Rugby league mentor dealt coke to friends and players, court told

A football talent from Cairns who played with the Newcastle Knights NRL club and was scouted by union teams has been jailed for street-level cocaine trafficking over 10 months in local nightclubs, a court has been told.

Satrick was selling cocaine to friends and football club associates, Cairns Supreme Court was told.

A Cairns football talent who was scouted by NRL clubs and city union teams has been jailed for street-level cocaine trafficking in local nightclubs.

Boche Eric Satrick, 31, pleaded guilty in the Cairns Supreme Court to one count of trafficking cocaine between December 2022 and November 2023 and was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with eligibility for parole after serving 12 months.

The court was told the police first raided Satrick’s home in March 2023, where they found cocaine and cannabis, charged him, and “put him on bail”.

Police raided Satrick a second time in November 2023, with a search of his phone showing the earlier arrest had not deterred him from drugs.

Satrick was said to be a ‘street-level’ dealer, selling mostly small personal-use amounts to friends and associates on 46 occasions over 10 months

Crown prosecutor Kurt MacDonald said Satrick’s phone records showed he had supplied drugs on 46 occasions – a total of 73.5 grams of cocaine – and that buyers had deposited $16,505 in his bank account between December 2022 and November 2023.

Satrick had his own “sole operator” business and was a “runner” for a bigger player in the drug scene, the court was told, which is how he came to police attention.

“He would attend local nightclubs to discuss business arrangements,” Mr MacDonald said.

“He would supply those he knew through his football club or friends of his.”

Boche Satrick playing local football in his younger years.

Defence barrister James Sheridan said Satrick was a gifted footballer who received a rugby union scholarship in Brisbane in his younger years, and played with the Newcastle Knights from 2012, returning to Cairns to play and mentor in the local league after an injury ended his professional career.

He said the father of four had the support of friends and family, and had made concerted efforts to address his drug use.

“They all speak of a man who has worked very hard to rehabilitate himself,” Mr Sheridan told the court.

“The sentence today weighs heavily on him, and the suffering it will impose on his family … he realises he needs to have treatment, guidance and counselling for his underlying cocaine use.”

Justice Lincoln Crowley said he accepted Satrick was remorseful and had good prospects of rehabilitation.

Justice Lincoln Crowley said trafficking drugs was “simply not worth it”, saying those people who do “will go to jail”.

“Largely, you would meet people in nightclubs in Cairns … the customers were largely acquaintances of yours and I accept it wasn’t an overly sophisticated business,” Justice Crowley said.

“People who engage in drug trafficking must understand they will receive stern sentences to send a message to other people that it is simply not worth it because you will go to jail.

“The harm that dangerous drugs cause extends beyond the users.

“They lose their friends. They lose their family. The only people left are other drug addicts and they turn to crime to fund their habits.”

Justice Crowley imposed a four-year sentence, with parole eligibility in 12 months on July 16, 2026.

Originally published as Rugby league mentor dealt coke to friends and players, court told