‘First of its kind’: Landmark loan deal sends Rabbitoh Tristan Alvarado to Townsville Blackhawks
A first of its kind loan agreement has seen a Rabbitohs battering ram parachuted into Townsville to solve a mounting availability crisis at the Blackhawks.
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A first of its kind loan agreement has seen a Rabbitohs battering ram parachuted into Townsville to solve a mounting availability crisis at the Blackhawks.
Injury and suspension respectively had ruled props Cade Maloney (injured) and Richard Holani (suspended) out of selection for the Blackhawks the past two weeks.
In a remarkable turn of events, the Blackhawks issued an SOS to South Sydney headquarters during a weekly recruitment meeting that has resulted in a mid-season loan between the NRL club’s Queensland and New Soth Wales feeder teams.
Former Niue international forward Tristan Alvarado had been squeezed out of South Sydney’s Cup 17 in recent weeks, opening an opportunity for the 27-year-old to head north on a short-term loan.
The QRL and NSWRL signed off on the switch and Alvarado made his Blackhawks debut less than 24 hours after arriving in North Queensland, during Townsville’s 19-18 victory over Mackay last week.
“This was a first of its kind loan with Souths,” Blackhawks coach Terry Campese said.
“Tristan was in Souths’ NSW Cup squad and hasn’t been playing a lot due to players like Sean Keppie and Shaquai Mitchell going back to reserve grade, so he hadn’t played in close to eight weeks.
“We were short quite a few a middles so we did a short-term deal for Tristan to come up and help our middles for a few weeks.
“That has never happened before, for a reserve grade player to go to a different reserve grade team.”
Alvarado has flown in to Townsville for captain’s runs and is crashing on the couches of teammates and club officials before flying home to Sydney after games.
Campese said the arrangement was on a week-by-week basis but had proven mutually beneficial.
“We knew we were short on middles at the start of the year but it was only a conversation when we lost two in one weekend,” he said.
“Souths wanted to try get some of their (fringe) Cup players who weren’t getting game time because they were literally sitting on the sidelines not doing anything.
“It’s worked for both parties and it’s one we wanted to trial. We will see what that looks like in the future.”
Townsville will blood another new face against Wynnum-Manly, with 2023 Raiders under-21s Coaches’ Award winner Toby Thorburn named on the interchange bench.
The hooker was suggested to Campese as a potential signing when the Raiders swooped on Blackhawk Adam Cook around Christmas, leaving Townsville’s roster short a playmaker.
The creative hooker/half hybrid has arrived in Townsville and will debut at home on Saturday.
“He’s coming out of the Raiders’ full-time system, where he has been for the past two seasons, because he’s from Mackay and wanted to move closer to home,” Campese said.
“When they took ‘Cookie for a train-and-trial they offered Toby as a possible replacement we might be able to sign, because he was moving on from the Raiders.”
The youngster’s trickery around the ruck has been rated his signature feature.
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Originally published as ‘First of its kind’: Landmark loan deal sends Rabbitoh Tristan Alvarado to Townsville Blackhawks
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