Historic four debutants for the Australian Steelers ready to make their mark on Adelaide
Wheelchair Rugby Australia has unveiled the Australian Steelers squad for the 2025 Santos Wheelchair Rugby World Challenge, featuring four debutants ready to make history in the green and gold.
Conor Tweedy, Lilliana Prucha, Damien Mortaud and South Australia’s own Tai Martin-Page will play their first Steelers games as part of the upcoming World Challenge, starting in exactly one month from May 29 to June 1 at Netball SA Stadium, Adelaide.
This new international tournament marks the return of the Steelers to home soil for the first time since 2018 and will see some of the world’s top wheelchair rugby nations – including Canada, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand, and the Netherlands – compete alongside the existing National Championship (which will be joined by Korea’s Chungnam Province) and a new juniors competition, in what will be the largest wheelchair rugby event in the world for 2025.
Australian Head Coach Brad Dubberley said the squad combines world-class experience, from well-known faces the likes of Chris Bond and Shae Graham, with exciting energy from their new teammates.
“It’s a significant number of debuts, and half of our team playing at the World Challenge will have played their first Steelers game in the first 6 months of this year – it’s a very different team, and it’s exciting for everybody,” he said.
“Probably none more so than Tai Martin-Page who will be a bit of a hometown hero in Adelaide, debuting in front of his friends and family.
“We’ve got some really strong teams coming out to play in the World Challenge, and all our opponents will also have new players in their teams, it will make for an interesting competition.”
The team list has been announced off the back of the Australian development squad competing at the Shibuya Cup in Tokyo. While Australia didn’t win, there were significant performances and learnings across the competition including Steelers debutant Prucha being named the competition’s Best Mid-Point player and existing Steeler Andrew Holloway named the Best High-Point player.
Dubberley encourage Australians to get behind the sport and make their way to a home game: “It’s always huge opportunity to play at home in front of family and friends, we don’t get to do that very often.”
He shared that fans should expect a team that’s out to make everyone proud, fun to watch, and trying to perform and move on from mistakes for some quality wheelchair rugby.
“We’re going to bring intensity to Adelaide through a team that everyone can be proud of regardless of results. From this competition, we will be looking ahead to the World Championships in 2026, the LA 2028 Paralympics and even Brisbane 2032.”
“We want everyone to be proud of us and everyone to see that we give max effort and energy into every game. We’ve definitely got a team that is worthy of winning this tournament, and make no mistake, that’s our goal.”
Tickets are available now for all sessions, including Steelers primetime sessions, full event passes, day tickets and more.
WRWC Australian Steelers team list
| Name | Classification | State |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Bond (c) | 3.5 | QLD |
| Brayden Foxley-Conolly | 3.5 | QLD |
| Andrew Holloway | 3.5 | NSW |
| Cooper Blackwood | 3.0 | NSW |
| *Conor Tweedy | 2.5 | QLD |
| Shae Graham | 2.5F | VIC |
| Jayden Jackson | 2.0 | NSW |
| *Lilliana Prucha | 2.0F | QLD |
| *Tai Martin-Page | 1.5 | SA |
| James McQuillan | 0.5 | VIC |
| *Damien Mortaud | 0.5 | QLD |
| Emilie Miller | 0.5F | QLD |
* Denotes Steelers debut
Team lists for the National Championship (including division 2 and juniors’ fixtures) will be announced closer to the event.
Wheelchair Rugby World Challenge
Venue: Netball SA Stadium, Keswick Terminal Adelaide SA 5035
Dates: Thursday 29 May – Sunday 1 June 2025
Tickets: Available now
More information: www.wheelchairrugby.com.au
Can’t make the trip to Adelaide? Australian audiences will be able to watch the event streamed live on Foxtel and Kayo.
For media enquiries and questions:
Emily Newton, Manager – Media & Marketing Wheelchair Rugby Australia
M: 0481 121 440
emily@wheelchairrugby.com.au