Since 2008, the club have been minor-premiers twice (2013 and 2014), and have appeared in ten finals series, reaching the Grand Final three times (runners-up in 2009 and winners in 2010 and 2014). In 2014 they won the NRL State Championship.
The Northern Pride was one of two expansion teams for the 2008 season of the QRLWizard Queensland Cup, along with the Mackay Cutters, against whom they played their debut game.[1]
Further representation in the competition was suggested in 2006 by a Cairns-based consortium of John O'Brien (owner of Pacific Toyota, Cairns), Denis Keeffe (chairman of Events Cairns and former CEO of the North Queensland Cowboys), Nigel Tillet (president of the CDRL) and John Moore (QRL Northern Division chairman), this time with the support of Peter Parr, CEO of the North Queensland Cowboys, and 9 of the 11 local CDRL clubs. Starter capital for the bid was provided by 40 local business people.[3]
The team name and logo were unveiled in July 2007 at a 'Legends of Origin' lunch held at The Reef Hotel Casino.[4] The Northern Pride bid was submitted to the QRL on 25 August 2007, and approved on 14 September 2007.[5]
Northern Pride is a development club built around the phrase 'Born and Bred.' It was formed to create a regionally based talent development pathway for players, coaches and administrators.[6] Prior to the creation of the club, talented Far North Queensland rugby league players were invariably forced to move away from the region to go to schools and/or join southern based state league and national league clubs. The Pride is a feeder club to the North Queensland Cowboys.
The club played in the former Hastings Deering Colts U20 Competition (2018–2020), Hastings Deering Colts U21 Competition (2021–2023), and QRL Junior State Championships (2017–2020).
Demetriou coached the Pride to a minor premiership in his first season, winning 17 of their 22 games and being awarded the 'Men of League Coach of the Year' award. In his second season Demetriou secured the minor premiership again, winning 20 games in 24 rounds, before taking out the premiership and the inaugural NRL State Championship. Demetriou resigned at the end of the 2014 season to take up the position of assistant coach under Paul Green at the North Queensland Cowboys. He was replaced by assistant coach Joe O'Callaghan, who coached the team during the 2015 and 2016 seasons with assistant coaches Shane O'Flanagan and Leon Hallie, and trainer Darren Ferricks.
Former North Queensland Cowboys and Queensland Origin winger Ty Williams was appointed coach in 2017, with assistant coaches Sam Obst and Shane O'Flanagan. Williams was named QRL 'Coach of the Year' for the 2018 season, and he signed several contract extensions which saw him coach until the end of the 2023 season.[8] Eric Smith was appointed coach for the 2024 season, with former Pride players Sam Obst and Will Bugden as assistant coaches.[9]
Football Operations Manager: Chey Bird (2018-2020), Cameron Miller (2021), Tanya Tully (2022-).
Team Manager: Sam Harreman.
Captain
The foundation captain of the Northern Pride was former North Queensland Cowboys and St. George Illawarra Dragons player Chris Sheppard.[10] He was the first player signed to the team in July 2007, and was captain and operations manager for the first three seasons. Sheppard retired after leading the Pride to the 2010 Queensland Cup premiership.
Former North Queensland Cowboys player Ty Williams was captain for the next three seasons (2011–2013), before retiring to captain-coach the CDRL Innisfail Leprechauns. In 2014 Brett Anderson and Jason Roos were named as joint co-captains.
Ryan Ghietti was named as captain in 2016, with Jack Svendsen as vice-captain. Ghietti retired at the end of the 2018 season and Tom Hancock and Dave Murphy were named as joint co-captains for the 2019 season. Javid Bowen was named captain for the 2020 Season, but only one round was played before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.
When matches restarted in 2021, Bowen re-signed with the Cowboys and Chris Ostwald and Jayden Hodges were named co-captains. Hodges left at the end of the 2022 season, and Ostwald was named captain for the 2023 season, with Ewan Moore as vice-captain. Newly signed hooker, Kyle Schneider was appointed captain for the 2024 season, with Ewan Moore and Evan Child as joint vice-captains.
When the team captain has been unavailable due to injury or representative duties, they have been replaced by other team members, including Chey Bird, Ben Laity and Mark Cantoni. Other players have been named as captain for pre-season trials, including Warren Jensen, Ryan Stig, Sheldon Powe-Hobbs, Jordan Biondi-Odo and Tom Hancock.
CEO
The foundation Chief Executive Officer was Dennis Keeffe (former CEO of the North Queensland Cowboys), who held the position from 2007 to 2009. He was replaced in 2010 by QRL Northern Division chairman John Moore. From 2011 to 2013 former team captain Chris Sheppard was chief executive officer. In 2013–2014 Northern Pride business development manager, Brock Schaefer was CEO.[11] Schaefer resigned at the end of the 2014 season to take up a role at South Sydney Rabbitohs, and was replaced by former Pride player Rod Jensen for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Greg Dowling was CEO for the 2017 season, but resigned half-way through the 2018 season. He was replaced by Mark Quinn, who resigned at the end of the 2020 season. Paul Callaghan was CEO for the 2021 season, with Garreth Smith taking up the role in 2022.
