FOOTY’S BACK
Brothers junior rugby league players Ben and Ryan Callaghan are pumped up for the start of the 2018 NRL season with the opening match between the Broncos and Dragons kicking off tonight.
FOOTY fanatics across the Far North have dusted off their jerseys in anticipation of the beginning of the 2018 NRL season.
The Brisbane Broncos and St George Illawarra Dragons will go head-to-head in the season opener tonight at Jubilee Oval, Sydney.
But most Far North Queenslanders are gearing up for tomorrow night’s clash between the Cowboys and Wests Tigers at 1300 SMILES Stadium.
Friday’s game will also mark a significant milestone for Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston.
He will become the club’s most capped Cowboy (271 games, surpassing Matt Bowen’s 270-game record) and reach an outstanding 300 NRL games.
Cairns Brothers president Paul Fowler said he was looking forward to the start of the 2018 NRL season, following a team that may surprise some local fans.
“I go for the Canberra Raid- ers,” Mr Fowler said. “It’s a bit of a random one – I was born and bred up here but when I really started getting into it and following the competition they were the successful team at the time.
“Even my nephew who’s 18 years old now follows the Melbourne Storm.
“There’s a lot of people up here that go for different clubs because the Cowboys weren’t around back then.”
But aside from the NRL, Mr Fowler said he was also looking forward to another Cairns District Rugby League season.
“We’re looking OK,” he said.
“Training kicked off in early January so the blokes have all been getting put through their paces.
“All in all it was a successful season last year and our aim is to get the reserves into the grand final and the A-grade side as well.”
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CAIRNS Brothers Rugby League Club president Paul Fowler says a purpose-built stadium in Cairns is long overdue.
Mayor Bob Manning last week revealed the concept of a Cairns-PNG NRL bid had been entertained, with plans to meet with NRL CEO Todd Greenberg and ARLC chairman Peter Beattie to find out what a serious bid would entail.
But a purpose-built rectangular stadium in Cairns has been labelled a necessity if the council was to launch the joint NRL team bid.
“In any case if there’s an NRL team up here or not, I think a stadium that can sit a crowd and have a state league game or an NRL game is definitely needed,” Mr Fowler said.
“Barlow Park is just not good enough.
“We don’t need something that seats 25,000 people, I think we need a 5000-10,000 seat stadium maximum.
“It would make a real good atmosphere and I think soccer would appreciate it too. You also need to do something for the spectators, a stadium would get the supporters there too.”
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch has also backed the idea of Cairns’ first stadium, saying the council should earmark a site for its long-desired sporting area so the Federal Government could fund it.
“It’s absolutely critical we get a stadium up here as we realise the vision of becoming the fourth tropical athlete conditioning centre in the world behind Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore,” he said.