First run in 2021, the competition replaced the QRL Junior State Championships, which ran from 2017 to 2020. Originally known as The
Cyril Connell Cup the competition, which began in 2009, included the junior representative teams of
Queensland Cup clubs. The competition also featured teams from
Victoria and the
Northern Territory. In the 2016 season, the Cyril Connell Cup consisted of sixteen clubs: fifteen based within
Queensland and one in
Victoria. Eleven of the sixteen clubs were junior representative teams for
Queensland Cup clubs. From 2011 to 2016, the winners of the Grand Final played the winners of the New South Wales’ under-16 competition, the
Harold Matthews Cup, in the National Final. The 2020 competition was ultimately cancelled in the wake of the COVID pandemic before the tournament re-commenced in a round robin format for the 2021 season. The Cyril Connell Cup/Challenge was named after
Cyril Connell Jr., who played 24 games for
Queensland and 2 Tests for
Australia between 1952 and 1957. ==Teams==