Mooroopna’s Joss Church has gained selection to the Victorian Storm under-20 touch rugby team heading to Coffs Harbour for the national championships in March.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
If you’ve never heard of Joss Church, give it time.
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The touch rugby phenom from Mooroopna has spent the past few years sprinting through defences, sidestepping expectations, and putting Victorian touch football on the map.
Now, with a spot secured in the Victorian Storm under-20 side for a fourth consecutive year, he’s headed to Coffs Harbour for the national championships where he’ll stare down the goliaths of Queensland and NSW.
This is the perennial dilemma for Victoria, the underdog state in a sport long dominated by its northern neighbours.
The players in maroon and blue have been running lines since they could walk, and with skill sets encoded in their DNA, Joss is expecting nothing short of a mountain to climb from March 6-8.
“Pretty much any team from Queensland or NSW is just strong - they’re just born and bred to play it,” he said.
“They’re all strong teams up there, but we play well against some of the lower ones and with the higher competition, we try and bring in as much as we can.”
Church’s under-20 unit won two games at last year’s championships, beating WA Tigers in the group stages and ACT Raiders in a play off.
Though it perhaps wasn’t the perfect Storm showing, Church was able to break ground and shift into middle link role, becoming his team’s conductor.
Whether it's a spin to the winger or a deft dummy inside, the Mooroopna marvel is shouldering a new weight of responsibility on the park as one of his side’s leaders.
And to that challenge, he says bring it on.
A full-time transition into middle link and the added responsibility has Joss Church raring to go in Victorian Storm colours.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
“Last year we just missed out on quarter-finals again, but I got a fair chance in the middle as well which was a new role for me, so that boosted up my opportunity to play again,” he said.
“Now I’ve got a full-time role in the middle link position.
“Being one of the few top-age players, I’ve got to step up and try and help the younger guys develop through that middle.
“It’s so that when me or my teammates move on to opens, they have that knowledge to help the other generation coming through.”
Church, 19, is now one of the under-20 side’s elder statesmen.
Fresh blood has been fused into the Storm’s 2025 squad, but with a core unit “gelling quite fast”, Church has high expectations for his fellow Victorian comrades.
His own training schedule is relentless; four sessions a week plus strength work and even footy training with his local club, Numurkah.
That’s right - touch isn’t his only code, for this is Victoria after all.
However, if the Storm is going to upset the northern hierarchy one day, it’ll be because players like Church willed it into existence.
If his tournament goes as planned, the next step - men’s opens - will be waiting.