Chairman and Board of Directors
The founding Northern Pride chairman was John O'Brien. He was replaced at the end of 2008 by Bob Fowler, who retired in December 2015. Terry Mackenroth acted as interim chairman until June 2016, when Cairns real-estate agent and club director, Tony Williamson, was appointed chairman. Williamson resigned at the end of the 2020 season, with Nigel Tillett acting as interim chairman until Terry Medhurst was appointed chairman at the start of the 2024 season.[12]
The Northern Pride Board of Directors for the 2024 season is Terry Medhurst (chair), Joel Riethmuller (player representative), Micheal Luck (North Queensland Cowboys representative), (FNQRL representative), Mark Whitnall, Leon Yeatman, Stephen Devenish and Sarah Campbell.
Venues
Barlow Park
The Pride's home ground is Barlow Park in Cairns. The playing field is 114 metres long (100 metres of field plus two 7-metre in-goal areas) by 68 metres wide. The facility is floodlit for night games with four towers providing 620 lux. The venue has a capacity of 15,000, which includes 1,700 seats (mostly undercover) in a stand on the northern side of the park. The stand was constructed in 1987. The car park can accommodate approximately 300 vehicles. In 2012–2013 the Pride played 13 consecutive home games at Barlow Park without loss. In 2014 Barlow Park was renamed 'The Jungle' and the Pride won all 12 matches they played there.
Other venues
When Barlow Park was unavailable due to renovations, maintenance and conflicts with other events, the Pride played at nearby venues. They played three home games at CDRL Kangaroos' Vico Oval (two in 2010 and one in 2019), one home game at CDJRLJones Park in 2018, and two home games at CDRL Cairns Brothers' Stan Williams Park in 2018.
As part of the QRL's 'Country Week' initiative, the Northern Pride have played at Alec Inch Oval, Mount Isa (2012); Jilara Oval, Yarrabah (2013); Davies Park, Mareeba (2014); Callendar Park, Innisfail (2015); Ravenshoe IRL Grounds (2016); Yusia Ginau Oval, Bamaga (2017); John Street Oval, Cooktown (2018); Ken Brown Oval, Thursday Island (2019 and 2022),
Atherton Stadium (2021); and Andoom Oval, Weipa (2023).
[13]
Pride Oval and Leagues Club
The Pride purchased CDRL Kangaroos Leagues Club and Vico Oval, Irene Street, Mooroobool from the Redcliffe Dolphins in June 2008 for $1.85m (the Dolphins having purchased the Oval and Leagues Club from the Kangaroos in 2005 when the Roos were in financial difficulty). Vico Oval was renamed Pride Oval and the 2008 Northern Pride Player Awards ceremony was held at the Pride Leagues Club. Pre-season trials were played at Pride Oval in 2009, as well as rounds 9 and 11 of the 2010 season.
The Oval and Leagues Club cost around $230,000 a year to maintain, and so in December 2010 Cairns Regional Council agreed to purchase the sporting complex for $2.5m to guarantee its future as a sporting field, prevent residential development on the land and free the Northern Pride rugby league club from an oppressive debt. The Pride were given a six-month lease, and when it expired in May 2011 they decided not to renew and moved to Barlow Park. Pride Oval was leased to CDRL Kangaroos RLFC and became Vico Oval and Kangaroos Leagues Club once again. The Pride played a pre-season trial matches at Vico Oval in 2012 and 2016.
The Northern Pride followed up their impressive first season by finishing second and reaching the grand final. The Pride's first grand final appearance ended in a 32–18 loss to the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles at Stockland Park. Coach Andrew Dunemann left at the end of the season to take up a position as assistant coach to Rick Stone at the Newcastle Knights.
The new captain was recently retired North Queensland CowboyswingTy Williams. Between Round 14 of the 2010 season and Round 5 of the 2011 season, the Northern Pride won 17 consecutive games, a Queensland Cup record. After a draw in Round 6 and a win in Round 7, the Pride were unbeaten after 19 matches. The Pride finished the 2011 season in second place, but were eliminated after losing the semi-final 26-20 to Tweed Heads Seagulls at Dolphin Oval, Redcliffe.
In 2012, the club finished seventh to miss out on a finals appearance for the first time in their short history. At the end of the season, coach David Maiden resigned, while fullback Chey Bird, who scored 572 points in 94 appearances for the Pride, retired along with former North Queensland Cowboys star Rod Jensen, who scored 36 tries in 69 games for the club, second on the Pride's all-time try scorer list.
