Christian returns from ban, sets sights on Pride berth
Julian Christian is set on reclaiming the Northern Pride’s starting fullback jersey after a successful return in the Cairns District Rugby League.
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JULIAN Christian is set on reclaiming the Northern Pride’s starting fullback jersey after a successful return in the Cairns District Rugby League.
Christian started the year as the Pride’s first-choice fullback after a positional switch from halfback during the off-season.
After putting together two solid performances in the opening rounds of the Hostplus Cup competition - the first games he’d ever started at fullback - Christian was dropped by the club for two weeks for “disciplinary reasons”.
The issue which sidelined Christian was nothing egregious or illegal, but he failed to meet the standards required of the Pride and coach Ty Williams, and it left the playmaker with plenty of time to think about what was next.
He didn’t need long to set the goal: Christian wants to be the man wearing the Pride’s No. 1 jersey when the club takes on the resurgent Capras in Rockhampton on May 7.
“I want to get back for the Capras,” Christian said.
“I’ve got a bit of work to do, but it would be good to be back. I’m keen to rip in.”
Christian wore the No. 1 of the club he took to the CDRL grand final in 2021, Innisfail Leprechauns, and scored two tries in the side’s 34-24 win against Edmonton.
Played in driving rain, the clash was a return home of sorts for Christian, who played his junior footy at the Storm.
And to come away with two tries and a win in front of family and friends was the bonus.
“I missed that feeling,” he said of playing the game.
“I was looking forward to that one all week. I’m a Storm boy, I last played at that field when I was like 16.
“I was excited to get back into it.
“It was very wet, muddy, and that made it a better game of footy. To come away with a few tries was even better.”
There is plenty of competition for the position, with Williams using three of his options in the club’s first five games of the season.
Teenager Jahoiyakim Afoa started in place of Christian for two weeks and earned plenty of praise from Williams for his efforts, while Shawn Bowen was given the nod in Saturday’s win against Redcliffe.
Wingers like Mark Rosendale, Robert Derby and Gideon Gela-Mosby are no stranger to fullback either, but Christian insisted he hasn’t considered the competition for the position.
“I haven’t looked at it like that, “ Christian said.
“I’ll train hard, and if I’m picked, I’m picked, if I’m not, then I’ll just have to work.”
The Pride are one of six teams to have the bye this weekend, with a trip to Rockhampton on Saturday week.
The Capras lost their first game of the season against Brisbane Tigers on Sunday, and will be looking to bounce back and maintain their outstanding early season form.
The Pride will train as per normal this week, but will also run an opposed session against the Cairns Foley Shield team.
“It’s business as usual, we’ll stick to our normal training schedule,” Williams said.
HOW PRIDE UNLNEASHED LUI-TOSO
A tactical gamble may have unlocked how the Northern Pride can get the best out of powerhouse prop Nick Lui-Toso, as the club celebrated its first home win of the season.
Under immense pressure in recent weeks as he tiptoed the fine line of aggression, Lui-Toso produced one of his best outings of the season in Saturday’s 30-18 win against Redcliffe at Barlow Park.
Pride coach Ty Williams revealed how he and assistant coaches Bevan Walker and Sam Obst had discussed changing Lui-Toso’s rotation from two to three stints, in an effort to unlock the front-rower’s potential and get the absolute best out of him.
It worked.
The big man ran for a team-high 175m from 17 runs, broke four tackles and made 26 tackles in a solid all-round effort.
“He was at his damaging best,” Williams said.
“We had spoken about wanting three stints - the first 20, bring him on before halftime then back end of the game.
“I spoke to my assistant coaches and said it was something I was keen to do, and it’s worked out well.”
Fellow forwards Paea Pua and Lata Fakalelu may also be asked to complete a three stints in future, but for now it’s worked wonders for Lui-Toso.
Whyatt Barnes didn’t take the field until late, but Williams said he had to make decisions which were best for the team’s success rather than finding a way to give players sufficient minutes.
“I’ve been trying to please people with minutes but we have to put the team first,” Williams said.
Cowboys-contracted second-rower Connelly Lemuelu scored two tries for the home side, while fellow Cowboy and late inclusion Jamayne Taunoa-Brown produced a typically strong display in a more than 70-minute effort.
Williams was happy with how his players handled the ball at a wet Barlow Park, as they improved to 2-3 for the season so far.
The Pride have the bye this week, and return to face the Capras in a fortnight.
COWBOY RETURNS TO BOLSTER PRIDE PACK
NORTHERN Pride will happily welcome more firepower into the forward pack, with Cowboys-contracted prop Jamayne Taunoa-Brown set to play his first game for the Hostplus Cup club.
Taunoa-Brown is an unlucky victim of the Cowboys’ recent success.
