Zac Schumacher starred for Queensland in their latest Wheelchair State Challenge victory over NSW and now he’s looking forward to taking on the world champions when England head down under later this year.
THE Queensland wheelchair rugby league side will go into their match against England this October full of confidence following their victory over New South Wales recently.
It was an absolutely stunning match in the annual encounter that’s known as the Wheelchair State Challenge, where the Maroons overpowered the Blues 48-36.
Scoring a hat-trick of tries for Queensland in that match was Townsville-based Zac Schumacher. He’s been a regular in the Queensland and Australia side for a number of years, playing in the last World Cup in England, and also in the historic first matches against New Zealand last year where he scored two tries in each game and kicked seven goals in the second.
However, his involvement now is more than just playing, as he’s chair of Queensland Wheelchair Rugby League after taking over at the start of last year.
The 34-year-old got into wheelchairrugby league when it first started in Queensland in 2016, and like many others around the world, he started playing the sport after a spell in bheelchair basketball. But once you’ve tried rugby league, you rarely look back.
“I dislocated my hip, which meant hip replacements with 20 operations,” Schumacher said. “So after playing some wheelchair basketball, I was asked to come and give wheelchair rugby league a go, and I fell in love with the sport.
“This year’s match against New South Wales was our fifth straight Wheelchair State Challenge win.
“It’s the same concept as a State of Origin win, but we only play the one game.
“It was held in Sydney this year, so it was definitely good to go down to NSW and get that win. It was probably quite a bit closer than we would have liked, but we still came away with the victory.”
Queensland didn’t have it all their own way in this dramatic encounter. They were 12-0 up early in the game, but NSW pulled it back to 12-all after 30 minutes.
However, NSW were never to lead in the contest. Queensland were 30-12 up at half-time, but the Blues did get within six points of the winners with just five minutes to go.
Queensland captain Bayley McKenna was on form. He also scored three tries in the game, his second just after the hour mark to put the score on to 42-18.
By the 75th minute, it was 42-36 thanks to Diab Karim’s third try and sixth goal of the match for New South Wales.
In the end, after chances for either side, it was a late try from McKenna that cemented the Maroons’ victory. He also added the conversion, his eighth of the game, to complete a 100 percent kicking record.
The match wasn’t shown on TV, nor reported on in all the trade press, but with wheelchair rugby league on the rise in popularity, Schumacher is hoping that this will soon change, especially with England touring later this year, and the World Cup being held in Australia in 2026.
“Well, we’re still hoping to get the England matches on Fox Sports,” he said. “We’re trying, but it’s like the same as what happened in England. Having the World Cup over there, and it being so big, has helped the sport to get TV coverage, and we’re hoping for the same because of next year.”
England’s tour starts with a match against New South Wales in Sydney on Friday, 24th October, before spending the rest of their time in sunny Queensland.
Their second match is against Queensland on the Sunshine Coast on Monday, 27th with the two internationals against Australia on the Gold Coast on Thursday, 30th and then Sunday, 2nd November.
“Now we’ve recovered from the State Challenge win, we’re turning our focus to the Queensland v England match late October,” says Schumacher, who will be hoping to play in all the final three matches,
“We’re really looking forward to get to play the best in the world, to see where the team really sits.
“Our game is going to be on a Monday in the middle of the day, so we’re hoping to pack the arena out with local schools for big support and to promote the game.”
Schumacher is delighted at how wheelchair rugby league is developing in the Sunshine State.
The State Challenge series tally is now five wins each. It was first held in 2015 with New South Wales winning the first five editions, and the scores weren’t even that close, the highest scores being 84-0 and 90-6.
Then in 2021, Queensland finally got the win, beating NSW 50-30. The results have continued to be tight but the Maroons have dominated the 2020s.
“Since just after Covid when Jack Brown moved over here for a bit, he changed the way Queensland Wheelchair Rugby League operated. He brought a bit of that high performance perspective into it,” Schumacher explains.
“Queensland Wheelchair Rugby League now runs with three regions – South East Queensland, Central Queensland and North Queensland
“The Southeast Queensland season kicked off in August. In Townsville, we’re training pretty much year round, two nights a week.”
With nearly 100 players, the sport is growing all the time, and they will be showing off some of the development when Brown and the English side visit.
“When England come over, it’s going to be a big week,” Schumacher said. “NRL Wheelchair are running national championships the first time in Australia – a three-day round robin competition with six teams. That’s the same weekend as the two England matches.
“The first England v Australia match opens that carnival and then finishes on the same day as the second match.”
All of this will certainly help the growth of the game in Australia, ready for when seven nations visit their shores for next year’s World Cup.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 512 (September 2025)
Image credit: Steve Monty