CDRL: Former NRL player to bolster Sharks’ hat-trick bid

A Cairns and District Rugby League club has secured a massive coup ahead of the new season, confirming the signing of a former NRL-contracted player.

A Cairns and District Rugby League club has secured a massive coup ahead of the new season, confirming the signing of a former NRL-contracted player.

Former Gold Coast Titans forward Davin Crampton will bolster the Mossman-Port Douglas Sharks’ title credentials as the club hunts a hat-trick of CDRL premierships in 2021.

Crampton joins the back-to-back premiers after playing for Western Lions in the 2019 Townsville and District Rugby League competition.

The 32-year-old will add much-needed firepower to a Sharks’ forward pack that has been decimated by player movement following 2019’s grand final triumph, with premiership-winning forwards Daniel Mooka, Clifford Ambrym and brothers Yaza and Gabriel Stephen all having departed the club.

Davin Crampton playing for Townsville in the 2018 Foley Shield. Picture: Zak Simmonds

“We know we’ve lost a few of the lads but having someone of Davin’s calibre at the club is only going to benefit us,” said Sharks president Jason Fasano.

“It puts us in good stead for the season ahead, not only with his ability as a player and being on the field, but with his experience playing at a high level.

“He’s played with a few of the guys before so I’m sure he’ll fit right in, and I think we’re all excited about what he’s going to bring to the team.”

Crampton is set to reunite with former Pride and Blackhawks teammate Noel Underwood at the Sharks, where they will form one of the league’s most experienced second-row pairings.

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Hailing from Normanton, Crampton burst onto the scene as a try-scoring machine for the Northern Marlins in 2010 before joining the Pride for the 2011 season.

A fringe Intrust Super Cup player during his first two seasons at Barlow Park, it wasn’t until a breakout 2013 campaign that he cemented himself as one of the club’s best.

Crampton was a standout in the Pride’s Intrust Super Cup Premiership and NRL State Championship victories in 2014 and earned a one-year deal with the Titans in 2015, however his NRL opportunity was hampered by injury.

Following his stint on the Gold Coast, Crampton played for the Townsville Blackhawks in the Intrust Super Cup from 2016 to 2018.

Action from the 2014 Intrust Super Cup rugby league match between the Northern Pride and the Tweed Seagulls, held at Barlow Park, Cairns. Pride's Davin Crampton. Picture: Brendan Radke.

In 2017, his contributions to the Pride were recognised when he was named on the bench in the club’s Team of the Decade (2008-2017).

While the Sharks have lost some of their premiership-winning players from 2019, the club has retained the services of captain Joel Marama, playmaker Eddie Daniel and try-scoring machines Matthew Gibuma and Stanley Anau.

Two-time premiership-winning coach Brian Murgha will also return, while experienced playmaker Robbie Amber is also expected to take the field this season for the first time since he sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the 2018 grand final.

Fasano said the club was eyeing off a trial game against Townsville’s Norths Devils in the coming weeks.

“We’ve had a couple (training sessions) but we really haven’t even hit first gear yet,” he said.

“It’s such a long season and the first round is not until the end of March, and we’ve worked out in the past that there’s no need to go hard too early.”

Originally published as CDRL: Former NRL player to bolster Sharks’ hat-trick bid