Sunshine Coast Falcons

Sunshine Coast Falcons

Club information
Full name	Sunshine Coast Falcons RLFC
Nickname(s)	Falcons
Colours	Gold   Black
Founded	1996;28 years ago (1996)
Current details
Ground(s)	Sunshine Coast Stadium (12,000)
CEO	Chris Flannery
Coach	Brad Henderson
Captain	Patrice Siolo
Competition	Queensland Cup (Seniors) Hastings Deering Colts (U20’s) Mal Meninga Cup (U18's) Cyril Connell Cup (U16's)
Current season
Uniforms
Home Away
Premierships (2nd grade)	1 (2009)
Runners-up (2nd grade)	1 (2017)
Minor premierships (2nd grade)	1 (2019)
Wooden spoons (2nd grade)	3 (2011, 2013, 2014)

The Sunshine Coast Falcons are a rugby league football team based on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. They compete in the Queensland Cup and their home ground is Sunshine Coast Stadium. The Falcons are currently affiliated with the NRL team Melbourne Storm.

History

The Falcons were originally the Winfield State League representative team for the Sunshine Coast. First competing in the 1993 season, they won their pool before losing in the semi-finals. ^[1] For the 1994 season, they competed as Sunshine Coast/Gympie, against winning the pool matches, but losing both semi-final matches. ^[2] In the last year of the State League, the combined Sunshine Coast/Gympie team failed to progress from the pool stage. They competed in the first season of the Queensland Cup in 1996 but dropped out the following season.

In 2006, the club joined the FOGS Cup competing in the second-level competition. ^[3] The club finished their first season in sixth position, just outside the finals positions. ^[4]

Partnership with Manly (2009–2010)

In 2009, they were readmitted to the Queensland Cup after securing an agreement with the NRL's Manly Sea Eagles to become a feeder club. Between 2009 and 2013 the club was renamed the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles due to the partnership with the Manly Sea Eagles. ^[5]

The partnership instantly proved successful with the team winning the 2009 Queensland Cup Grand Final 32–18 to secure their first premiership, with a number of Manly players in the squad. ^{[6] [7]} Following the end of the 2010 season, Manly were forced to cut ties with the club after a change in policy disallowed NRL teams from having feeder clubs in both the Queensland Cup and New South Wales Cup. ^[8]

Partnership with Melbourne Storm (2014–)

In 2014 the club reverted to the Falcons name ^[9] and struck a three-year partnership with the Melbourne Storm from the 2015 season. ^[10] The Falcons endured a 36-game losing streak during the 2013 and 2014 seasons, on their way to consecutive wooden spoons.

In May 2021, Melbourne extended their affiliation partnership with the Falcons to the end of the 2024 season. ^[11]

Life Members

In September 2021, the club awarded the first life memberships of the club: ^[12]

• Don Oxenham – Inaugural CEO and former board member
• Dave Cordwell – Coach (Colts: 2009–10; FOGs Cup: 2011; Queensland Cup: 2012–13) and former board member
• Alan Marr – Board member 2009–19
• Gordon Oakes – Chairman 2006–13

Season Summaries

P=Premier, R=Runner-Up, M=Minor Premier, F=Finals appearance, W=Wooden Spoon,
(Brackets represent Finals games)

