CDRL: Satrick set for third season in charge of the Storm

The Cairns District Rugby League season finished only a few weeks ago but clubs have already made big moves for the 2022 premiership season.

EDMONTON Storm coach Anthony Satrick couldn’t believe his eyes or ears when players begged for a return to the training paddock - and it might be the difference as the club sets out to make the A-grade grand final.

The off-season is usually a time of low attendance at training sessions, with numbers gradually increasing closer to kick-off.

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But Satrick, who hadn’t planned to return for off-season training before the Christmas break, will instead welcome back his troops to Petersen Park for their first session this Thursday night after a player-led push to get back into the grind.

Edmonton coach Anthony Satrick (left) is back for his third season. Picture: Brendan Radke

“It shows the boys have confidence in what we did this year and they believe we can go that one or two further,” Satrick said.

It will mark the start of his third, but most crucial, year in charge at the Storm.

When he took on the job, he believed the club had the talent to develop a serious tilt at the Cairns District Rugby League premiership, but needed time to do so.

That time has come.

“This year we took two teams to the grand final,” Satrick said. “Next year, we want to take three teams to Barlow Park.”

Satrick also confirmed the clubs off-field appointments, with Steven Ware stepping in to coach the reserve grade side, and Jason Chilman taking on the under-18s.

Ware won premierships at Brothers and has coached across several clubs, while Chilman led Mossman-Port Douglas to a title in 2018 and coached the Storm’s women’s team in 2021.

HOW BIONDI-ODO, BROTHERS, WILL BOUNCE BACK

Cairns District Rugby League minor premiers, coach of the year award winner, and preliminary finalists.

The first two were outstanding achievements for Jordan Biondi-Odo, but that third one stings.

For all Brothers accomplished in 2021 - the remarkable unbeaten run, winning the minor premiership by nine points to confirm their status as the most consistent team in the CDRL - the lack of a premiership trophy burns Biondi-Odo.

And that’s why he is back in the saddle for 2022.

RELIVE THE CDRL GRAND FINALS HERE

Jordan Biondi-Odo. Picture: Brendan Radke

“I guess it does (provide more motivation), yeah,” he said.

“The best thing is we have a young team and they haven’t been in games like that before. There’s not many who have made an A-grade preliminary final.

“They are so young, but they all care. They’ve already talked about next year.

Biondi-Odo, football manager Tim Rumford and the players don’t publicly blame the rough and inconsistent late-season schedule for their being bundled out of the finals in straight sets, but it’s hard to overlook.

The fortnight-long Covid shutdown coincided with the end of the regular season, some soft games in the finals rounds, then two straight byes hurt Brothers.

The week off in Round 20 was known, but the week off the first week of the finals for being minor premiers might have come back to haunt the Brethren.

You could see they were off the pace in straight losses to Innisfail Leprechauns (major semi final) and Yarrabah Seahawks (preliminary final), but months after those results Biondi-Odo has tried to take a positive approach.

The fact so many Brothers players were so young means it was a learning experience for the squad, and Biondi-Odo will use that to his advantage next year.

“We had a pretty good year but we didn’t win,” Biondi-Odo said.

“Especially with our young squad, it’s promising for the next few years. We’ll be there or thereabouts.

“We were a top two team all year, so we don’t have to change much.

“It was just key errors that let us down on the field in those last games.

“We won’t change much, but we will tidy up a few things.”

Rumford was suitably impressed with way Biondi-Odo performed in his first year as a head coach, and it’s hard to argue with the results he generated on the field.

But he foresees the former Northern Pride halfback taking his coaching nous to another level.

“He had a really big year but his learning really starts now,” Rumford said.

“He’s a really deep thinker; he has his ideas, then goes and makes them happen.”

Brothers will lose a few key men for next season.

Rising talent Darcy Simpson has moved to the Brisbane Tigers, while barnstorming forward Emmerson Whittel will likely not return.

But Biondi-Odo has flagged that he wants the rest of his all-powerful squad on board for a tilt at the 2022 premiership, as the Brethren seek an end to their decade-long drought.

“I want to retain everyone we had this year,” he said. “We could’ve won it with who we had.

