RANKED: Northern Pride’s best players, #11-20
The Cairns Post’s rugby league writer Rowan Sparkes is taking a stroll down memory lane to rank the top 50 footballers to play for the Northern Pride since they entered the competition.
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The Northern Pride will not strap on the boots again in 2020 after the cancellation of the Intrust Super Cup.
With that competition on hold, the Cairns Post’s rugby league writer Rowan Sparkes is taking a stroll down memory lane to rank the top 50 footballers to play for the Northern Pride since they entered the competition in 2008.
The players are ranked primarily on what they did in a Northern Pride jersey.
PART 1: NORTHERN PRIDE’S BEST PLAYERS, #50-41
PART 2: NORTHERN PRIDE’S BEST PLAYERS, #40-31
PART 3: NORTHERN PRIDE’S BEST PLAYERS, #30-21
20. Kyle Feldt
The NRL premiership-winning winger played for the Northern Pride in the 2013 and 2014 seasons before cementing himself on the Cowboys’ flank as one of the game’s best finishers.
Feldt played for the Cowboys’ NYC side from 2010-12, earning Queensland under-18s and Junior Kangaroos selection, before becoming a regular for the Pride.
In 2013, he played 14 games for the Intrust Super Cup club, scoring 144 points with nine tries and 54 goals.
He played 18 games for the Pride in 2014, including the 36-4 grand final win over Easts Tigers, where he was the subject of a ruse by coach Jason Demetriou.
While Feldt had been ruled out publicly, the Pride team knew he would take the field all week.
After he was a shock selection on grand final day, he played a major role in the Pride’s mauling of the Tigers, scoring the first try of the game.
He would go onto win an NRL premiership the following year, with the Cowboys claiming their maiden title with a thrilling golden-point win over Brisbane.
19. Linc Port
An athletic prodigy in his teens, Port only got serious about rugby league in 2011 and, while playing for Kangaroos in the CDRL competition, picked up a contract with the Wests Tigers for 2012.
After a season playing with feeder club Balmain in the NSW Cup, the Hopevale product moved to Brisbane with Norths Devils in 2013, before returning to the Far North in 2014.
He made his Pride debut and played four games for the club in their premiership-winning season, before two breakout seasons at fullback, where he scored 35 tries in 47 games, including 24 tries in 24 games in the 2015 season.
He was signed by Easts Tigers for the 2017 season and made a brief cameo with the Melbourne Storm at that year’s Auckland Nines tournament.
After a season with Souths Logan Magpies in 2019, he returned to Easts in 2020.
In 2017, Port was named on the wing in the Pride’s Team of the Decade (2008-2017).
18. Tom Hancock
The Ivanhoes junior made his Queensland Cup debut with the Pride in 2014’s premiership-winning season and went on to become a stalwart at the club, playing 108 games over six seasons.
He was named co-captain, alongside David Murphy, for the club’s 2019 campaign and had a proud individual season, despite the club finishing with just five wins from 23 games.
Hancock won numerous awards at the club, including 2015’s Most Improved Player, 2016’s Best Forward, and four awards in 2019 – Player of the Year, Players’ Player, Members Player of the Year and Best Forward.
At the end of the 2019 season, Hancock relocated to Townsville for work and signed with long-time rivals Townsville Blackhawks.
17. Davin Crampton
The Normanton product burst onto the scene as a try-scoring machine for the Northern Marlins in 2010 and was signed by the Pride for the 2011 season.
He played 12 games in his debut season and 15 games in 2012, but it wasn’t until a standout 2013 season that Crampton cemented himself as one of the club’s best.
Showing his versatility, Crampton played fullback, centre, wing, second row and lock over the course of the season and scored 19 tries. He was awarded the club’s Player of the Year award.
His form continued in 2014, where he scored 17 tries in 26 games, and was part of the Pride’s Queensland Cup premiership and NRL State Championship wins.
Like teammates Shaun Nona and Blake Leary, Crampton was rewarded with an NRL contract for the 2015 season, signing with the Gold Coast Titans.
He was named 18th man on a couple occasions but never made his NRL debut before linking with Redcliffe Dolphins and, later, Townsville Blackhawks in 2016.
In 2017, Crampton was named on the bench in the Pride’s Team of the Decade (2008-2017).
16. Javid Bowen
Bowen signed with the Sydney Roosters as a 17-year-old in 2011, but would return to the north with the North Queensland Cowboys’ under-20s side in 2012.
After joining the Cowboys’ top squad in 2014, Bowen was allocated to the Northern Pride and quickly became an integral member of the side that would go on to be crowned State Champions at the end of the season.
He played 23 games, scoring 12 tries, but will always be remembered for his efforts in the two biggest games of the season.
In the Queensland Cup grand final against Easts Tigers, Bowen scored two tries as the Pride were runaway 36-4 winners.
Only a week later, he scored a hat-trick of tries in the inaugural NRL State Championship, which saw the Pride defeat NSW Cup premiers Penrith Panthers 32-28.
