With a line-up dominated by emerging Cronulla players, Endeavour Sports High School will enjoy a strong home advantage against fellow powerhouse Patrician Brothers Fairfield at Sharks Stadium on Friday.
The teams will meet in Round 2 of the Peter Mulholland Cup (PMC) – the most prestigious schoolboy tournament in Australia comprising the best rugby league schools across NSW.
After losing last year's final against Patrician Brothers Blacktown, Endeavour began their 2025 PMC campaign with a 40-4 victory over Farrar Memorial Agricultural School in May.
Captained by promising Sharks lock Tom Dellow, who won the club's Junior Representative Player of the Year award in 2024, Endeavour is flush with Cronulla connections.
Coaches Dave Howlett and Brad Kelly are also involved with the Sharks, while halfback Liam Challenor, props Hudsyn Frost and Jake White, fullback Jaylan Herron and back-rower Blake Watman are just a handful of the Endeavour stars coming through Cronulla's pathways.
Dellow, Frost, White, Watman and forward Sidney Truong have recently been selected for the NSW CHS Opens team, further showing the strength of the Sharks-Endeavour partnership.
The PMC involves the top 16 rugby league schools in NSW with pools of four. The top two teams in each group progress to the knockout quarter-finals stage. Endeavour is seeded third in this year's competition, highlighting the Caringbah-based sporting school's remarkable ability to sustain success.
Sharks SG Ball coach Kelly emphasised Endeavour’s unique standing in the region, stating, "Endeavour is the only school in the area that offers exposure to the Peter Mulholland Cup and the elite level of schoolboy rugby league."
"This week's game is important. We need to win to keep our hopes alive," he added.
"Although we lost one pool game last year, it came down to for and against to get into the quarterfinals. Every game is super important and you've got to make sure you don't leave anything unchecked.
"Patrician Brothers Fairfield are a good team. They had a good game against Hunter Sports High School (26-10 loss) and they're going to be tough to beat on Friday."
Kelly said having a large contingent of Sharks players is a bonus for Endeavour, who are pitted against a "who's who" of rugby league schools including Westfields, Hunter, Hills, Illawarra and Matraville; powerhouse Catholic schools Patrician Brothers Blacktown, Patrician Brothers Fairfield, St Dominics and St Gregorys; plus others like Central Coast Sports and Erindale College.
"It definitely helps with continuity – they've either played SG Ball together or they've played Harold Matthews Cup," Kelly said.
"They've got a good understanding of how we're structured.
"Having Dave and I here as well as coaching down there, everything crosses over pretty closely.
"It gives us a bit of an advantage in terms of being able to keep the flow of the way we play the game going from Sharks into school.
"Fourteen of the 17 that played against Farrar were affiliated with the Sharks and the line-up will be fairly similar this week."
Adding to the occasion on Friday, Endeavour will stage a 20-year reunion for their 2005 NRL Schoolboy Cup-winning team, including former Sharks players Mitch Brown and Blake Ayshford.
"Some of those boys are coming into the school to present the jerseys and have a chat to this year's team, attend the game and have a BBQ afterwards," Kelly said.
Kick-off on Friday is at 12pm, with free entry to the stadium.
The match will also be streamed live on KommunityTV.
