2015 NRL premiership winner Kane Linnett joins Sarina as captain-coach

A premiership-winning Cowboy with an abundance of NRL and Super League experience has joined the same club that signed Ben Barba. Discover the remarkable inside story of how the deal was secured.

Kane Linnett playing for the Cowboys in 2018. Picture: AAP Image/Michael Chambers.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Neither are Rugby League Mackay and District premierships.

But Sarina may have come close to building theirs in a week.

After it was revealed the club had secured the services of Ben Barba just a week ago, the Crocs have now unveiled former Cowboy Kane Linnett as their captain-coach for 2024.

The move was announced less than two weeks after Linnett retired from the Super League’s Hull Kingston Rovers and professional rugby league.

It was a signing that understandably got tongues wagging, with one word in particular leaving the lips of those involved with the club and bemused onlookers alike: How?

Kane Linnett. Picture: Zak Simmonds

“You probably wouldn’t believe that part of the story,” said Sarina president Shannon Cleary.

“Kane actually saw our post on Facebook that we were seeking players, which was more intended for reserve-grade, under-20, and the women’s side.

“He tried to give me a call, I missed his call and he followed up with a text, so I gave him a bell back the next day.

“It works out that he grew up somewhere around the area… he’s got a bit of a passion for the smaller country clubs.”

The best part is, while Cleary was on the cusp of securing a player with 187 NRL games - highlighted by a 2015 premiership with North Queensland - 110 Super League games, and nine caps for Scotland under his belt; he didn’t even know it.

“The name rang a bell but I didn’t really know that much about his experience,” he said.

“He did mention he’d been in the NRL and I thought ‘holy shit’.

Kane Linnett at Cowboys training, he would notch 164 appearances for the club between 2012 and 2018.

“I got off the phone and I searched him up and I thought ‘what the hell,’

“I nearly fell off my chair when I read his statistics.”

For the second year running, Sarina had its sights set on securing renowned coach Craig Ingebrigtsen, who in tandem with son Tye steered the West Brisbane Panthers through an undefeated season and to BRL premiership success in 2022.

But the move was scrapped once Linnett, who has committed to three years with the Crocs, offered his services.

Ingebrigtsen could only commit for one.

“It was a blessing in disguise,” Cleary said.

“I didn’t want to go through another year of building with another new coach then having to start again the following year, it’s a good outcome for us.”

It’s understood Linnett also turned down an enticing offer from reigning premiers Magpies to commit to Sarina.

Magpies are set to boast two former NRL and Super League players next season in Hep Cahill and Lama Tasi, who are both known to Linnett.

Lama Tasi and Hep Cahill pictured together when they were Sarina teammates in 2020. Picture: Tony Martin

Cahill is Sarina’s most recent premiership coach, having led the club to RLMD success in 2021, before defecting to Magpies in the off-season.

Cleary is hopeful Linnett can replicate Cahill’s success.

“The good thing with a coach like that is they don’t need to do too much work to gain the respect of their players, their experience does that for them,” Cleary said.

“A lot of guys say ‘oh, you haven’t coached before,’ but if they’re any sort of successful player they’ve paid attention to what goes on and they know what they need to do to draw that into the guys.”

Linnett’s recruitment adds to the trend of Super League players coming to Mackay rugby league this off-season, given the Cutters have already secured a trio of recruits from England’s top-flight.