The team of students made it after successfully progressing past the local and regional stages of the competition last term.
The state finals will be held on Wednesday, July 30 in Blacktown, Sydney at the International Sports Park.
Deniliquin South assistant principal Ash Morris said the team demonstrated good values in the performances, representing the school and district well at the regional stage earlier this month.
“In the state quarter-finals, held on July 2 in Wagga, Deni South finished second,” he said.
“They won two games, against Griffith East and Lockhart, and lost to Henschke Catholic School, who also made it through to the statewide finals last year.
“Both wins were terrific come from behind victories, in which the boys displayed terrific resilience and teamwork.”
The Deniliquin South School Year 5 and 6 girls team also competed at the regional finals.
They played with determination but lost two games and drew one, bringing their Paul Kelly Cup campaign to an end.
The Deni South boys team will now play against the best primary school Australian rules teams of the NSW/ACT regions for the title of 2025 state champions.
Across NSW and the ACT, more than 270 schools registered to take part in the Paul Kelly Cup.
The competition is the biggest Australian rules knock-out competition for primary school students in Australia, with almost 10,000 young footballers participating last year.
The 12 a side competition sees teams play a modified format version of the game through gala days across the state.
The competition, named for AFL Hall of Famer and NSW Hall of Champions Legend, Paul Kelly, was first run in 1997 and is in its 27th edition, more than two decades after the champion Swan’s retirement.
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