Competition	Games played	Games won	Games drawn	Games lost	Ladder Position	P	R	M	F	W	Coach	Captain	Notes
1996 Queensland Cup	15	1	0	14	15 / 16
Withdrew from Queensland Cup
2006 FOGS Cup	20	10	2	8	6 / 11
2007 FOGS Cup	20	4	2	14	10 / 11
2008 FOGS Cup	20	5	2	13	8 / 10
Admitted back to Queensland Cup as Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles
2009 Queensland Cup	22(3)	12(2)	1	9(1)	4 / 12				♦		Brandon Costin	Cameron Joyce	2009 FOGS Cup - (P20 3–0–17) Finished 9/10
2010 Queensland Cup	22(1)	14	0	8(1)	3 / 12				♦				2010 FOGS Cup - (P20 8–1–11) Finished 7/10
2011 Queensland Cup	22	2	0	20	12 / 12					♦	Adam Mogg		2011 FOGS Cup - (P21 1–0–20) Finished 8/8
2012 Queensland Cup	22	4	1	17	11 / 12						Dave Cordwell		2012 FOGS Cup - (P20 2–0–18) Finished 8/8
2013 Queensland Cup	22	2	0	20	12 / 12					♦
Club reverts to Sunshine Coast Falcons
2014 Queensland Cup	24	1	0	23	13 / 13					♦	Ivan Henjak→ Glen Dreger	Ryan Hansen
2015 Queensland Cup	23	7	1	15	11 / 14						Glen Dreger	Tom Murphy
2016 Queensland Cup	23(3)	12(2)	1	10(1)	5 / 14				♦		Craig Ingebrigtsen	Troy Giess
2017 Queensland Cup	23(4)	15(3)	1	7(1)	4 / 14		♦		♦			Dane Hogan
2018 Queensland Cup	23	10	0	13	10 / 14
2019 Queensland Cup	23(3)	21(1)	1	1(2)	1 / 14			♦	♦		Eric Smith
2020 Queensland Cup	Season cancelled after one game (Sunshine Coast lost) due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.										Sam Mawhinney
2021 Queensland Cup	17(1)	9	0	8(1)	8 / 14				♦		Dane Hogan Todd Murphy
2022 Queensland Cup	19(3)	14(1)	1	5(2)	2 / 14				♦		Brad Henderson	Patrice Siolo
2023 Queensland Cup	20(2)	11(1)	1	8(1)	8 / 15				♦

Honours

Queensland Cup

• Premierships: 1 (2009)
• Runners Up: 1 (2017)
• Minor Premiership: 1 (2019)
• Duncan Hall Medal: 1 (Tony Williams – 2009)
• Petero Civoniceva Medal: 1 (Daly Cherry-Evans – 2010)
• Rookie of the Year: 2 (Daly Cherry-Evans – 2010); (Brandon Smith – 2017)
• Coach of the Year: 1 (Eric Smith – 2019)

Junior

• Hastings Deering Colts : 1 (2019)

Players

Representatives

The following players have played representative football for the Queensland Residents in the annual match against NSW Residents while playing for the Falcons.

• Trent Hodkinson (2009)
• Daly Cherry-Evans (2010 - captain)
• Jamie Buhrer (2010)
• Ben Hampton (2015)
• Kenny Bromwich (2015)
• Jahrome Hughes (2017)
• Lachlan Timm (2018)
• Tino Fa'asuamaleaui (2019)
• Darryn Schonig (2019)

Awards

The James Ackerman Medal is awarded to the Sunshine Coast Falcons Player of the Year. The award is named in honour of the late James Ackerman, who died from injuries sustained in a tackle while playing for the Falcons against Norths Devils in 2015.

Annual Player of the Year Awards

	Queensland Cup						Colts
Year	James Ackerman Medal	Best Back	Best Forward	Player's Player	Rookie of the Year	Man of Steel	Player of the Year	Best Back	Best Forward	Man of Steel
2015 [13]	Tom Murphy	Kurt Mann	Johnny Vuetibau	—	—	Travis Robinson	Sam Burns	—	—	Sam Burns
2016 [14]	Ryley Jacks	Alex Bishop	Troy Giess	—	—	—	Devlin Long	Alex Copelin	Beau Fermor	—
2017 [15]	Jon Grieve	Guy Hamilton	Dane Hogan	—	Matt Soper-Lawler	Guy Hamilton Jye Ballinger	Stephen Buckley	Baylee Byrne Perrett	Damian Forde-Hurrell	Damian Forde-Hurrell
2018 [16]	Dane Hogan	Justin Olam	Chris Lewis	—	Caleb Daunt	—	Stephen Buckley	Riley Moore	Damian Forde-Hurrell	—
2019	Harry Grant	Todd Murphy	Chris Lewis	—	Nat McGavin	—	Tyson Smoothy	Jack Wright	Wyatt Reynolds	Kane Jackson
2020	Season cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
2021 [17]	Patrice Siolo	Luke Polselli	Tom Rafter	Todd Murphy	Jack Wright	—	Kaleb Sutton	Kane Jackson	Sam Reid	—
2022	Luke Polselli	Tyran Wishart	Tyson Smoothy	Tyson Smoothy	Kane Jackson	—	Danny Heenan	Lucas Bell	Kaleb Sutton	—
2023 [18]	Max Bailey	Scott Galeano	Chris Lewis	Max Bailey	Danny Heenan	—	Blake Woodford	Mason Peut	Blake Woodford	Blake Woodford

