The St George Queensland Reds have touched down in Bundaberg as part of the Reds to Regions tour, with players Seru Uru and George Blake ready to take part in a number of community activities.
With the Queensland Reds representing the entire state, the tour is an important initiative for players to connect with regional Queensland communities and give back.
Seru and George will be running junior rugby clinics, visiting schools and participating in the One Million Trees initiative with Bundaberg Regional Council.
Queensland Reds Player Seru Uru said he was looking forward to meeting with the Bundaberg community and giving back to them for their ongoing support.
“We are here to give back to the community because we are the Queensland Reds, we are not just representing Brisbane but the whole state so we are here to give back and enjoy time with the community,” Seru said.
“This is the third year for the program and it is a really good experience especially as I come from Fiji, it is a great way to be able to explore Queensland which is an awesome experience.
“I am looking forward to meeting the community and engaging with them to share the love of rugby while sharing my skills with younger players also.”
Queensland Reds player George Blake said this was his first Reds to Regions tour and he was loving being out meeting the Bundaberg community.
“We love being out and about meeting everyone, so we are really enjoying our time here especially with the rugby clinics,” George said.
“This is my first year doing one of these tours and it is a great experience for me, especially growing up attending clinics like these when I was younger so it is good to now be able to give back to the community.”
President of Rugby Bundaberg Mitch Pukallus said the opportunity for players of George and Seru’s calibre to be part of the community for a few days was invaluable for the game.
“It is really fantastic to see the Queensland Reds commit their players to the region again, we really look forward to these visits,” Mitch said.
“It is important that major professional sporting organisations commit to initiatives like this as a number of players do come from country areas.
“The players will be running a number of junior clinics, and we have also partnered with Bundaberg Regional Council in a tree planting as part of the million trees project which is great news.
“We will be having a dinner tomorrow night at the Brothers Sports Club to hear about the training under Brad Thorn at the Queensland Reds from the players and their experience being part of the Queensland Reds.”
The Queensland Reds pre-season squad has been split into 14 separate groups to visit 33 regional centres around the state this week.
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