2012 was the fifth competitive season for the Cairns based Skill360 Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club. They were one of 12 clubs that played in the seventeenth season of Queensland's top rugby league competition, QRL's Intrust Super Cup, with each team playing 11 home games and 11 away games over 26 weeks between March and September. In 2012 the Central Comets were renamed the CQ Capras.
A new feature in this season's draw was 'Country Week', which was introduced after the Pride successfully staged a fixture against Souths Logan in the remote Cape York community of Bamaga last year.[1] This year's Country Week fixture was Round 17, held at Alec Inch Oval in the north-western mining town of Mt Isa.
The QRL scrapped the six-team finals series in favour of a five-team qualifying format.[2]
Channel 9 gained the television broadcast rights, and they agreed to broadcast one game from each of the regional clubs in Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton.[3] Former broadcast partner, ABC had been unable (or unwilling) to broadcast games from locations outside south-east Queensland, resulting in the relocation of two of the Pride's home semi-finals to Brisbane, where the games were played in front of small crowds at a neutral venue, which disadvantaged the Pride, as well as costing the club a substantial amount of game-day revenue.[4]
The Pride continued to find new ways to interact with fans and the Far North community. The Sea Swift 'Take Pride' program visited remote and regional schools promoting junior rugby league through fun-based rugby league activities and educational presentations.[5] Home games were live-streamed via the Pride website, and from Round 5, away games were streamed as well. Commentary was provided by U-18s coach, Cameron 'Spilla' Miller and WIN TV's Adam Jackson. Pre-game interviews with the coach, half-time interviews with special guests, and post-match wrap-ups with the captain were posted on YouTube under the title 'Pride TV'. A e-newsletter was produced, called 'Pride Pulse' and Brett Anderson wrote a weekly column for the Cairns Post titled 'Pride Insider'.
The Pride had a shaky start to the season, with four straight losses in the first six rounds. One of their problems was the halves combination, having tried Robert Lui with Shaun Nona, then Ryan Ghietti with Nona, then Ghietti with Mitch Seri, and finally Ghietti with Ty Williams.[6] Moving Williams to five-eighth and taking Rod Jensen opff the bench and starting him at centre helped the Pride win ten of the next sixteen rounds. However poor ball handling, a poor completion rate and poor execution saw them lose matches to lower placed teams. In Round 18 they lost to bottom placed Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles who had only won two games so far. Despite a few good wins in the last few rounds, the Pride finished the season in seventh place, missing out on a finals appearance for the first time in their short history.
At the end of the season, Head Coach David Maiden resigned, while fullback Chey Bird, who scored 572 points in 94 appearances for the Pride, retired along with former North Queensland Cowboys star Rod Jensen, who scored 36 tries in 69 games for the club, second on the Pride's all-time try scorer list.
Board of Directors: Nigel Tillett, David Smith, Craig Meiklejohn, Anthony Mirotsos, Bill Phillips, Bob Fowler.
2012 squad
The Pride used 34 players this season. Nineteen players from last year signed with the club again, and six of the Cowboys allocation players from last year were assigned to the Pride again this year. Nine new players made their debut this season; seven were new signings (Brent Oosen, Ethan Lowe, Justin Castellaro, Maddie Oosen, Mitchell Seri, Saia Makisi and Scott Gibson), and two were new Cowboys allocation players (Robert Lui* and Wayne Ulugia*).
Pre-Season Boot Camp: Djarragun Farm in the Goldsborough Valley – Friday 16-Sunday 18 December 2011. 110 players and coaching staff from all three squads (Intrust Super Cup, Under-18 and Under-16) attended the boot camp. Video Highlights.
FNQ Indigenous All Stars: Karl Adams, Hayden Brown, Maurice Burke, Shemiah Chinfat, Darren Cobb, Stanley Dai, Peter English, Denley Foster, Dane Furphy, Jovan Gibson, David Grainer, Miles Kerindun, Elron Lawrence, Fitzroy Lawrence, Daryl Lightning, Josh Mene, Densen Misi, Milton Mossman, Charles Murgha, Tim Oberleuter, Clargie Saltmere, Steve Singleton, Santoi Thaiday, Peter Tuccandidgee.
Note: Anderson, Dalle Cort and Starmer were the only Pride regulars in the side, with train and trial and CDRL players filling the other positions.
Pre-season Trial 3 Saturday 25 February 2012 19:30 AEST (UTC+10)
Note: The Pride's plane was struck by lightning twice en route to Moranbah. After the first strike the Skytrans charter flight turned back to Cairns, when the plane sustained a damaged windscreen as a result of a second strike.
