Dr Karl Jackson (Class of 2001)
Dr Karl Jackson has made the Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) Top 50 Movers and Shapers for 2021 which lists the 50 most influential people in the Australian Football industry.
Karl is the Head of Data & Analytics at Champion Data. He is the creator of the Official AFL Player Ratings and one of the sharpest analytical minds in the game. He is at the forefront of the numbers-based, data-driven approach to the game and the theory that it is not just kicks, marks and handballs that matter, but field position and the impact of particular field positions close to goal.
Nic Berry (Class of 2001)
According to the 2001 Yearbook the First Xv Rugby Team set a wonderful example – both on and off the field – to the rest of the rugby cohort and to the school at large. This was due in no small way to the faultless, mature leadership of Captain and Prefect Nic Berry.
After taking up the whistle Nic has become one of the few former Super Rugby players to also have refereed a match. He is an Australian rugby union referee and a former professional player who took up refereeing after being forced to retire from playing in 2012.
Nic made a rapid rise up the refereeing ranks in 2015, making his debut both in Queensland Premier Rugby and in Australia’s National Rugby Championship within a year of taking up the whistle.
Nic professional playing career saw him have stints with the QLD Reds, Racing 92 (Paris) and London Wasps.
When refereeing Nic is focused on the players and their wellbeing; he guides and supports the players throughout the game, constantly talking to them and explaining what he is seeing and the decisions he is making; he is calm, concise and considered in the way he talks to the players and his colleagues; and ultimately he can connect to the players. #igsoldboys
Nathan Reardon (Class of 2002)
Nathan Reardon is a former professional Australian cricketer. He made his Twenty20 International debut for Australia against South Africa in 2014. A left-handed batsman who is well suited to limited overs cricket, the highlight of Nathan Reardon’s first-class career came when he hit seven sixes in his 147 against West Indies at Allan Border Field in 2009.
Berrick Barnes (Class of 2003)
Berrick Barnes began his professional sporting career in 2005, playing Rugby League for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League competition. The following year he switched codes to Rugby Union with the Queensland Reds in the Super 14 competition, making 34 appearances before joining the Waratahs in 2010. Barnes made his international debut aged 21 in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Tafeaga Junior Sa’u (Class of 2003)
Tafeaga Junior Sa’u is a professional rugby league footballer who played for New Zealand and Samoa at international level. He previously played for the Newcastle Knights and the Melbourne Storm in the NRL before joining Super League side Salford Red Devils in 2014. He spent time in 2019 on loan at Wakefield Trinity in the Super League. He currently plays for the Leigh Centurions in the Betfred Championship.
Robert Smeets (Class of 2003)
Robert Smeets is an Australian retired professional tennis player. Smeets played predominantly on the ATP Challenger Series and ITF Men’s Circuit. However, he has enjoyed some success on the ATP Tour: at the 2008 Next Generation Adelaide International, he and Chris Guccione, as wildcards, reached the final of the doubles competition. Smeets has also reached the second round of the Australian Open, in 2007, by defeating Lukáš Lacko. In 2008 Smeets was granted a wildcard into the 2008 French Open main draw. He drew Tomáš Berdych, winning one game.
Pacharo Mzembe (Class of 2004)
Pacharo Mzembe is an Australian based actor specialising in Theatre, Film & Television. He was accepted into the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) at the age of seventeen. He has appeared in numerous motion television and movie roles which include Paramount Pictures” Monster Problems”, Channel Nine’s” Here Come the Habib’s”, ABC’s “Harrow ” & SBS’s “Safe Harbour”. His theatrical highlights include the portrayal of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in the award winning “The Mountaintop” and adrenaline pumping ”Prize Fighter” wherein he was awarded a “Green Room Award” & nominated for the Sydney Theatre & Helpmann Awards for his portrayal of an ex-child soldier turned boxing contender.
Lagi Setu (Class of 2005)
Lagi Setu is a Samoa international rugby league footballer. In the 2007 NRL season he made his NRL debut for St. George Illawarra against the Newcastle Knights. In 2008, Setu signed a contract with the Brisbane Broncos starting and played 21 games for Brisbane as the club reached the preliminary final. In 2103, Setu signed a one-year contract with the Melbourne Storm then signed with the Canberra Raiders for the 2014 NRL season on a two-year deal. Setu signed a one-year deal with the Sydney Roosters for the 2015 NRL season.
Albert Anae (Class of 2006)
Albert Anae is a rugby union footballer who has previously played for the Queensland Reds and Italian club Benetton. Anae was selected to represent Queensland at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships in 2006 and went on to play for Australian Schools, U19s and U20s. Anae played his first Super Rugby match for the Reds in 2011, the year that the Reds won the Super Rugby Championship. He currently plays professionally for the Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars in the Japanese Top League.
Jake Capewell (Class of 2006)
Jake Capewell represented Australia at the World Polocrosse Championships.
Rodney Davies (Class of 2006)
Rodney Davies was a Queensland Reds player who made his Test debut against Samoa on 17 July, 2011 when he was named as a late replacement for injured winger James O’Connor. The 2006 IGS First XV captain became the first Reds player to score three tries in one game in a brilliant display of running rugby against the Blues in a 2011 Super Rugby semi-final. Davies donated his Wallabies jersey to Ipswich Grammar School in August that year. #yourplaceinhistory #igs
Cameron Gannon (Class of 2006)
Cameron Gannon is an Australian cricketer who was a member of the 2011–2012 Queensland Bulls squad. At the age of 19 Gannon played for a season in Reading, England, for the Sonning Club and made his first-class debut in a Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in 2010. Gannon signed with Brisbane Heat in 2012 and made his Twenty20 debut in the KFC Big Bash League. In 2019, he was named in the United States’ squad for the Regional Finals of the ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier tournament. He made his Twenty20 International debut for the United States against Bermuda in 2019.
Lama Tasi (Class of 2007)
Lama Tasi is a Samoa international rugby league footballer.He played for the Sydney Roosters and the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL, and the Salford Red Devils in two separate spells, St Helens and the Warrington Wolves in the Super League.
Matthew Hodgson (Class of 2008)
Matthew Hodgson was an Under-19 Australian Boomers representative who took up a basketball scholarship with the University of Southern Utah before transferring to St Mary’s College in California. He played three seasons with the Adelaide 36ers before returning to Queensland, joining the Brisbane Bullets in April 2018. #yourplaceinhistory #igs
Lachlan Pfeffer (Class of 2008)
Lachlan Pfeffer is an Australian cricketer. He made his first-class debut for Queensland in the 2017–18 Sheffield Shield season, debuting in the 2018–19 JLT One-Day Cup.