A troublesome hamstring injury and concussion have restricted the former Warrior to just three appearances for the Cowboys.
While he was named 18th man for the Cowboys’ clash with the Titans on Saturday night, North Queensland coach Todd Payten said the 25-year-old would travel to Cairns to line up for the Pride in their important match against Redcliffe Dolphins.
“He’s unlucky, he’s played really well, got injured, he’s come back and played a little bit hurt,” Payten said.
“That’s hamstrung him a little bit with his movements, but we need to get him some game time off the back of a concussion, and a missed game last week.
“Our intention is for him to play some big, big minutes and get some game time under his belt.”
That might be music to Pride coach Ty Williams’ ears, with a Taunoa-Brown-bolstered pack capable of running over the Dolphins.
Barnstorming prop and forwards leader Nick Lui-Toso is cleared to play for the Pride, while Lata Fakalelu and Paea Pua, named on Tuesday as the side’s starting front-rowers, have been in good form.
Lui-Toso, and outside backs Shawn Bowen and Gideon Gela-Mosby, will be available for their returns provided they got through Friday night’s captain’s run.
Cowboys second-rower Connelly Lemuelu will also play.
The Pride have a 1-3 record and are in danger of falling off the pace, despite it still being early in the season, but lowly Redcliffe shapes as a chance to reclaim some ground.
It is also an opportunity for Williams’ troops to address their second-half fadeouts, which have become a serious problem in recent weeks.
The Pride have led at halftime in all games so far, but for the past three weeks have given up leads to throw away valuable competition points.
“We have this patch either straight after halftime or after 10 minutes where, for 10 to 12 minutes we just fall away,” Williams said.
“We’re hitting some roadblocks.
“We’ve about staying in the process and making sure we keep our discipline.”
Former Pride fullback Jayden Corrigan has been named at centre for the Dolphins, and he should expect some questions to be asked of his defence by his former teammates.
“We’re still not certain where he will actually play, but if we does line up at centre we’ll run some traffic at him to test him out,” Williams said.
“We need B (centre Bernard Lewis) to be at his best. We know how much of a threat Jayden is with the football in his hands.”
Kick-off is at 5.30pm.
CORRIGAN RETURNS TO CAIRNS
JAYDEN Corrigan will find himself in the unfamiliar territory of the Northern Pride’s away dressing rooms when he returns to Barlow Park on Saturday evening.
An electric fullback during his season with the Pride last year, Corrigan accepted an offer he couldn’t refuse when the Warriors offered him a full pre-season with the club.
The train and trial deal has been extended for the 2022 season to allow Corrigan the chance to train fulltime with Nathan Brown’s NRL squad, and has proved invaluable to a young outside back who can feel the dream of an NRL career is just about in reach.
That could be closer than he has fully realised.
He played for the Warriors in the pre-season, and was part of the travelling party when NZ went to Sydney to face the Roosters last week.
Of course, he needs a few things to happen first – injuries or illness to outside backs, and to be in good enough form to warrant a look from Brown – and he is leaving no stone unturned to make sure he is ready for anything.
That means embracing a few new positions.
While a fullback at the Pride and throughout his career, Corrigan has trained in the halves and at centre for the Warriors, where he has been named to start for the NRL club’s Hostplus Cup affiliate Redcliffe for Saturday’s clash with the Pride.
“It's been really good, I’ve taken a lot from the experience so far,” Corrigan said.
“It’s been a bit different to last year. I played all last year at fullback but so far I’ve played three different positions this year.
“It’s more from training fulltime with the Warriors and lining up wherever they need me, which has been mainly the halves and fullback so far.
“I’m enjoying the challenge and being able to add another dimension to my game.”
It was always going to be tough for the Pride to retain Corrigan after his sensational but injury-interrupted 2021 campaign, in which he played 11 games for the Pride.
An offer came from the Sunshine Coast Falcons, which included a train and trial opportunity with the Storm – the same deal former Pride centre/fullback Grant Anderson took up – but when the chance to spend the entire four-month off-season with the Warriors came up, there was no way Corrigan could turn it down.
Among the challenges for Corrigan this season is the inconsistency in playing time.
He has played twice for the Dolphins this season, starting on the wing, then fullback, and chalks up his third position in as many games this week.
“I’m used to playing footy week-in, week-out but like, last week, I travelled to Sydney with the Warriors and this week I go to Cairns,” Corrigan said. “It’s a matter of preparing myself the same each week, as if I am going to play. Even if I don’t, I’m still there for the boys.”
Kick-off is at 5.30pm.
■ The Pride have elevated three extended squad members to HPC deals.
Kangaroos winger Daniel Woodhouse, Ivanhoes hooker and CDRL Gold Medal winner Jacob Wallace, and Brothers second-rower Taniela Ta’ufo’ou trained with the Pride throughout the off-season, and have been rewarded for their efforts.
