Seahawks recruit to miss first two rounds for wedding, honeymoon
Two of Tugun’s prized recruits will be unavailable for the season opener against Burleigh on Saturday - for good reason.
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TWO of Tugun’s prized recruits will be unavailable for the Seahawks’ season opener against Burleigh, but they have a good reason.
One is getting married, while the other is part of the wedding party.
When James Ryan and his partner chose May 8 as their day to say “I do”, they had no idea of the ripple effect it would have on a Gold Coast rugby league club.
“To be honest, I didn’t think I would be making a return to footy when we planned the wedding,” James said.
“We’re getting married a year to the day (I proposed) actually. It sounds a bit corny, but we didn’t plan it that way.
“When we got to the wedding venue they had two available dates. We chose May 8, not realising.”
When James, 27, walks down the isle on Saturday, his brother Beau, 24, will understandably be in attendance.
That leaves two big holes to fill in coach Clint Barends’ forward pack for the clash with premiership fancies Burleigh.
Front-rower James and back-rower Beau had never stepped onto the same rugby league field together until they arrived at Tugun.
It was that alone which drove James to return to rugby league – a chance to spill blood, sweat and tears on in the same colours as his brother.
“I moved away from home when I was 17 to go to the military. I spent seven years there and when I came back, I committed to playing footy with him,” James said.
“Then I took at job in the mines and it just never happened. So this year, I said no matter where I was, I was playing with him.”
The two Tweed Heads locals previously planned to play for Cudgen, until a call from Barends that shifted the landscape.
“I knew Clint from doing a pre-season at Tweed Seagulls,” James said.
“He rang me up. We had a long chat at my house about going to Tugun. I was already committed to Cudgen, to play with Beau, but I was also interested in playing under Clint.
“The terms were if I play footy, it’s with him. He said nothing was guaranteed and we had to earn our spots. It’s all worked out in the end.”
So much so, that James already knows he will play out the remainder of his rugby league days at the Seahawks.
“It’s honestly the best club I’ve personally played at,” he said.
“I’m ex-military, so I’ve been posted all around the country and played rugby league all over. (Tugun) is not like any other club I’ve been part of.
“The group there, they’re all mates and they just welcomed me straight away.
“When I got there I realised I already knew 50 per cent of them. There’s such a great culture there.
“I won’t leave. My brother said the same thing.”
The brothers finally played alongside each other for the first time during Tugun’s pre-season matches. But it will be a special day when the pair run out to play for competition points.
“The few trials we’ve played together, having him as my second-rower, it’s been great just looking up and seeing him there,” James said.
James returns for Round 3, after his honeymoon
’The plan was always to come home’: Hornets ready for A-Grade debut
THE PLAN was always to come home.
Forget false platitudes and overused footy tropes, Bailey Court’s family is the Helensvale Hornets – and he’s finally back where he belongs.
A Hornets junior from ages five to 17, Court’s world from March to October each year revolved around the fields at Robert Dalley Park.
But as the young hooker’s talent was borne out of runs to finals as a junior Hornet, it quickly became apparent he would need to spread his wings to chase his footy future.
With no A-Grade presence at the club, Court departed in 2015 in search of competitive senior football.
Playing stints at Easts Tigers and Burleigh followed, where he impressed in the Hastings Deering Colts U20s for both and trained with the Bears’ Intrust Super Cup squad.
Then came the news he and many others had been waiting for – the Hornets would finally have an A-Grade team in season 2021.
It was time to come home.
“I’d been at the club since I was five, right up until I was 17. Consecutive years,” Court said.
“Both of my parents are still heavily involved in the club. There was no other choice for me, personally. It’s home.
“The idea of an A-Grade team, for the old man, he’s been saying it for years – every since I left in 2015.
“The plan was always to come home when we had the team.”
Now Court is readying to lead the line as an inaugural A-Grade Helensvale Hornet. To say he feels great pride would be putting it lightly.
“It means a lot,” he said.
