Pride backrower Maurice Blair won’t return in 2020

Northern Pride coach Ty Williams has put to bed any speculation surrounding the future of 2019 marquee signing Maurice Blair at the club’s first pre-season training session.

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Northern Pride coach Ty Williams has put to bed any speculation surrounding the future of 2019 marquee signing Maurice Blair at the club’s first pre-season training session.

The Pride returned to West Barlow Park on Monday night to begin their pre-season training, and the former NRL and Super League star was noticeably absent from the session.

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Action from the 2019 Intrust Super Cup Queensland Rugby League match between the Northern Pride and the Souths Logan Magpies, held at Barlow Park. Pride's Maurice Blair (centre) looks on. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

While the club had remained hopeful of retaining Blair’s services for a second season in 2020, Williams admitted the experienced backrower’s signature had proven elusive in the off-season.

“At the moment, the club’s given Bobby (Blair) a letter of offer and obviously it hasn’t turned out to be,” he said.

Although disappointed to be losing 99 NRL and 117 Super League games worth of experience from his playing group, Williams said the club wouldn’t dwell on the loss of Blair.

“We’ve got young Josh Stuckey up from Canberra, he’s an edge backrower, Ewan Moore gets back into training this week, Tom McGrath – the competition for that edge backrower spot is pretty healthy,” he said.

“We’re happy with what we’ve got there, it’s just due to the fact that we would like some experience there.”

Blair’s services were heralded as a major coup at the start of the year, but the ball-playing backrower failed to live up to expectation in 2019.

He played 15 games for the Pride, missing some of the season as he battled a calf injury, and averaged 62.2 running metres and 20 tackles each time he took the field.

At 35 years old, he was the eldest player on the squad and struggled at times in what was the Pride’s worst season in the club’s history.

Blair’s departure leaves a big hole in the Pride’s leadership and experience stocks, but Williams was adamant it would have a minimal impact on the club, with former North Queensland Cowboys Javid Bowen and Gideon Gela-Mosby committing to the club full-time.

Williams said he was pleased with how the squad was shaping up, with the only thing on his wishlist being another front-row forward, following the loss of George Fai to rugby union last week.

Fai, a former Brisbane Bronco with two NRL appearances to his name, was set to lead the Pride’s forward pack in 2020, alongside former Penrith Panther Nick Lui-Toso, but last week backflipped on his deal to take up an offer with the Queensland Reds.

“We’ve got to keep moving forward with it,” Williams said.

Originally published as Pride backrower Maurice Blair won’t return in 2020