Despite the dominance of St Ignatius in 2025, the GPS season was one of the most interesting I can recall. Almost every school had finished on the podium before the end of term four, and picking the top three at Head of the River was a near-impossible task right up until the week before the big dance. This year, our leading crews are all more experienced than their predecessors, with two schools fielding entirely year 12 eights. Short of Henley Royal Regatta, this is one of the most prestigious schools’ rowing competitions in the world, and the competition this year is set to honour that prestige well.
Shore
For the first time in 40 years, no current student at Shore has witnessed their school win the Major Rennie Trophy. After two seasons of playing second fiddle, coach Jason Baker will be looking to change that statistic. With three returners (two from their dominant second eight and three from the four), Shore has the most 2025 Head of the River wins out of anyone in the field. This is also one of the rare cases where the crew is composed entirely of Year 12 athletes. On paper, this is the best shot Shore has had in several years. Whether it’s enough to overturn the might of St Ignatius, we’ll have to wait until March to find out, but expect them to be quick this weekend.
St Ignatius College
Following the first race of last season, a fellow coach remarked to me, “They should just hand out the Major Rennie now, no one’s coming close to Riverview“. I wanted to argue for the sake of exciting racing, but the crew that demolished the field in November last year went on to clock an undefeated season, and were easily the best Australian schoolboy crew I’ve witnessed in my 15 years in the sport. There’ll be some weight on the shoulders of this combination on Saturday as they take their first strokes toward defending that title.
With two members of last year’s crew, two from the second eight, three from the fours and one from their dominant year ten eight, there’s plenty of winning experience in this combination. There’s more to Riverview than their results, though. Watching their fours and year tens last year, it was evident that Dan Noonan’s work across the entire shed – implementing a very distinctive technical model defined by simplicity and length – enabled St Ignatius to put together competitive crews in every boat class. There’s no doubt this combination will once again be right at the pointy end of the GPS competition this season.
St Joseph’s College
2025 was possibly a season to forget for the boys in cerise. Whilst Joeys were one of the standout crews from a technical standpoint, they lacked consistency and eventually found themselves on the wrong side of an incredibly tight mid-pack at the GPS Head of the River. Joeys have always had the potential for speed, but just stumbled at the final hurdle, often finding themselves a day late and a dollar short at the big dance.
This year, with five returners from last year’s crew, plus the coxswain, I feel like there’s a possibility we could see something special from Hunters Hill. We saw this eight split into two fours last weekend, where they convincingly dusted the Scots first eight, so they’re definitely in the right ballpark early doors. The addition of Olympic gold medallist Jack Hargreaves to the leadership team at Joeys will also undoubtedly have an impact, following his dominant win in the Year 10 eight at St Ignatius. The first two events of last season saw two podiums for Joeys, so I expect to see some early-season flashes this weekend.
Kings
The second most successful school in the history of GPS rowing, Kings will be hungry heading into 2026. Last season took a while to get moving for the boys in blue and white. That crew, full of year ten pedigree, didn’t find their groove until the late stages of the season, culminating in a third at the Head of the River and a fifth at nationals. This is somewhat typical of Kings, who throughout history have tended to find their speed later in the season. This year’s crew, like Shore, is made up entirely of Year 12s, including four returners from the first eight, two from the second eight, two from the fours, and coxswain Otto Gerber for his third first eight campaign, making him the most experienced in this field.
With the names in this crew, it’s clear to me they’re capable of more than last season. It’ll take a lot to overhaul the top two GPS programmes for the Rennie this year, but if anyone can pull something surprising out of the bag, it’s Kings. As for this weekend, expect some signs of speed, but it’s unlikely Kings will be blowing the field away in October.
Prediction
With two races this weekend, I’ll stipulate that my predictions are for the first event, as we often see scratchings in the second. Each programme will have its own idea of where its crew should be at the first regatta, and with such an early start to the season, expect a mixed bag of results that certainly won’t be replicated come March 21st 2026.
Given their experience, I’m going to predict Shore for a win on the weekend, but it won’t be by clear water like we’ve seen at previous season-openers. Riverview will be right up there for second, followed closely by a battle for third between Joeys and Kings, which should see Joeys get up just.
Predictions are just that, though, predictions. It’d take some convincing odds for me to put my hard-earned dollarydoos on these results. The one thing I would wager, though, is that there’ll be some fascinating talking points come Saturday afternoon.
