Global Information2024 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 | Garreth Smith (2022-) | ||
| Chairman | Terry Medhurst (2024-) | ||
| Coach | Eric Smith (2024-) | ||
| Manager | Sam Harreman | ||
| Captain | Kyle Schneider (2024-) | ||
| Competition | Queensland Cup
Mal Meninga Cup Cyril Connell Cup Harvey Norman U19 Harvey Norman U17 BMD Premiership (from 2025) | ||
| |||
 Current season | |||
| Records | |||
| Premierships | 2 (2010/2014) | ||
| Runners-up | 1 (2009) | ||
| Minor premierships | 1 (2013/2014) | ||
| Sport | Rugby league |
|---|---|
| Inaugural season | 2008 |
| Number of teams | 15 |
| Country | Australia |
| Most titles | Redcliffe Dolphins (6 titles) |
| Website | Queensland Cup |
| Broadcast partner | Nine Network |
2024 is the seventeenth competitive season for the Cairns based Kenfrost Homes Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club. They are one of 15 clubs that compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, QRL's Hostplus Cup. The Northern Pride will play 10 home games and 10 away games over 23 rounds between March and August.
Eric Smith was appointed as coach on a two-year contract, replacing Ty Williams, who had coached the Pride for the last seven years.[1] Smith was captain-coach for CDRL Brothers Cairns (2007–2011), Brothers Cairns operations manager (2011), captain-coach of CRL Group 21 Muswellbrook Rams (2012), captain-coach Group 9 Tumut Blues (2013), assistant coach QCup Brisbane Tigers (2014), assistant coach (2015) and coach (2016–2017) for the NRL U-20s Melbourne Storm, head coach winning a minor-premiership for QCup Vantage Homes SC Falcons (2019), and development coach for NRL Telstra Premiership nib Newcastle Knights (2020–2022).
The Pride are a feeder club to the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys.[2] The Cowboys split their squad of first grade and development players between their QCup feeder clubs, and players that are not required for that weekend's NRL fixture play for their feeder team.[3] The Pride and Cutters have been Cowboys feeder clubs since they entered the competition in 2008, and the Blackhawks became the third feeder club when they joined the competition in 2015. Last season the Cowboys sent most of their affiliated players to the Blackhawks, which resulted in the Townsville club terminating their arrangement with the Cowboys, and signing a two-year affiliation (2024–2025) with South Sydney Rabbitohs instead.[4] This means for the first time in ten years, the Cowboys' allocation is divided between just two teams (the Pride and Cutters), rather than three, and so the 2024 season should see more Cowboys playing for the Pride than last year.[5]
Four Pride players, Ewan Moore, Rashaun Denny, Lachlan West and Kyle Schneider did pre-season training with the Cowboys NRL squad between 1 November and the Christmas break 2023,[6] with Moore and Schneider being selected to play for the Cowboys in their pre-season trial match against the Brisbane Broncos in Mackay on 17 February 2024.[7]
The Pride only played one pre-season trial match this year, a three-way competition with CDRL 2023 premiers, Brothers Cairns, and local QCup rivals Townsville Blackhawks. The Pride played one-half against Brothers, then Brothers played the second-half against the Blackhawks. This match was immediately followd by a match between the Pride and Blackhawks. The game was played in torrential Wet season rain.
- ^ Arnold, Rikki-Lee (9 August 2023). "Northern Pride announce new head coach".
- ^ "Cowboys 2024 feeder club allocation". cowboys.com.au. 13 March 2024.
- ^ "Cowboys launch new agreement with Pride/". November 2023.
- ^ "Rabbitohs announce two-year affiliation agreement with Townsville Blackhawks". 17 October 2023.
- ^ "Cowboys 2024 feeder club allocation". 30 January 2024.
- ^ "Cowboys finalise feeder clubs". 26 October 2023.
- ^ "Get to know our young players ahead of Sunday's trial". 15 February 2024.