Mackay rugby league signings: Whitsunday Brahmans pick up bevy of recruits

Whitsunday Brahmans are setting themselves up for a stronger campaign in 2025. Find out how they’re shaping up.

Whitsunday Brahmans are gearing up for a big 2025 campaign in the Rugby League Mackay and District. Picture: Whitsunday Brahmans Facebook page.

Whitsunday Brahmans will be looking to take some positive steps forward in 2025, with A-grade men’s coach Trevor Nosworthy saying they’re looking forward to an injection of both youth and external talent when the new season roles around.

“We’re going to have a very young side this year,” Nosworthy said.

“But we’ve also looked at replacing some of the outgoing players with some recruits from PNG who will be with us in February.

“It’s an unknown in terms of what they’ll bring. They’re tough and they carry the ball hard and make their tackles, I imagine it’s a tough old comp up that way.

“We don’t need them to be flamboyant, just kind of do their role through the middle.”

Trevor Nosworthy will be leading Whitsundays’ A-grade RLMD side in 2025.

As previously reported in this masthead, those recruits include Emmanuel Kame, Elijah Nalamau and Ezra Sakaia who are set to land in Australia next month.

In addition, the Brahmans will be bolstered by the inclusion of Riccie Arriola who has transferred from Moranbah for the upcoming season.

“Riccie is coming across after moving from Moranbah to the Whitsundays, he’ll add some good experience to our group.”

“We’ve picked up a few other boys from NSW that are in their early 20s, they’re really keen about their footy.

“They came up here at one stage and played a couple of games, they’re out of the under-20s now but they’ll still offer that fresh mindset to the group.”

Nosworthy admitted that the team didn’t live up to its potential last season, as they managed just two wins on the year, but he said the side still showed the ability to compete with some of the stronger sides in the competition.

“It was a frustrating year in 2024, in stages of games we could go toe-to-toe with any of the teams in the competition, we just lacked that consistency over the course of 80 minutes.”

“I’m not putting massive expectations on us in terms of how many wins we’re going to get or where we’re going to finish on the ladder.”

“We know the comp is going to be really tough again this year, we’re just going to have to have a really good preseason.

“Playing against these elite NRL players that are coming through the comp should be seen as an opportunity for our guys rather than anything else.”