NEWMAN SETS SIGHTS ON NEAFL

A CRACK at NEAFL-level football beckons for 2018 Crathern Medal winner Joel Newman with a new job on the Gold Coast luring the Cairns Saints midfielder following the current AFL Cairns season.

The 20-year-old proved to be a humble and popular winner of the competition’s best and fairest award on Sunday night, finishing on 19 votes, one clear of teammate Jack Philp, a player Newman says he has modelled his game on since arriving at Griffiths Park.

After spending around 18 months living in the Far North, Newman has recently accepted a new job on the Gold Coast with AFL Queensland and will relocate following Saturday’s grand final against Port Douglas.

The Townsville junior spent time with the Gold Coast Suns academy in his teenage years but never relocated permanently, with the knock on his playing style being his kicking, an aspect of his game he has worked tirelessly on.

“I played good footy down on the Coast when I was a teenager and all the coaches and scouts were happy with me,” Newman said. “But, it is the thing that has always bugged me – my kicking skills.

“I have worked really hard on it and I have had a bunch of different people work on it with me.

“It has got better, I feel I kick well long distance but is just the short ones that my accuracy can miss with.”

With an improved kicking action and mature demeanour, the on-baller will head south and chase an opportunity in the semi-professional NEAFL.

“I am really looking forward to playing a higher standard of footy, we have a really high standard here in Cairns, but there will be better depth in the competition down there,” he said.

“A new challenge will be good for me.”

Newman finished Saturday’s preliminary final in a sling with a sore collarbone but is confident he will be right to play in the grand final.

Newman is the first Saint to win the highest prize in Far North football since champion goal-kicker Matthew Walsh won it in 2013, with fellow Saint Brenton Powell claiming it the year before.

The award is named after Kevin Crathern, who passed away in 2001, and was the founder of the Cairns Australian Football League in 1955.