The Lakes Knights Cricket Club has achieved a stunning national hat-trick, sweeping three tiers of community awards in a single season to claim the titles of Brisbane North, Queensland, and now Australian Community Club of the Year. The Knights beat out more than 3,500 cricket clubs across the country to take the top spot.
It is the kind of achievement that takes years to build and a moment to announce. For the Knights, based in North Lakes and playing across fields in Woodside, Burpengary, Newport, and several local schools, the national award caps a four-year stretch that has seen the club transform from a modest suburban outfit into one of the most talked-about grassroots cricket communities in the country.
Club president Daniel Moyle found out about the national win in the most unlikely of circumstances. “It was pretty exciting,” he says. “We were actually told while filming for the Queensland award and had to keep the secret!”
A club that grew when it needed to
North Lakes has grown fast. It is a suburb built over the last two decades on what was mostly farmland, and the sporting infrastructure has had to catch up with the population at pace. The Knights have been part of that story since the start, and the numbers tell their own tale: four years ago, the club had around 240 registered players. Today, that figure sits at more than 700.
That growth is not accidental. The club recently merged with the Burpengary Brumbies, expanding its footprint into a broader regional cricket hub and strengthening the pathway for junior players from Under 10s right through to the senior ranks.
The merger has added teams, coaches, and development opportunities while preserving the tight-knit community feel that made both clubs work in the first place.
Demand has exploded so quickly that the club had to cap its winter competition teams at seven due to a severe shortage of available pitches, turning away more than 50 players who wanted to lace up. For a volunteer-run community club, that is an extraordinary position to be in.
“Our growth has been phenomenal,” Moyle says, “but as with every sport, keeping people interested in that sport is so important.”
Volunteers who made it happen
Cricket Australia’s recognition came via the Toyota Community Cricket Club of the Year award, a flagship category of the national body’s annual Community Cricket Awards, now in their 10th year. The award recognises clubs that demonstrate sustainable growth, strong governance, community spirit, and a fierce commitment to inclusive participation.
James Allsopp, Cricket Australia’s Chief of Cricket, praised the club’s holistic approach to building a community. “The Lakes Knights Cricket Club embodies the absolute best qualities of grassroots cricket,” Allsopp said. “They’ve created a strong, vibrant environment for all members of the family to participate in the sport they love, while heavily giving back to the broader community through initiatives like Clean Up Australia Day.”
Max Parsons, from the Brisbane North Junior Cricket Association, offered a tribute to the people behind the scenes. “The club doesn’t just aspire to be welcoming and inclusive. It lives these values through its everyday actions in the club and wider community. This is just reward for the hard-working committee members and volunteers of the club.”
Daniel Kearney, Head of Participation and Club Development at Queensland Cricket, added that the state body is “extremely proud of the work The Lakes Knights and so many clubs around the state do,” noting that Moyle and his team of volunteers had “fostered some incredible growth in a rapidly expanding community.”
The club’s involvement in Clean Up Australia Day is just one example of that broader community ethic. Membership fees are deliberately kept low to reduce financial barriers for local families, with the club actively redirecting what it saves on infrastructure costs straight back into gear, coaching, and player development.
“We keep our prices quite low. We understand pressures on people,” Moyle says, “and with not a lot of infrastructure, more is spent on equipment, coaching and developing players.”
A ground to grow into
The one piece still missing from the puzzle is a permanent home. The Knights currently share fields across Woodside, Burpengary, and Newport, alongside school grounds at Bounty Boulevard and Mango Hill State Schools, Deception Bay State High School, North Lakes State College, and Grace Lutheran College in Rothwell. It works, but only just, and the pitch shortage is now actively choking further growth.
Securing a dedicated, permanent ground is the ultimate goal, which Moyle sees as the key to unlocking the next phase of what the club can offer the region. A dedicated facility would allow year-round programming, specialized academies, and winter cricket tailored specifically for younger age groups.
“Having our own ground would allow us to run programs all year round, especially running a winter program for our little ones, or academies,” he says.
For a club that has already outgrown its current footprint while conquering the country on community impact, the argument for a permanent home speaks for itself. The Lakes Knights have proved what they can achieve with borrowed fields and volunteer hours. The next chapter is about building something they can finally call their own.
Families and players interested in joining the Lakes Knights for the upcoming season can find more information here.
Published 25-May-2026
