Seaton Reid joins Coolum Colts, weeks after being revealed by the Maroochydore Swans

Amid talk of ‘ridiculous money’, a Sunshine Coast league star has returned to his boyhood club just weeks after a rival announced he had signed on for the 2024 season. Find out how it has all played out.

Seaton Reid in action for the Cessnock Goannas. Picture: Jonathan Carroll

Sunshine Coast rugby league star Seaton Reid has played down local rumours insisting he never signed for Maroochydore after he was announced on the Swans and Coolum Colts social media for the 2024 A-grade season.

The now 27-year-old played his junior footy for Coolum before moving to the Noosa Pirates to play in the senior grades.

He has since played for the Cessnock Goannas in the Newcastle competition before he returned to the Sunshine Coast, representing Noosa again and more recently the Maroochydore Swans in 2023.

The Swans took to social media on November 10 to announce Reid’s re-signing and was also confirmed by head coach Bart Hold on the PRESZN Podcast.

Local fans were shocked and sent into a mini frenzy when the Coolum Colts then posted a photo on December 11, announcing the star outside back as a new signing for the 2024 season.

Seaton Reid signing announcement from both Maroochydore Swans and Coolum Colts. Pictures: Facebook.

Reid, who was crowned the SCGRL player of the year in 2021, said he was surprised by the initial post.

“Maroochydore just chucked in the group chat that I had re-signed when I hadn’t and then obviously I made my decision to sign with Coolum,” he said.

“There’s no bad blood whatsoever, I just want to go back to the old stables at Coolum which is where it all began for me and play with some good mates.

“I’ve always wanted to get back there, I was just waiting for the right time and Maroochydore have done nothing but good for me and I had such a good year with them.

“It was a hard decision to leave Maroochydore but I weighed up the options and just thought why not now.”

Seaton Reid after being crowned the 2021 Sunshine Coast Gympie Rugby League Player of the Year. Picture: Facebook.

Maroochydore Swans coaching director Jack Dreger said he was disappointed but could understand Reid’s decision.

“He originally got an offer from us, we sat down and chatted with him and he agreed to stay with us but the negotiations kept happening and the money they’ve (Coolum) offered is just ridiculous and we just couldn’t match it unfortunately,” Dreger said.

“We are a bit disappointed as he did agree to stay with us, we announced him on our socials and Bart gave him a good push on the PRESZN Podcast a few weeks ago but at the same time we couldn’t match the money he’s been given, plus it’s his junior club and he has some mates there.

“We also are a club who pays all our players the same money and we believe this builds a winning culture.”

Dreger said the club was sad to lose a player of Reid’s quality but thanked him for his services in 2023 and wished him all the best.

Coolum Colts president Simon Kidman and head coach Matt Smith. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Coolum A-grade head coach Matt Smith said he was unsure of where the comments of ‘ridiculous money’ had stemmed from.

“We were interested in recruiting Seaton but at a local level we don’t want to poach anyone from other clubs, if the players are interested they can come to us,” he said.

“A few of our players are obviously good mates with Seaton and had mentioned he was keen on returning to Coolum but once we saw that post from Maroochydore we thought his re-signing was fair enough and we moved on.

“Then a few weeks later Seaton called me saying he was annoyed with Maroochydore, explained how they posted that photo and that he had never signed anything.”

Smith said he believed there were at least four Sunshine Coast clubs which included Maroochydore, Caloundra, Noosa and Coolum that were in talks with Reid.

“We said if he was interested we could offer the base rate of what all our players are on plus a little bit extra to be our goalkicker while also explaining it’s more about our culture and what we can provide as a club,” Smith said.

“He had some time to think but he made the decision to join us which we’re very happy with and him being a local junior makes the signing even better.”

Reid said he was excited for the upcoming season.

“There’s some good young players coming through now at Coolum and when I was around their age, wanting to play senior footy, there was nowhere for us to go so if we can build something really strong with a good culture we can inspire those younger players,” he said.

“I think they’re just lacking that goalkicker and that little bit of x-factor but Matty (Smith) has done really well in signing a bunch of good players.

“I think next year we’ll definitely give the competition a good shake up so up the Colts!”

Originally published as Seaton Reid joins Coolum Colts, weeks after being revealed by the Maroochydore Swans