Former Super League player Jason Demetriou replaced David Maiden as coach, and Brock Schaefer replaced Chris Sheppard as CEO. The Pride finished first and won their first minor premiership. Head Coach Jason Demetriou was awarded the Men of League Coach of the Year. The Pride lost the major semi-final and the preliminary final, and missed out on a Grand Final appearance. At the end of the season Captain Ty Williams retired.
2014 – Minor Premiers, Premiers and NRL State Champions
Coach Jason Demetriou named Brett Anderson and Jason Roos as joint co-captains. Barlow Park was renamed 'The Jungle' and the Pride introduced a new mascot, Barlow the lion. The Pride won 20 of their 24 games (including all 11 home games at Barlow Park) and they took out the minor premiership for the second year in a row. The Pride won the grand final 36–4 against Easts Tigers and won the inaugural NRL State Championship against the New South Wales Cup premiers, Penrith Panthers. At the end of the season four of the Pride's players were offered NRL contracts and Demetriou left to take up the role of assistant coach at the North Queensland Cowboys.
The Northern Pride defended their premiership under new coach Joe O'Callaghan. This was the inaugural season of the Townsville Blackhawks in the Queensland Cup, who became the third feeder club of the North Queensland Cowboys. The Pride were eliminated 54–26 in the first week of the finals by the Ipswich Jets, who would go on to win the Queensland Cup. The Pride got off to a poor start, losing the first four rounds, but then began to string some wins together, climbing into the top eight by Round 9. They won 14 games this season, and finished in sixth place, but were eliminated in the first week of the finals, losing 26–54 to the Ipswich Jets, who would go on to win the Grand Final against the new Townsville side.
The Pride lost a wealth of talent to retirement at the end of last season. In 2016 they fielded the youngest team so far, with an average age of 21. While the Pride had some memorable wins, they lost more home games than they won and finished eighth, missing out on the finals series for just the second time. At the end of the season coach Joe O'Callaghan resigned.
Ty Williams succeeded Joe O'Callaghan as coach. The Pride struggled this year, winning only six games, and losing seventeen, including eight losses in a row from Round 11 to Round 19. The Pride, who previously had an unenviable record of wins at home, managed only two victories at Barlow Park. They finished in twelfth place, their worst season to date.
In their second year under coach Ty Williams the Pride won 13 games, an improvement on last year. They finished fourth and qualified for the finals, the first time since 2015. However they were eliminated in the first week of the finals by Easts Tigers. This game was played at Stan Williams Park, the home of Cairns Brothers, as Barlow Park was unavailable.
2019 season
Main article: Northern Pride 2019 season
The Pride's 2019 season was disappointing. While they started the season well, winning their first two games against tough opponents, they went on to lose the next 10 straight, a club record, and finished in twelfth place with just five wins from 23 games. They managed to finish the season in a competitive fashion, pulling off a thrilling comeback to defeat Easts Tigers 18-16 in their last home game, before narrowly falling to Tweed Seagulls 12-10 in the final round.
The season was cancelled after one round due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] The Pride played three pre-season trials, two of which attracted large crowds - the trial against the Blackhawks was a curtain-raiser to the Cowboys v Broncos pre-season trial, and the trial against the Hunters attracted a large ex-pat following. The only match in the regular season was an away game where the Pride lost to Tweed Heads Seagulls. In August and September a special four-team 'Lightning Challenge' competition was held to give the players and fans some rugby league in what was otherwise a very quiet year.
2021 season
Main article: Northern Pride 2021 season
The 2021 Intrust Super Cup was played over 19 rounds.[15] The Northern Pride finished ninth and missed out playing in the finals.
2022 season
Main article: Northern Pride 2022 season
The 2022 Hostplus Cup saw fourteen teams playing 20 rounds. The Northern Pride finished 8th and were knocked out of the finals series in week one, losing 30-22 to the Central Queensland Capras.
2023 season
Main article: Northern Pride 2023 season
The 2023 Hostplus Cup was played over 22 rounds. The Northern Pride finished in seventh place, but were knocked out of the finals series in week one, losing 15-14 to Wynnum Manly Seagulls. Coach Ty Williams retired at the end of the season.
The 2024 Hostplus Cup is the 29th season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. Fifteen teams will play over 23 rounds between March and August, with the finals series played in September.
The Cowboys split their squad of NRL and development list players between their two feeder clubs, the Pride and Mackay Cutters, with players not required for that weekend's NRL fixture heading to their Queensland Cup team.[17]
In 2017, to mark the ten-year anniversary of the Northern Pride, a 'Team of the Decade' was selected. Eligible players had to have played 30 matches for the Pride. The selection panel was Brett Allen, Rhys O'Neill, Pat Bailey, Greg Dowling, Rob White and Bob Fowler. The Team was announced at a Gala Anniversary Dinner on 30 June 2017.