Pre-season Trial 4 Tuesday 28 February 2012 18:30 AEST (UTC+10)
Note: Game played in very wet conditions. This was the Pride debut for Ethan Lowe (Pride Player 078) and North Queensland Cowboys allocation player Robert Lui* (Pride Player 077).
Unavailable: Chey Bird (ankle), Ryan Ghietti (hand).
Mackay Cutters: 1. David Milne, 2. Bureta Faraimo, 3. Moses Pangai, 4. Michael Comerford, 5. Michael Thomas, 6. Grant Rovelli, 7. Michael Morgan, 8. Lewis Balcomb, 9. Neil Budworth, 10. Dane Hogan, 11. Jason Schirnack, 12. Tyson Martin, 13. Jardine Bobongie.
Interchange: 14. Kelvin Nielsen, 15. Chris Gesch, 16. Zac Dalton, 17. Sam Hoare, 18. Luke Young.
Note: This was the Pride's 100th match in the Queensland Cup (65 wins, 33 losses and 2 drawn matches). It was also Hezron Murgha's 50th match for the Pride.
Unavailable: Chey Bird (ankle), Scott Bolton* (knee).
Souths Logan Magpies: 1. Josh Damen, 2. Walter Imo, 3. Dallas Anderson, 4. Matt Templeman, 5. Wade Liddell, 6. Ben Cronin, 7. Dane Phillips, 8. Dario Esposito, 9. Dan Humphreys, 10. Matt Cameron, 11. Andrew Edwards, 12. Sam Gardel, 13. Phil Dennis (c).
Note: This was the Ben Laity's 100th appearance for the Pride, having only missed one match since the club formed. It was also his 174th Queensland Cup appearance (having previously played for the North Queensland Young Guns and Easts Tigers). This was the first time Souths Logan Magpies won at Barlow Park, having lost all four previous appearances (2008–2011). This was the Pride debut for Mitchell Seri (Pride Player 079).
Tweed Seagulls: 1. Phil Graham, 2. Brad Lees, 3. James Wood, 4. Dominique Peyroux, 5. Tom Merritt, 6. Ryan Milligan, 7. Brad Davis (c), 8. Jake Leary, 9. Matt King, 10. Selasi Berdie, 11. Ben Ridge, 12. Cody Nelson, 13. Rod Griffin.
Interchange: 14. Matt Hundy, 15. Blake Anderson, 16. Aaron Cannings, 17. Michael Parker-Walshe.
Coach: Ben Anderson.
Note: Broadcast live on Channel 9 with Andrew Voss, Ben Ikin and Nick Curry. This was the Pride debut for Scott Gibson (Player 076) and Saia Makisi (Pride Players 076 & 080).
Wynnum-Manly Seagulls: 1. Sean Loxley, 2. Peter Gubb, 3. Dan Wallace, 4. Jason Moon, 5. Nathanael Barnes, 6. Jacob Fauid, 7. Matt Seamark, 8. Charlie Gubb, 9. Jake Granville, 10. Dane Carlaw, 11. Mitchell Dodds, 12. Jon Grieve, 13. Luke Dalziel-Don (c).
Interchange: 14. John Te Reo, 15. Matt Smith, 16. Tim Natusch, 17. Andrew Clayton, Junior Tongia.
Mackay Cutters: 1. David Milne, 2. Liam Taylor, 3. Ben Jones, 4. Moses Pangai, 5. Michael Thomas, 6. Grant Rovelli (c), 7. Matt Minto, 8. Lewis Balcomb, 9. Neil Budworth, 10. Sam Hoare, 11. Jason Schirnack, 12. Dane Hogan, 13. Jardine Bobongie.
Interchange: 14. Kelvin Nielsen, 15. Tyson Andrews, 16. Jack Clark, 17. Luke Fatnowna, 18. Chris Gesch.
Tweed Seagulls: 1. Phil Graham, 2. Joe Vickery, 3. James Wood, 4. Matt Hundy, 5. Tom Merritt, 6. Brad Davis (c), 7. Beau Henry, 8. Aaron Cannings, 9. Matt King, 10. Jake Leary, 11. Rod Griffin, 12. Dominique Peyroux, 13. Ryan James.
Interchange: 14. Michael Henderson, 15. Matt Carbutt, 16. Brenton Fidock, 17. Michael Parker-Walshe.
Coach: Ben Anderson.
Note: Women in League round. Players wore pink socks and pink bootlaces.
Souths Logan Magpies: 1. Dallas Anderson, 2. Chris Medcalf, 3. Nick Doyle, 4. Matt Templeman, 5. Josh Damon, 6. Ben Thorburn, 7. Dane Phillips, 8. Mat Pitman, 9. Ben Cronin, 10. Matt Cameron, 11. Andrew Edwards, 12. Sam Gardel, 13. Rez Phillips.
