Why Northern Pride’s new skippers are a perfect fit
With one sentence, Chris Ostwald and Jayden Hodges proved why they were the perfect choices as Northern Pride’s co-captains for the 2021 Intrust Super Cup.
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WITH one sentence, Chris Ostwald and Jayden Hodges proved why they were the perfect choices as Northern Pride’s co-captains for the 2021 Intrust Super Cup.
“We’re not here to make up the numbers,” Ostwald declared.
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The Pride have been through the wringer these past few years, with just one finals appearance since they won the competition in 2014 and their last full season the least successful in club history.
The club has undergone major change since they took the field for their only competitive fixture in 2020, and the new attitude oozed off coach Ty Williams and his newly-appointed co-captains at a media conference Monday.
They have plenty in common.
Both men prefer to play hooker on the field, work in education away from it, are genuine leaders, and play with the toughness required to compete at this level.
But they’re also very different.
In Hodges, there is a man who has been to the NRL, and was a rock during his time at the Mackay Cutters - the club at which he was named captain in 2020 only for the season to be cancelled after just the one game.
The 27-year-old is a born and bred Far North boy who played his junior footy at Kangaroos and was in the leadership group when part of the Pride’s under-16s team back in 2009.
“It’s a little bit surreal,” he said.
“I think back to when I was in the 16s and 18s when I was in the leadership group for the Pride when it first started all those years ago. If someone were to tell me back then I’d co-captain the Pride, I’d tell them they were dreaming.
“It hasn’t really sunk in, but I just take it one step at a time.”
Ostwald is totally new to the region, but he’s bought in to every facet of the club.
He understands why the Pride exist not only as an Intrust Super Cup club, but the important developmental role it plays in the pathway from community or local rugby league to the NRL.
“I’m much more of an action kind of person, it doesn’t matter if I’m in the leadership group or not, I expect the best out of me at all times,” Ostwald said.
“I can’t wait to see them out there and actually play a Queensland Cup game here and show everyone we’re not here to make up the numbers.
“That's our main mentality this year, we’re not here to make up numbers, we’re here to win the comp. And that starts next week.”
Together, they are the perfect foil. When the whistle sounds, Hodges is a level-headed man of few words, while Ostwald says he sometimes lets the emotion get the better of him.
“We’re similar but a bit different, a little bit of good cop, bad cop, maybe,” he said with a laugh.
“I play a little bit off pure emotion at times, Hodges is very calm, level-headed, sort of player, and he showed that in his captaincy down at Mackay.”
Williams said it was an easy decision.
“Hodgo, he’s not as outspoken as much as Ozzie is, but he delivers on the field, whether that’s training, and even games over the past few weeks, he’s been on point with all that,” Williams said.
“Ozzie has really jumped into the Northern Pride way. He’s got the understanding of the DNA of the club, the reasoning why we’re here, and ever since he’s come to the club he’s really starting to make some waves about it.
“Both of these guys have stood up for a long time, it’s just reassuring over the trial period that we selected the right guys, and at our in-house trial these two gentlemen were probably the best on ground.”
The Pride kick-off their Intrust Super Cup campaign against the Falcons at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday, March 20.
The club’s junior and women’s team will face the Blackhawks at Barlow Park this Saturday.
matthew.mcinerney1@news.com.au
Originally published as Why Northern Pride’s new skippers are a perfect fit
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