing to present well in the forward line. Despite full back, Ben Nahlous’ locking down his opponent, St Aloysius managed to bring their deficit back to 2 points; 41-39 at half time.
The third quarter started with St Aloysius taking the lead for the first time as they kicked an early goal. Cranbrook responded well, and Slade Keating’s midfield pressure kept our opposition goalless for the remainder of the quarter. Offensively, young gun Matthew Davey consistently led well, giving our backs and midfielders options all over the ground. Our 1sts managed to extend their lead to 54-47 at the final break.
It all came down to the fourth quarter. An early goal for debutant Maddox Whitby possibly made us too complacent as we then allowed St Aloysius to swing the momentum back in their favour. Our opponents scored 3 unanswered goals to match our score and then take the lead. With 8 minutes remaining and the score sitting at 62-67 we managed to get the ball into our forward line. The ball was hotly contested for the rest of the quarter. Despite our best efforts, the ball pressure was too much for us as we managed just 2 more behinds. Final score 63-67. A tough loss but plenty of positives to take from an extremely tight game.
Eddie Lewis, Sport Operational Coordinator P-12
Please download the upcoming weekend’s fixtures here.
To Note:
- The T2 2025 Co-Curricular and Sport Schedule can be accessed here.
Sports Resources – contain essential information regarding sports events, schedules and important updates for the year ahead
Looking forward to seeing everyone around the grounds this weekend.
Matt Grice
Director of Sport