Personnel

Name	Positions
Chris Flannery	CEO
Brad Henderson	Head coach
Dan Murphey	Assistant coach
Ben McBryde	Assistant coach

^[19]

Coaches

• 2009 – 2010 — Brandon Costin
• 2011 — Adam Mogg
• 2012 – 2013 — Dave Cordwell
• 2014 — Ivan Henjak ^[20] (quit midseason, replaced by Glen Dreger)
• 2015 — Glen Dreger
• 2016 – 2018 — Craig Ingebrigtsen
• 2019 — Eric Smith
• 2020 – 2021 — Sam Mawhinney ^[21]
• 2022 – present – Brad Henderson ^[22]

Name, logo and colours

The Falcons historic colours have been black and gold however when the Manly Sea Eagles announced their partnership with the Falcons the club rebranded to become the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles and the colours changed to Manly's colours of maroon and white. When the feeder arrangement ended the club continued with the name but changed the colours to blue and white. However fans and players on the Sunshine Coast called for a return to the clubs traditional name and colours and in the 2014 season the club complied, rebranding back to the Falcons with gold and black colours. ^[23]

• Sunshine Coast – Logos
• 
  Before 2008
• 
  2008-10
  During link with Manly
• 
  2011-13
• 
  2014–present

Stadium

The Falcons home ground is Sunshine Coast Stadium, located in Kawana Waters. ^[24]

In both 2020 and 2021, Falcons' affiliated NRL club Melbourne Storm were forced to relocate to the Sunshine Coast Stadium due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Major Sponsors

• Vantage Homes Queensland
• Sunshine Toyota
• South East Civil
• Bebrok Excavations
• Sunshine Coast Council
• FC Lawyers
• Green RV
• North Coast Foods
• Go Turf
• Southern Cross Sheds
• Maroochy RSL
• Pacific Office Solutions
• Channel 9
• Sea FM
• Sunshine Coast Daily
• Asset Electrical Contractors
• Headland Plumbing & Drainage
• L & H Electrical
• Subway

See also

• Sports portal
• Queensland portal

• National Rugby League reserves affiliations

References

1. "1993 Queensland State League results". queensland.rleague.com (Archived). Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
2. "1994 Queensland State League results". queensland.rleague.com (Archived). Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
3. "Falcons face quicker game in FOGs Cup". sunshinecoastdaily.com.au. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
4. "Wizard Cup, Fogs Cup, Fogs Colts". leagueunlimited.com. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
5. Manly to invest $1m in Coast league | thedaily.com.au
6. "Brilliant Sea Eagles clinch cup". qrl.com.au (Archived). Archived from the original on 14 September 2009. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
7. "Eagles soar to a grand win". sunshinecoastdaily.com.au. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
8. Meyn, By Travis (29 November 2010). "Sea Eagles lose Manly link". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
9. Anthonybrand, By (29 January 2014). "Switch to Falcons means much more than a new name". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
10. Steeletaylor, By (14 July 2014). "Falcons set to sign three-year deal with Storm". The Courier Mail.
11. "Storm enhances commitment to Sunshine Coast". melbournestorm.com.au. 24 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
12. "Sunshine Coast Falcons Inaugural Life Members Inducted". scfalcons.com.au. 14 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
13. Brand, Anthony (24 September 2015). "Murphy takes James Ackerman medal at Falcon awards night". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
14. "Jacks stars at Falcons awards". qrl.com.au. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
15. "Sunshine Coast 2017 awards winners". qrl.com.au. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
16. "Experience counts for Sunshine Coast Falcons". qrl.com.au. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
17. "Vantage Homes Falcons 2021 Awards Night". scfalcons.com.au. 24 September 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
18. "2023 Awards Night Winners". scfalcons.com.au. Sunshine Coast Falcons. 3 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
19. "Sunshine Coast Falcons - Coaching staff". scfalcons.com.au. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
20. "Former Brisbane Broncos coach Ivan Henjak has quit the Sunshine Coast Falcons". foxsports.com.au. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
21. "Falcons appoint new Intrust Super Cup head coach". qrl.com.au. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
22. "Brad Henderson appointed Falcons ISC Coach for 2022". scfalcons.com.au. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
23. "The Sunshine Coast Falcons". Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
24. "Sunshine Coast Stadium". www.scfalcons.com.au. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.

External links

• Website
• Facebook