“The loss of a few players means an opportunity for a few more, and if we can pick up some players in key positions, we’ll be on the right track.”

Allen to return to Roos

A DESIRE to see Kangaroos return to being a genuine Cairns District Rugby League premiership threat is all the motivation Jared Allen needs as he prepares for a second season as head coach.

Allen will return to the role in 2022, and is already looking at ways he can improve on his first campaign.

RELIVE THE CDRL GRAND FINALS HERE

Kangaroos finished seventh, three wins outside the top five, with a mid-season five-game losing streak ultimately costing the Mooroobool club a shot at the title.

On paper, the squad looked among the best in the CDRL, but injuries and suspensions conspired against Kangaroos’ hopes of making the finals.

This is a team that put 50 points on Yarrabah, the team that would eventually finish the year as 2021 premiers.

But with the lessons Allen has learned along the way, there is a hope that the premiership trophy may yet return to Vico Oval in 2022.

“I learned a lot about what goes into making a game plan, how to beat the rest of the teams in this competition, and learning what training we need to do,” Allen said.

“I was probably a bit easy on them after coming out of the Covid year – most of the guys hadn’t played a game for 18 months. We’re going to be a bit more intense this pre-season.

“They’ve had a whole season under their belts, and a number of them have been playing in the All Blacks carnivals, so they should be fit.”

Kangaroos president Brett Allen said it was an easy decision to back the former Northern Pride player for a second year in charge despite missing the post-season with a squad that should have challenged.

“He’s done a good job, and the club is going the right direction,” he said.

“We had a good run but then had a lot of injuries at the same time, and had those five losses in a row.

“Those things happen.”

Jared Allen. Picture: Stewart McLean

Kangaroos are in the market for players in key positions, with halves and some forwards on their radar, but they will also welcome several players from the under-18s team that reached the grand final.

And that is why Allen was so keen to get back to the job. He views Kangaroos’ rebuild as a two-to-three year plan, and with that amount of time – and development – the club could be back on top.

“The biggest thing for us this year was the depth across the club,” Allen said.

“We don’t want to add a heap more players when we have a number of good players coming through.

“It’s a work in progress.

“We gave five of them an A-grade debut this year and that’s exactly what we wanted.

“The plan we have will take two to three years of bringing the juniors through.”

Allen is planning for his side to return for pre-season in early January.

STEVENS DRIVEN BY ‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS’

PAUL Stevens has “unfinished business” at Southern Suburbs, and will stay on as coach of the Cairns District Rugby League club with a view to build towards a finals appearance.

Stevens joined the Gordonvale club in 2021, but inconsistency was their worst enemy as they finished eighth, three wins short of a post-season berth but with a -108 points differential.

When compared to the clubs who finished near Suburbs, they lacked consistent attacking prowess – they scored 30 or more points just three times – and leaked too many points to put themselves in a position to win more games.

Southern Suburbs coach Paul Stevens.

But the squad’s talent was proved in the club’s final round 38-30 victory against Yarrabah, who turned that loss into a four-game winning run to the second premiership in the Seahawks’ two-decade history.

“There were a lot of positives to come out of the season, but in that game, we had a lot of our young players in the A-grade side,” Stevens said.

“They would have learned a lot from that win, they would’ve taken a lot of confidence out of it.

“A lot of the bigger players weren’t there for us that day so it gave the young guys a chance to play, and they really stepped up.”

Suburbs will return to the training paddock on Thursday week for a short, pre-Christmas burst of fitness before rejoining more regularly in the New Year.

Among them will be senior players like Brad Lupi, Cephas Chinfat and Minjiluk McInnes, all of whom have indicated they will return to Alley Park.

That is on top of a few yet-to-be announced recruits – Stevens is keeping his cards close to his chest – and the return of a number of several outstanding young men ready to take the step up into the CDRL’s top grade.

The desire to settle unfinished business will be the main motivator for Stevens.

“I want to see this club back up with the best in the competition,” Stevens said. “They are lovely people, hard working, and the amount of work they’ve done for this club, they deserve to see it succeed.”

STYLES THE MAN TO LEAD IVANHOES

THERE will be a new man leading Ivanhoes but the Cairns District Rugby League club champions are confident bigger things are on the horizon for the Knights.