TEAM OF THE DECADE Front-row forwards 8. Ben Laity (2008–2013, 117 games) (prop) – 9. Jason Roos (2008–2015, 164 games) (hooker) – 10. Alex Starmer (2008–2015, 120 games) (prop)
Most points scored for the club: Chey Bird, 574 points (23 tries, 226 goals).
Most points scored in a season: Chey Bird, 216 points (5 tries, 97 goals) 2011 season; Khan Ahwang 206 points in 23 games in the 2016 season (13 tries, 76 goals).
Most tries scored for the club: Brett Anderson, 61 tries.
Most tries scored in a season: Linc Port, 26 tries in 25 games in the 2015 season.
Most tries in a game: 4 tries each by Brett Anderson (2008 v Mackay and again in 2011 v Easts); Tom Humble (2009 v Redcliffe); Linc Port (ROund 25 against CQ Capras in 2015).
Most goals for the club: Chey Bird, 226 goals.
Most goals in a season: Chey Bird, 97 goals, 2011 season.
The five communities of the NPA Region: Injinoo, Umagico, Bamaga, New Mapoon and Seisia, the communities are represented on the five dots on the boomerang.
The five tribes the Traditional Owners of the NPA Anggamuthi, Atambaya, Wuthati, Yadhaykenu and Gudang. The tribes are depicted through the five rivers that stream from the bottom of the boomerang.
The main centrepiece of the design the Torres Strait Headress (Dhari) traditionally known as a Dhibal, is from Saibai Island, which makes up the majority of the TSI population in the NPA which migrated to the NPA throughout the 1940s. The Dhari as a significant importance in TSI culture, the initiation of young men into warriors, celebrated through dance and ceremonies.
The boomerang represents the Aboriginal peoples of the NPA, used in hunting and gathering and significant ceremonies.
2012: Pink socks and pink bootlaces for the Breast Cancer Foundation and Women in League Round, Round 15 played on Saturday 23 June 2012 at Barlow Park against Tweed Heads Seagulls.
2012: Orange jersey for the Round 17 game played on Saturday 14 July 2012 at Alec Inch Oval, Mt Isa against Souths Logan Magpies.
Other sponsors: XXXX; Gilligans Backpacker Hotel and Resort; Pacific Toyota; Cairns District Rugby League; Calanna Pharmacy; Tropic Wings; GATA Plastering; All Seasons Cairns Colonial Club; Cairns Plan Printing; Yalumba Winery.
Between 2008 and 2011, one Queensland Cup match per round was televised free-to-air by ABC TV, with the game shown live across Queensland on ABC1 on Saturday afternoons at 2:00pm (AEST). The commentary team was Gerry Collins, Warren Boland and David Wright. The Pride had 20 matches televised by the ABC.
The weekly televised match was played on Sunday afternoons at 2:00pm (AEST). In 2018, the match was rescheduled to 1:00pm (AEST) on Saturday afternoon, but this time slot was unpopular and ratings fell, and so in 2019 the televised match returned to a 2:00pm (AEST) Sunday time-slot. From 2021 Channel 9 only broadcast finals matches, with the weekly featured match shown on-demand on 9Now, and from 2022 on QPlus.TV and Kayo Free.
Between 2012 and 2018, the Pride had 29 matches televised by Channel 9, with eight of these matched being home games. The first game broadcast from Barlow Park, Cairns was Round 13, Sunday 10 June 2012 against the Pride's traditional rivals Mackay Cutters.
Live streaming
In 2011 the Pride began live-streaming their home games, starting with the last home game of the season (Round 22 against Tweed Heads). For the 2012 season, home games were live-streamed via the Pride website using video distribution service Rivus TV Ltd. Games were free for members to watch, and $5 per game for non-members.[18] From Round 5 2012 away games were streamed through the website as well.[19]
From 2013 to 2016, all matches (including pre-season trials but excluding matches broadcast live by Channel Nine) were streamed live through the Pride website, with access granted exclusively to Pride members.[20] Video production was by Studio Productions and the commentary team was Adam Jackson and Northern Pride Under-18s coach, Cameron 'Spiller' Miller.
In 2022 Sydney based Cluch.tv gained exclusive rights for live-streaming all QRL games; Hostplus Cup, BMD Premiership, Auswide BankMal Meninga Cup, Cyril Connell Challenge, Harvey Norman U19, and Harvey Norman U17. The subscription service operated under the website name Qplus.TV, with Cluch selling a subscription to all games for $4.99 a week or $49.99 a season. In September 2023 Cluch Pty. Ltd. entered voluntary administration with the QRL owed $233,000.
QRL relaunched QPlus.TV at the start of the 2024 season with the same subscription deal. The match of the round is shown free on QPlus, 9Now and Kayo Free.
Blue, Orange
Current season
