Izack Rodda (Class of 2014)
Izack Rodda is an Australian professional rugby union player. He plays for the Queensland Reds in the Super Rugby competition. He signed a train-on contract with the Queensland Reds in 2016 and played in the National Rugby Championship that year for Queensland Country. In 2017, he made his Super Rugby debut for the Reds in the opening round of the season. Rodda was selected for the Wallabies squad in the lead up to The Rugby Championship series of 2017. He gained his first Test cap for Australia in the final stages of the second Bledisloe Cup match of 2017.
Joseph Deng (Class of 2016)
Joseph Deng is an Australian middle-distance runner. In 2018, he was selected to compete in the 800m event at the Commonwealth Games and finished seventh in the final in 1:47.20. At the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco he finished seventh in the 800m but broke the Australian record with a time of 1:44.21. The previous Australian record of 1:44.40 was set by Ralph Doubell in winning the gold medal at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. At the end of the 2018 season, Deng had run four times under 1.45 in the year, the most ever by an Australian.
In 2023 Joseph became the first Australian in history to shatter the 1:44 barrier over 800m, clocking 1:43.99 for the win in Lyon, France. This record eclipses Peter Bol’s record by 0.01-seconds. This result is Joseph’s first Paris 2024 Olympic qualifier.
Ryan Maskelyne (Class of 2017)
To compete for his country was always a dream for Ryan from a very young age. At nine years of age, training started with three sessions a week in the local pool near his home in PNG. At the age of 14, Ryan relocated to Australia and started his boarding journey at IGS. The hard work intensified to nine training sessions a week on top of his rigorous study schedule.
The dream of competing was within reach at the start of 2020, then the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed due to COVID. For any elite athlete, this was a crushing and heartbreaking outcome. The decision had to be made to continue with the laborious task of training and making sacrifices for another 12 months or give up the dream you had since you were a young boy.
Ryan took a short break to re-evaluate his priorities but in true IGS spirit, he decided to pursue his dream of going to the Olympics. This decision paid off; Ryan successfully qualified for the PNG Olympic Team at the Tokyo Olympics in the 200mtr Breaststroke in 2021. In 2022 Ryan qualified for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and represented Team PNG in the Men’s 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke events.
Isaac Irons (Class of 2018)
Isaac Irons, who alongside Hedley Thomas, David Murray and Slade Gibson, has won the Investigative Journalism Walkley Award for Shandee’s Story – the 20-episode podcast series that exposed disastrous failings occurring at Queensland’s state-run DNA laboratory, involving dozens of investigations and has led to a major public inquiry.
The Walkley Awards are the pinnacle of achievement for any Australian journalist. It is a huge testament to Isaac’s talent and dedication, that he has been awarded such a prestigious award at the start of his career, and whilst still a journalism student. Speaking of his decision to pursue journalism, Isaac said “I’ve always loved telling stories and meeting people and so journalism was a natural choice for me. I just love that journalists can go anywhere and talk to anyone and let their curiosity drive them to new and interesting places.” Now a Walkley winner, Isaac plans to finish his program over the next two years and continue to work part-time as a journalist until he graduates.
