Day one of the Queensland State Cup/Australia Cup started early, with staff at the fields surveying the damage of yesterday's massive downpour.

QTA staff Andrew Barr and Phil Gyemore, as well as the grounds man and general manager of Quad Park walked over the fields (swam through others) and then met to decide the fate of the event.

Remarkably, after 260mm hit the Sunshine Coast, a majority of the fields were still deemed playable. After losing power during the storm yesterday afternoon the Quad Park facility was also up and running.

Different options were put forward, including moving the event to Saturday/Sunday, but in the end all involved agreed that the best thing to do was to pick the best fields and move teams to those fields to make sure the event went ahead as scheduled.

Several of the fields have drained incredibly well, especially considering the amount of water they were covered in. Others though were not so lucky...jokes of match reports between the ducks and the fish flew around and staff quickly decided those fields concerned were out of play.

Thankfully enough fields were salvaged to keep the draw itself unchanged, with only field changes on the cards.

Staff will keep an eye on the condition of all fields being played on, as well as those that are being left to dry out, in an effort to look after the enjoyment and safety of all players involved.

The tournament kicked off with Rugby League legend Wayne Pearce taking the time to visit and promote sport and the event in general.

He caught up with the referees last night and then this morning visited the Kawana State High School, next door to the Quad Park complex and gave a brilliant speech on working hard, how you determine your future and how setbacks are there to challenge you, not hold you back.

Many people may be daunted standing up in front of a group of 75 year 8's and 9's, they can be a tough audience, not keen to listen intently or ask questions of visitors...but Wayne had their attention from the very beginning.

Wayne's list of achievements on the NRL field had the kids respect from the beginning, 188 games for the Balmain Tigers, captaining the club for seven seasons, 15 NSW State of Origin caps, including being captain from 1985 to 1988.

He played 18 test matches for Australia and was part of the 1982 `Invincibles' Kangaroo tour. He was voted best player on the tours in 1982 and also 1984.

After his career as a player finished, Wayne went on to coach the Balmain Tigers for 6 years and Wests Tigers for one year.

He also coached the NSW State of Origin side in 1999 and 2000 and then worked as a commentator for Fox Footy.

Now he spends his time consulting to businesses and running training programs for their employees, helping businesses improve their team work and communication.

What he had to say to these young kids though was more focused on them than on himself.

He was truthful and realistic, treating them like young adults and respecting the fact they wanted honestly, not the dribble that so often is giving to our young people during their `impressionable' years.

He talked about how he believes that they need to be working hard now for rewards that will come later, that their life can be determined by their thoughts and desires...not their parents or their friends and that they are responsible for the decisions they make and the direction their life heads.

He also told these young people that they would face setbacks throughout their life, that these setbacks were inevitable but instead of looking at them like setbacks, the kids should look at them as challenges.

These challenges make you look at yourself, learn new things and ideas and challenge how strong you are inside.

Phil Gyemore (Australian Mens Open representative) also spoke briefly, about the Queensland State Cup and Touch, before the questions began.

It was great for these young students to meet someone `famous' and a fantastic opportunity to promote the event across the road and link the skills and people of Touch with the more well-known NRL.

By Rachel Grant