He played 89 games for the Pride as a Cowboys’ allocated player from 2014-19, before signing with the club on a full-time contract in 2020. Bowen was named team captain for the 2020 Intrust Super Cup season.
15. Ethan Lowe
Lowe was signed by the Sydney Roosters as a 19-year-old and played 61 games for the club’s under-20s side from 2009-11, earning Queensland under-18s and Junior Kangaroos representative honours.
In 2012, Lowe returned to Queensland and signed with the Northern Pride, seeing the club as a launching pad to the NRL.
After playing 22 games for the Pride that season, and being named the Intrust Super Cup’s Rookie of the Year, Lowe signed with the Cowboys for the 2013 season.
He played 17 games for the Pride that year and was named the club’s Best Forward.
In 2014, he played 14 games for the Pride, including the club’s Queensland Cup premiership and NRL State Championship triumphs.
By 2015, Lowe was a regular in the Cowboys forward pack and went on to be part of the club’s inaugural NRL premiership.
Lowe was part of the QAS Emerging Origin squad in 2017, but just after playing his 100th game for the Cowboys the following season, was dropped back to play for the Pride.
After playing nine Queensland Cup games in 2018, Lowe joined the Rabbitohs before the 2019 season and experienced a return to form under "super coach" Wayne Bennett, earning a long-awaited Origin debut in Game 3.
14. Mark Cantoni
A Northern Pride foundation player, Cantoni joined the club from Easts Tigers, alongside Ben Laity, for the club’s Queensland Cup debut in 2008.
The Atherton product went on to win the club’s Best Forward award in their inaugural season, despite missing several games after breaking his arm against Redcliffe in Round 13.
In 2009, he backed up the accolade again, playing 25 games for the Pride as they won the minor premiership and made it through to their first grand final, only to be defeated 32-18 by the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles.
Cantoni took out the club’s Best Forward gong for a third straight season in 2010 and played in the club’s grand final win over Norths Devils, which delivered the club its first Queensland Cup premiership.
He would play on again in 2011, notching up 89 games for the club, before signing with Pia Donkeys in France’s Elite One Championship.
In 2017, Cantoni was named in the second-row for the Pride’s Team of the Decade (2008-2017).
1 3. Shaun Nona
Rising to prominence as a young playmaker with the CDRL’s Tully Tigers, Nona signed with the Pride ahead of the 2011 season.
After playing nine games in his first two seasons with the club, Nona played 16 games in 2013 as the starting five-eighth.
He would go on to form a premiership-winning halves combination with Sam Obst, the pair guiding the Pride to Queensland Cup and inaugural NRL State Championship glory in 2014.
That season, Nona earned Queensland Residents selection and scored 210 points (seven tries, 91 goals) in 24 games.
He went on to have stints with the Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos, but an NRL debut eluded him.
Nona currently plays for the Townsville Blackhawks, and also had a stint with Limoux Grizzlies in France’s Elite One Championship.
12. Alex Starmer
Coming through the ranks with the CDRL’s Mareeba Gladiators, Starmer would make his A-grade debut for the club in 2005 and go on to represent Cairns in the Foley Shield.
After a season with Ivanhoes in 2007, he signed with the Pride for their inaugural Queensland Cup campaign in 2008, playing 19 games as a reliable bench forward.
Despite missing the start of the 2009 season due to injury, Starmer forced his way into a permanent starting spot in the front row, playing in that year’s grand final loss.
After off-season surgery, he was in and out of the side for the first half of 2010, but would return to the starting prop position by season’s end, playing in the Pride’s first grand final win.
He played 120 matches for the Pride over eight season from 2008-15, and was named the club’s Members’ Player of the Year in 2012.
In 2014, a hamstring injury cruelly kept the prop sidelined for the club’s second Intrust Super Cup title and first-of-its-kind NRL State Championship.
Starmer retired after an injury-hampered 2015 season. In 2017, he was named at prop in the Pride’s Team of the Decade (2008-2017).
11. Ryan Ghietti
The Innisfail junior moved south with the Redcliffe Dolphins in 2009 and played most of the season with their FOGS (under-20s) side, but also made his Queensland Cup debut with the club before returning to the Far North in 2011.
He played 40 games, predominantly at halfback, during his first two seasons at the club but, following the arrival of playmaker Sam Obst in 2013, became an understudy to stalwart hooker Jason Roos in the bench utility position.
In 2014, Ghietti played 19 games in the new role and came off the bench in the Pride’s Queensland Cup grand final win, as well as the following week’s inaugural NRL State Championship win over NSW Cup premiers the Penrith Panthers.
In 2016, he was named captain of the Pride, a position he held until his retirement at the end of the 2018 season.
Ghietti is the club’s most-capped player, having donned the Pride colours 169 times. In total, he played 174 Intrust Super Cup games.
He represented Italy on 12 occasions from 2011-17 and, in 2017, was named on the bench in the Pride’s Team of the Decade (2008-2017).
Originally published as RANKED: Northern Pride’s best players, #11-20