BYRNES’ SOFT SPOT FOR THE PRIDE
HE played for and sponsors both clubs, but Greg Byrnes knows exactly where is loyalties will lie when Northern Pride hosts Redcliffe Dolphins on Saturday evening.
Byrnes is now based in south east Queensland, but grew up in the Far North.
He played his junior footy at Atherton, representing the Roosters from under-6s through to U18s before earning his opportunity with the North Queensland Cowboys.
A member of the Young Guns, Byrnes also played for the Pride’s inaugural team in 2008 after being just too old for the national under-20s competition.
It was the start of two years at Barlow Park, the prop helping the Cairns club reach the finals during his short stint.
And his performances led to his three appearances for the Cowboys, an achievement he still looks back on fondly.
“I wasn’t a superstar by any stretch, I was in the right place at the right time,” he said.
“It was awesome though.”
When Byrnes left the Pride for Redcliffe in 2010 it was supposed to be for 12 months, but hasn’t left yet.
Retiring in 2014 after a bad head knock aged just 26, he turned his hand to business, and went about building a successful career to now being a director at GNB Energy, which will lend its name to a new cup to be decided between the Pride and Dolphins.
He will be in Cairns this week to visit job sites, including the E2G (Edmonton to Gordonvale) project, but will also attend Saturday’s game.
As for who he will back in the Barlow Park stands?
“I’m an Atherton boy,” Byrnes simply said.
WILLIAMS STICKS SOLID WITH PRIDE
NORTHERN Pride is staring down the barrel of a four-game early season slide but coach Ty Williams won’t change his team’s approach ahead of an important clash with Redcliffe.
“Every week’s important to win, that doesn’t change,” Williams said.
“My focus, the team’s focus and the coaches focus is always going to be a win.”
Both teams have endured rough starts to the new campaign.
The Pride beat Ipswich in the first round but have lost three straight since, while a one-point thriller against defending premiers Norths is the only success of the Dolphins’ campaign to date.
Early season wins are like gold for any team - a draw with then-lowly Capras ultimately cost the Pride a spot in the finals last season - and both teams will be desperate to keep pace with the top eight sides.
The Pride slipped out of the top eight in the final round, missing the finals only due to the Sunshine Coast’s superior points differential despite having lost fewer games.
Redcliffe bowed out in the minor semi final.
Williams won’t look to the past, the former Cowboys and Origin outside back’s focus fixed firmly on the Dolphins and securing his club’s first home win of the season.
And that will depend on how his players respond to the challenge of sticking to their plans for 80 minutes.
“The boys need to understand that we’re lapsing a little bit, which they do, and we need to make sure we control those environments that we need to be better at,” Williams said.
“I’m not stressed about it, there’s a few little things we need to fix up, we’ll make adjustments accordingly, but it’s just good to get back out there and into it again, and I’m confident we can get the job done.”
Williams has named a similar squad to who lost to the Blackhawks a fortnight ago, with Lata Fakalelu to start with powerful front-rower Nick Lui-Toso to come off the bench.
The coach has also not named any Cowboys players, though Ben Hampton is expected to take his place at halfback as he continues his recovery from injury, with potential for prop Jamayne Taunoa-Brown and second-rower Connelly Lemuelu to also suit up for the Pride.
Redcliffe, who will be led around the park by veteran playmaker Bryce Donovan, are captained by former Broncos and Raiders prop Dunamis Lui captaining the side.
Former Pride fullback and Warriors contracted speedster Jayden Corrigan is named in the centres.
“They’re a big team through the middle,” Williams said.
“They’ve got Lui there, Lachlan Timms- big bodies - and Trai Fuller at the back there too.
“They have threats across the field. Bryce is a premiership winner for them … they’re not going good in the win-loss category at the moment but they’re always threatening teams.”
Elsewhere, Brisbane Tigers will host the Capras in a top-of-the-table clash.
The Capras have stunned the Hostplus Cup to be leading the league, and victory will put the Rockhampton club at least two points clear of their nearest rival.
ROUND 5
Saturday
Sunshine Coast (4th) v Mackay Cutters (6th)
Ipswich Jets (14th) v Norths Devils (3rd)
Northern Pride (10th v Redcliffe Dolphins (12th)
Sunday
Townsville Blackhawks (9th) v Tweed Seagulls (7th)
Brisbane Tigers (2nd) v CQ Capras (1st)
Wynnum-Manly Seagulls (8th) v Souths Logan Magpies (13th)
Burleigh Bears (5th) v PNG Hunters (11th)
matthew.mcinerney1@news.com.au
Originally published as Christian returns from ban, sets sights on Pride berth
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