Palmerston Raiders welcome back premiership-winning coach Merg Mikaelian and add plenty of playing firepower to NRL NT side
EXPERIENCED coach Merg Mikaelian has rejoined the Palmerston Raiders 10 years after lifting the premiership trophy with the side, and with some key playing and coaching inclusions joining him the club is hopeful he can work his magic once again.
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EXPERIENCED coach Merg Mikaelian has rejoined the Palmerston Raiders 10 years after lifting the premiership trophy with the side, and with some key playing and coaching inclusions joining him the club is hopeful he can work his magic once again.
Mikaelian brings a host of experience both playing and coaching in and outside the Territory, but Raiders fans will remember him most fondly for coaching the side to a premiership in 2011, winning 7-6 over Nightcliff.
Alongside that accomplishment he has also coached at the Nightcliff Dragons, where he played his junior and senior footy, and coached the NT Titans at the Combined Affiliated States.
After his title triumph with the Raiders, the coach moved to Melbourne where he coached in the Storm under-20s system alongside former Broncos mentor Anthony Seibold.
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Mikaelian would go on to assistant and head coaching roles in the 16s and 18s at Melbourne, while also getting opportunities to coach the Combined Affiliated States representative side to Fiji and Tonga.
He now finds himself at Palmerston once again 10 years on from his grand-final victory, with the idea of doing it all again to celebrate the club’s 60th anniversary.
Joining him as assistants are Daniel Roach, who led the Dragons for three years, and Jack Horner, who is the current head coach of the South Darwin rugby union outfit.
“I’m pleased to take on the role with the club asking me to put in for it which I was happy to do,” Mikaelian told the NT News.
“I see the club has really grown since I was here last and I think there’s a little romance with this coming season as last time I coached here was 2011 and we won the premiership in the 50th anniversary and now it’s the 60th anniversary.
“Looking from the outside there’s a little bit of a culture shift I want to bring into the club and bringing on board some quality people such as assistant coaches Jack Horner and Daniel Roach is going to assist me in doing that.
“I do want to see some real influence from our seniors on the club and we want to take the club in a direction that it’s known as a destination club and seen as that family club.
“We’ve also invested a lot in our strength and conditioning program from our under-16s right through to our men’s will allow us to get early development into our kids.”
Massive player inclusions are also on the agenda at Raiders with local stars – former Nightcliff captain David Paull, 2018 Frank Johnson medallist Ed Murphy from Nightcliff and Brothers’ premiership-winning half Tyrone Nona made the switch to the side.
But probably the biggest inclusion is Tom Murphy from Queensland Cup side the Sunshine Coast Falcons, which is a feeder club of Melbourne Storm.
Those four big names will join the settled unit of experienced campaigners at Raiders including Alex Johnson, Will Beers, Brad Hansen, Matt Bennett, Blake Fletcher, Nathan Hazel, Will Smith, Stephen Smith, Shane Smith and Joel Turaga.
“David has been Nightcliff’s captain in recent years and is an outstanding front-rower, probably one of the best in Darwin who brings natural leadership and his football ability,” Mikaelian said.
“Ed was on Nightcliff’s book when I coached them and has a background with the Gold Coast Titans and his experience will bring a real injection into our forward pack.
“And we’ve been really fortunate to sign Tyrone. I saw his development at Brothers last year which is a credit to the coaching staff there and he will be crucial in our halves.
“But the biggest is probably Tom who shares my philosophies and will bring a real positive attitude that’s going to help us while also being an 80-minute player.
“The mixture of players that we have at our disposal and coming through junior and reserve grades will create a real healthy competition for spots in the A-grade side.”
Raiders have been a highly competitive in recent years, making the finals as undefeated minor premiers in 2020.
But they have been unable to seal the deal since their 2013 premiership win – a 32-22 triumph over Brothers – before a run of grand-final defeats.
And that has also become a focus of the returning coach, who is looking to instil accountability and resilience in his playing personnel.
“It’s well known in the A-grade competition that the Raiders have often fallen at the last hurdle,” Mikaelian said.
“We want to promote a no excuses environment at the club working hard to ensure the side is accountable and resilient when it comes to the tougher games.
“In terms of football we will be looking at some real expansive football but with accountability so you can count on us being a fit side.
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“The players are under no illusion that this is going to be a tough pre-season but we’re into week three now and the turnout has been really good and the senior core group has been outstanding.”
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