“When I was a young fella we only had Reserve Grade and Masters Over-35s. Even then I looked up to those blokes. They were the coolest blokes out – my local heroes.
“Now we have an A-Grade side. Those young kids have a pathway now and I can only imagine what they’re thinking.
“They get to do what I couldn’t. Stay at the club and have a long-term future.”
Court, 22, is not the only junior Hornet returned to Helensvale for the club’s maiden A-Grade campaign.
Brayden Young, who played a junior grade below Court at the Hornets, has also returned home.
Young joined Court at Easts for a season of HDC together.
Young spent last season at Southport. In a team stacked with returning Intrust Super Cup talent he was “unlucky”, Court felt, not to have had a bigger role.
That role will be returned to Young at the Hornets this season.
“We were in the same boat. Once the opportunity to come back was there, neither of us could say no,” Court said of he and Young.
“He’s a guy who just does a job for you. He’s great for those one-percenters.”
Then there’s old head Alan Johnson. The Hornets centre who could have sought A-Grade opportunities elsewhere but stayed loyal to the club and its Reserve Grade squad for years.
His reward will come in Round 2, when the Hornets open their season away to Burleigh.
Bolstered by a glut of premiership-winning U20s Hornets from last season, Helensvale will take time to find its footing in A-Grade, Court said.
But the platform has been set and the future is bright at Helensvale.
The heartbreaking story behind Mudgee forward’s weight loss
AN AIR of intrigue surrounds Mudgeeraba as the rugby league world wonders whether the Redbacks can recapture the surprising form of last year’s maiden foray into the Rugby League Gold Coast A-Grade competition.
Bolstered by a handful of Intrust Super Cup players the Redbacks sparkled on debut – the big scalp of reigning premiers Burleigh in Round 4 signalling they weren’t just there to make up the numbers.
A semi-final exit ended the Redbacks’ exciting run and now all eyes are on coach Wayne Forbes and his retooled squad as they enter their sophomore season.
One man not ready to rest on last year’s laurels is Mudgeeraba forward Jesse Malcolm-Dinsdale.
The 2018 premiership winner with Runaway Bay joined the Redbacks for the club’s A-Grade debut but was admittedly below his best.
The burly back-rower with a burgeoning Benji Marshall step – watch for it – shed seven kilograms in the off-season, vowing to get back to the 80-minute standard he set in years past.
He knows this Redbacks team has all the tools to go to the top and wants to play a key role in getting there.
“COVID did me real dirty. Once training stopped through that period I put on a bit of weight and found it hard to strip it back off again during the season,” Malcolm-Dinsdale said.
“This year I’ve shred back a bit – and there’s still a bit more for me to lose, hopefully by the middle of the season at least.”
The jovial forward’s vehicle for change was a sombre one. He stripped much of the weight training for the Mooloolaba Triathlon – his first such fitness challenge, dedicated to three-year-old Gold Coast girl Luna Matenga who died in December last year after being struck by a car.
“One of my good friends, his daughter passed over Christmas. We started training for a triathlon and dedicated it to her – we called it the Luna-thon,” Malcolm-Dinsdale said.
“Training for the triathlon I ended up losing six or seven kilos, which was a positive to come from it.”
Returning to footy talk, Malcolm-Dinsdale circled Round 3 as the benchmark for a return to his best.
He rejoins a Redbacks pack that could well be the biggest in the competition, headed by double-trouble best mates Trevino Botham (120kg) and Jackson Gisinger (130kg).
“Those units? Those two alone are the biggest in the comp,” he joked.
“And they’re young too. They feed off our experience and with a bit of confidence they’ll just take off. They’re not shy of the contact either which is good.”
Malcolm-Dinsdale is ready for Runaway Bay on Sunday – a date with his former club the perfect start to a new campaign, he says.
One man who won’t be playing Round 1 is livewire fullback Kyle Williams.
The speedster has only just been given the all-clear to return to swimming and cycling duties as he works his way back from a bulging disc in his neck that threatened to end his footy career.