Lindsay Styles has played, coached and associated only with Ivanhoes since he arrived in Cairns in 2004, and after one year serving as Jono Zangrande’s assistant coach in an official capacity will assume full responsibility for the Smithfield club’s A-grade team in 2022.

RELIVE THE CDRL GRAND FINALS HERE

The Knights reached the finals on the back of a tough, gritty defensive focus, which made them one of the best and most effective teams in the competition, but the coach is keen to introduce a more attacking style as Ivanhoes chase their first CDRL premiership since 2016.

“Defence is a big part but I want to bring in some flair, or a more attacking brand of football,” Styles said.

“I think we have a good opportunity there, we have the players to do it.”

Styles has been around rugby league his whole life.

His dad, Wayne, coached numerous clubs across North Queensland, which included a stint at Mossman in the late 1990s, a premiership with Charters Towers and a time with the Magpies in Mackay.

Making Styles’ move into the head coaching role at Ivanhoes more special is Wayne’s appointment as an assistant.

“It’s going to be even better to have the old guy with me,” Styles said.

“He’s been around for years. It makes me more proud to be working with him.

“I’m very excited. As soon as I found out Jono was moving (to the Northern Pride), I was keen.”

New Ivanhoes coach Lindsay Styles.

Ivanhoes finished fifth this season, and led Yarrabah 30-6 at halftime after a clinical first 40 minutes in the elimination final before falling to the Seahawks, who went on to win the CDRL premiership - the second of their history.

While that loss still hurts for the Knights involved on that Sunday afternoon at Barlow Park, Styles said that experience would help fortify his troops for their assault on the 2022 CDRL premiership.

And with much of that A-grade squad expected to return, plus the form of the reserve grade premiership winners and under-18s, who made the finals, it could be a good year for the Knights.

“They’ll learn a lot from that experience,” Styles said.

“The first 40 minutes showed what we can do, the second 40 might’ve been a lack of experience.

“We should have about 95 per cent of those guys back. There might be a few who move on and we’ll look at bringing in some new faces, but once you play for Ivanhoes, you’re Ivanhoes for life.

“That’s the way I see it.

“I’m confident this group will be able to do it.”

WILKIE TO LEAD TULLY RESCUE MISSION

ONE of Tully’s best exports has returned to his junior club as part of a rescue mission to return the toothless Tigers to the top of the Cairns District Rugby League.

Colin Wilkie was born in Innisfail but played his junior footy at Tully, the club with whom he started his rugby league journey and last played for in 2018 when the Tigers fell to Mossman-Port Douglas Sharks in the grand final.

As the Italian international spent the past few years in Brisbane, the Tigers have become the cellar dwellers of the CDRL, winning one game and drawing another on their way to two straight wooden spoons.

Italian international Col Wilkie is back in FNQ and working to rebuild Tully Tigers. (PICTURE: CHRIS HOLMES)

Wilkie recently returned to the Far North and has set up shop as operations manager for the Tully Tigers in an attempt to restore the club to its former glory.

Paul Ketchell will return as coach for another season, one which is already promising big things for the Tigers as Wilkie not only plans to strap on the boots, but is opening the contact book to pull together a squad which can again become a force in the competition.

“It’s been sad to see as it’s such a great sporting town, it hurts to see Tully that way,” he said. “We won two junior grand finals, so our juniors and participation are really good, it’s just the seniors where the wheels have fallen off.”

Wilkie saw that Ketchell battled to pull together squads for each round, but that is a thing of the past according to the former Northern Pride utility.

The majority of players from this year’s 0-18 season, in which they conceded more than 38 points per game and managed less than 15, will return, though Wilkie flagged a number of key and crucial signings which could provide the boost the Tigers need.

“The past few years have been tough so there’s a few boys who want to have a bit of a break,” Wilkie said. “Some of the guys give up weekend work and overtime to play footy, and others want a spell.

“We’ll keep pushing our own, but the way the comp has gone in recent years we’ll be bringing in a few boys from out of town to bolster the squad.”

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Originally published as CDRL: Satrick set for third season in charge of the Storm