After a six-year hiatus, the Australian Schoolboys returned in 1978. The team was selected after the first official Australian Schoolboys Championships, in which Queensland Schoolboys participated but the New South Wales Combined Catholic Colleges did not.

A merit team was selected for the first time, meaning the team did not play any games. Merit teams were also later selected in 1983 and 1987.

Nine players from the team went on to play first grade, including Brian Battese, Malcolm Cochrane and Neil Hunt, who all won premierships in the NSWRL. In 2008, Cochrane was named at hooker in the Indigenous Australian Team of the Century.

Battese would later coach the Australian Schoolboys from 2015 to 2016.

1978 Australian Schoolboys – merit team
Brian Battese (Richmond River High School, Lismore)
Craig Beadows (Southport State High School)
Steven Beresfield (Glen Innes High School)
Mark Cannon (Ballina High School)
Robert Clarke (Coffs Harbour High School)
Malcolm Cochrane (Taree High School)
Rod Edmonds (Endeavour Sports High School, Caringbah)
Mark Glass (Kirrawee High School)
Stephen Hardy (Kirrawee High School)
Dean Herbert (Forbes High School)
Neil Hunt (Pendle Hill High School)
Craig McAlpine (Aspley State High School)
Mark Ross (Evans High School, Blacktown)
Tony Ryan (Warwick State High School)
Jim See (Dubbo South High School)
Robert Simpkins (Glen Innes High School)
John Tapp (The Gap State High School)