“Killer” – Malcolm-Dinsdale’s nickname for him – will be sidelined until at least Round 5.
“It’s a bulging disc and it’s pretty high up, so it’s a bad one. I’m hoping to return maybe Round 5 or 6 – still a long way to go, but I’ve got faith in the boys to start the season strongly,” Williams said.
“Obviously it’s frustrating (not being able to play). Going from training four times a week to basically nothing – not even allowed to run – it’s been tough.
“I’m no Michael Phelps. I’d rather stay on the bike to be honest. I haven’t done a whole lot because I’m only just on the mend now.”
Even without Williams’ wheels in the one, he says the Redbacks can make a statement – as they did last year against Burleigh – by knocking off the reigning premiers on Sunday.
“They can, 100 per cent.”
Bears bruisers ready to lead Burleigh back to a premiership
EXPECT more of the same from perennial premiership fancy Burleigh this season, so say two men who will have plenty of influence on the Bears’ fortunes.
Among Rugby League Gold Coast’s plethora of talented big men, Burleigh’s Lochlyn Sheldon and Reece Summer rate as the cream of the crop.
Sheldon, 21, had his breakout campaign in 2020 playing a full season for the first time since his A-grade debut in 2018.
In Burleigh’s run to last year’s decider Sheldon established himself as a brute of a back-rower – not afraid to take the tough carries and will his team over the line.
Sheldon says he just follows the example of inspirational Bears skipper Summer, who leads the team in the trenches.
“He’s the type of bloke to lead by example,” Sheldon said.
“He puts his body on the line every single week for the boys and is someone you want to take that next hit-up after, or take the next tackle with.
“You want to be on the field with him as much as you can, he’s just that type of bloke.”
Summer, 24, was handed the captaincy last year by coach Matt Foster and made it his own as the year progressed.
“I’m not a vocal kind of leader – I don’t talk about plays and that sort of stuff, I leave that to the halves,” Summer said.
“I try to lead more on the field with carries and enthusiasm.”
As the Bears’ incumbent lock forward, Summer’s hulking frame belies his ball playing ability – though his bread and butter will always be in the tackle.
“I can throw the ball around – some people might tell you otherwise though,” he joked.
“But my carries are what I like doing, well, I don’t like doing it, but it’s what I have to do.”
Burleigh’s culture is a “lead by example” philosophy and alongside Summer, Sheldon has quickly set the platform for a bright future.
“Lachie is a fantastic player. He’s one of the best second-rowers in the whole (Burleigh) squad, (Intrust Super) Cup included,” Summer said.
“He’ll play a lot of high-level senior footy as he gets older – he’s ready now.
“He’ll do big things I believe.”
Burleigh’s state league team may be the toughest in the competition to crack, such is the depth at each position.
But the drive from each Bears A-grader to push for higher honours is what makes them such a great team, Sheldon says.
“I’m a big believer in culture inspiring players to be their best and when you love what you do and who you’re playing with it makes you hungry to get to that next level,” he said.
“Our whole team is hungry to take that next step – it will come for some faster than others and we know that.
“That means you have to be hungry all the time and ready to take your opportunity when you get it.”
A beaten grand finalist in 2020, Burleigh enters this campaign as favourite among the league’s brains trust to return to the top of the mountain.
With the same talented core that took them to the summit, and the addition of much-needed experience, Summer has faith the Bears can make amends.
“We have some older boys this year which I think will ground us a bit more – help us be a bit calmer,” he said.
“A few times last year we got a bit flustered during games which is probably why we lost a few.”
Sheldon says Burleigh’s young core, he and Summer included, will be better for the lessons of last year and a fruitful pre-season embedded in the Intrust Super Cup system.
“It’s been a long pre-season but we’ve progressively grown as a group … the boys are closer than ever now and we’re ready to lock-in,” he said.
As for favouritism, well, even at 21 Sheldon knows it means little.
“Speculation is speculation. If we win we’ll do it by focusing on ourselves.”
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