Interchange: 14. Dan Humphreys, 15. Darcy Wright, 16. Daniel Bell, 17. Simanu Crichton.
Coach: Mark Beaumont.
Note: Country Week game. The Pride wore a special orange 'outback jersey'. This was Ben Spina's 50th appearance for the Pride. This was the Pride debut for Brent Oosen (Player 083). Jason Roos injured his knee and needed a reconstruction.
Wynnum Manly Seagulls: 1. Nathanael Barnes, 2. Peter Gubb, 3. Dan Wallace, 4. Jason Moon, 5. Junior Togia, 6. Jacob Fauid, 7. Matt Seamark, 8. Charlie Gubb, 9. Jake Granville, 10. Dane Carlaw, 11. Tim Natusch, 12. Jon Grieve, 13. Luke Dalziel-Don (c).
Interchange: 14. John Te Reo, 15. Matt Smith, 16. Andrew Clayton, 17. Ben Shea.
Coach: Paul Green.
Note: Captain Ty Williams suffered an ACL injury early in this game.
Interchange: 8. Ben Laity, 16. Luke Saunders, 17. Saia Makisi, 19. Jamie Frizzo.
* = Cowboys allocation.
Unavailable: Jason Roos (knee), Ty Williams (ACL).
Redcliffe Dolphins: 1. Joe Bond, 2. Delroy Berryman, 3. Marty Hatfield, 4. Mitch Rivett, 5. Liam Georgetown, 6. Maurice Kennedy, 7. Zach Strasser, 8. Chris Farrell (c), 9. Tom Butterfield, 10. Isaak Ah Mau, 11. Paul Ivan, 12. Aaron Whitchurch, 13. Nick Slyney.
Interchange: 14. Tom Murphy, 15. James Ackerman, 16. Matt Handcock, 17. Chris Faust.
Coach: John Dixon.
Note: Chey Bird's last game. Bird was a foundation player (Pride Player No. 001). He captained the team on several occasions and played in the 2010 Premiership Grand Final team. He scored 574 points (23 tries and 241 goals) in 96 games for the Pride and set a Pride record of 33 straight conversions between Rounds 5 and 12 in 2011.
In 2012, the Nine Entertainment Network acquired the broadcast rights to the Queensland Cup in a one-year deal, after ABC TV's contract expired.[4] One game a round continued to be broadcast, live, and free-to-air across Queensland. In 2012 games were shown on Channel 9 or GEM in south-east Queensland, on WIN Television (RTQ) in regional areas, and on Imparja Television in remote areas, at 2.00pm (AEST) on Sunday afternoons (except during coverage of the London Olympics in August). The move to a Sunday timeslot meant the QCup match was shown at 2:00 pm before the Wide World of SportsNRL match of the round at 4:00 pm, which greatly increased ratings. The commentary team was Andrew Voss, Ben Ikin and Nick Curry.
The ABC had been unable (or unwilling) to broadcast games from locations outside south-east Queensland, as the cost of doing so was estimated to be $90,000 - more than double the cost of a Brisbane broadcast, so the Pride, Cutters and CQ Capras's home games had not been televised.[2]Channel 9 agreed to broadcast one game from each of the three regional clubs, with the Pride's first home game broadcast from Barlow Park, Cairns in Round 13, Sunday 10 June 2012 against traditional rivals Mackay Cutters.
In 2012 the Pride appeared in three televised games:
In 2011 the Pride began live-streaming their home games, starting with the last home game of the season (Round 22 against Tweed Heads). For the 2012 season, home games were live-streamed via the Pride website using video distribution service Rivus TV Ltd. Games were free for members to watch, and $5 per game for non-members.[8] From Round 5 2012 away games were streamed through the website as well.[9]
References
^Piva, Andrew (21 January 2012). "Jet the hostilities resume". Cairns Post. Cairns.
^ abFlynn, Joe (23 February 2012). "Queensland Cup finals rejig". Cairns Post. Cairns.
^"New TV deal for Cup". Cairns Post. Cairns. 22 February 2012.
^ ab"TV switch for 2012 Intrust Super Cup coverage". The Queensland Times. Ipswich. 22 February 2012.
^"School visits aim to boost participation". Cairns Sun. Cairns. 15 February 2012.
^Flynn, Joe (16 April 2012). "Pride fightback gives Maiden a ray of hope". Cairns Post. Cairns.
^Flynn, Joe (22 March 2012). "Dumped. Cowboys show Lui the door". Cairns Post. Cairns.
