Power pair reunite at helm of Cyclones seniors
PREMIERSHIP-winning duo Kris Burton and Tonga Lea’aetoa will be reunited after being appointed as Gold Coast Cyclones senior co-coaches.
Burton and Lea’aetoa, former Test rugby internationals for Italy and Tonga respectively, built a dynasty at the Sur- fers Paradise Dolphins that resulted in an ongoing two-season, 37-match winning streak.
However, the latter dropped a bombshell in the offseason by switching to rival club Helensvale. Any perceived tension between the two did nothing to cool the Cyclones’ desire to piece the dream team back together.
“I spoke to both Tonga and Kris before we made the appointments to see how they get on from that one,” said Gold Coast District Rugby Union board member Chris Miles, who had coached the representative outfit last year.
“They’re fine, they’re both very professional and the experience they bring in both forwards and back play is what we are trying to achieve from the Cyclones program this year.
“We want to raise the standards so we can have the best possible coaches with the best support, which will hopefully drive the results forward in that arena.”
Miles said the pair’s success could not be overlooked.
“Both the attack and the defence is something that we looked at very closely and obviously the dominance of the Surfers scrum last year as well,” he said.
“They (Burton and Lea’aetoa) really gave us the whole package in terms of the attacking and the defensive capabilities, which would really attract players to want to hold their hands up at that level.”
Burton acted as Cyclones assistant coach last season.