The Tweed Seagulls RLFC male and female school holiday development days proved to be another outstanding success for the club.
Held on Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 July at Seagulls Sporting Complex, the sessions welcomed talented 15–16-year-old players from across Gold Coast and Northern Rivers clubs. Across both days, players had the opportunity to develop key elements of their game—including line running, tackle technique, marker principles, and tackle exits—under the expert guidance of Hostplus Cup Head Coach David Penna, BMD Premiership Head Coach Shaun Davison, and Development Officer Nathan Peats.
Davison says ”The key focus on the sessions is the connection with young players in our local region of the Northern Rivers & Gold Coast to invest in their rugby league development in areas such physical preparedness, craft skills, and trademark skills.
We asked Hostplus Cup Coach & Head of Football Dave Penna why these days are so important to us as a club “It’s really important for us to stay in touch with local talent to help them improve in all the areas of their game. That when players make it to the next level, they are confident in their own ability to play and train”
“I’m hoping the kids have progressed from our session earlier in the year and have learn’t a few new techniques from today’s session. It’s important that the new things they have learnt they take back to club footy and work on them” commented Peats
Not only was there a focus on field but also the off field activation and strength in the gym as Performance Coach Brad Lawton took the players through a warm up, activation and physical preparation session to begin the mornings.
When asked about the importance of strength and conditioning in rugby league Lawton commented
“Strength training is vital for rugby league as it helps build size, strength, and power needed to handle the physicality of the game. It starts with building muscle, then shifts to getting as strong as possible. After that, it moves into power work to help you run faster, hit harder, and be more explosive. Each phase builds on the last so it actually carries over to how you play. It also helps your conditioning by making you move better and recover quicker, so you can keep going hard throughout the game”
These development days are key days in our Tweed Seagulls calendar and we look forward to hosting more days later in the year and 2026.
