Global Information2016 Northern Pride RLFC season information
| Club information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club | ||
| Nickname(s) | The Pride | ||
| Colours |  Black, teal and gold | ||
| Founded | 2007 | ||
| Website | northernpride.com.au | ||
| Current details | |||
| Ground(s) |
| ||
| CEO | Rod Jensen (2015-2016) | ||
| Coach | Joe O'Callaghan (2015-2016) | ||
| Captain | Ryan Ghietti (2016-2018) | ||
| Competition | Intrust Cup | ||
| 2016 | 8th | ||
| |||
| Records | |||
| Premierships | 2 (2010/2014) | ||
| Runners-up | 1 (2009) | ||
| Minor premierships | 1 (2013/2014) | ||
2016 was the ninth competitive season for the Cairns based Sea Swift Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club. They were one of 14 clubs that played in the twenty-first season of Queensland's top rugby league competition, QRL's Intrust Super Cup, with each team playing 12 home games and 11 away games over 25 weeks between March and August.
Five experienced players retired at the end of the 2015 season: Co-captains Brett Anderson and Jason Roos, Alex Starmer, Semi Tadulala and Sam Obst, and Hezron Murgha retired from the Cowboys and joined the Blackhawks. Between them they had played almost 700 QCup games.[1] The new squad for 2016 was much younger, with an average age of 21, the youngest squad the Pride ever had.[2] The new captain was Ryan Ghietti, who had represented Italy at the 2013, had played 96 QCup games, and had joined the Pride from Redcliffe Dolphins in 2011. Jack Svendsen was vice-captain, with Luke George filling the role during pre-season trials. A new senior leadership group was selected with the captain and vice-captains joined by Justin Castellaro and Tom Hancock.
At the start of the season there was talk of offering a contract to Shaun Nona, the Tully player who made 25 appearances for the Pride in 2014 before heading to the Melbourne Storm. Nona eventually signed with Mackay Cutters, but then reneged and went to the Intrust Super Premiership NSW Illawarra Cutters, who were coached by former Pride coach Jason Demetriou.[3]
Bob Fowler stood down as Chairman, a position he had held since 2009. He was replaced by interim chairman Terry Mackenroth, who had been Deputy Premier of Queensland and a former director of Queensland Rugby League and the Australian Rugby League.[4] Mackenroth restructured the club's corporate governance and changed the Pride from an incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee, which was one of the requirements of the NRL's elite pathways.[5]
One of the changes suggested was to rename the Northern Pride. The introduction of the Townsville Blackhawks into the competition last year led some Board members to suggest the Pride should be rebranded to reflect the Cairns and Far North Queensland region. The idea was soon shouted down by players and fans.
In order to try and boost crowd numbers, home games were moved from Saturday evenings, to 3:00pm Sunday afternoons, in what the CEO thought was a more family friendly time slot.[6]
In an effort the generate income (the Pride being one of only five QCup teams that are not supported by gambling revenue from a leagues club), the Pride offered businesses the opportunity to sponsor an individual player's jersey for $6,500. The concept had been introduced in the NRL, but was a first for the Intrust Super Cup.[7]
The QRL reduced the number of interchanges this year, following the NRL, dropping interchanges from ten to eight per game. The Pride suffered from a raft of injuries at the end of last season, and so this year they introduced a 'High Performance Unit' made up of doctors, physios, dieticians and coaches who worked withe the players to curb injuries and ensure player peaked at the right times. The club introduced GPS tracking for players to monitor workloads.[8]
The Pride took one of their home games, Round 11 against Burleigh Bears up onto the Atherton Tablelands to Atherton Showground, and Country Week, Round 20 against Redcliffe Dolphins was played at Ravenshoe.
Although the Pride had some good wins, 48-0 against Tweed Heads in Round 6, and beat five of the top seven sides, consistency and defence were troublesome for the young side. The Pride won just 11 of their 23 matches and finished in eighth place, their worst season to date. For the first time they lost more home games than they won, and for the second time in their history they missed out on playing in the finals.
At the end of the season, coach Joe O'Callaghan resigned to take up an assistant coaching position at Wynnum-Manly.[9] The players became increasingly unhappy with their options for next year, with some claiming they were offered reduced deals. Several players signed to other clubs. After the final round of the season, the board sacked CEO Rod Jensen.[10] Former Pride player, Chey Bird, was appointed interim CEO.
- ^ O'Neill, Rhys (5 January 2016). "5 January 2016". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ O'Neill, Rhys (11 January 2016). "Ten Questions for the Pride in 2016". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ O'Neill, Rhys (22 January 2016). "Contract farce leaves player tarnished". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ New model to strengthen Capras Archived 22 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine, QRL Media, QRL website, 21 November 2016, Retrieved 22 November 2016.
- ^ O'Neill, Rhys (25 January 2016). "Pride in doing a job for club". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ O'Neill, Rhys (12 March 2016). "Pride look for bigger crowd on Sunday". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ O'Neill, Rhys (3 February 2016). "Pride go on sale by the numbers". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ O'Neill, Rhys (12 February 2016). "Pride target off-field wins". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ Grams, Jacob (12 September 2016). "Williams gives experience Pride of place in his team". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ Grams, Jacob (12 September 2016). "Pride sack chief executive Jensen amid rumblings". Cairns Post. Cairns.