JASON, 49, IS HAPPY TO PROP UP THE EAGLES
RETIRED Gold Coast Eagles coach Jason North has returned to the club’s first grade team in its hour of need but in a vastly different position to the one he left.
The 49-year-old stepped away from coaching the club in 2019 but made his shock return on Saturday to start in the Eagles’ front-row as a player.
Shallow front-row depth at the club forced coach Jai Johnson to put out an SOS to North, who helped lead the Eagles club rebirth in 2009.
After a 20-minute stint in last week’s trial against Palm Beach Currumbin, North played 50 minutes in the club’s win over Bond Pirates on Saturday.
“I’m feeling a bit sore ” he admitted.
“It’s been a couple of years since I last played first grade rugby, which was probably back in 2015.
“What’s brought me back is to help the club out.
“Jai has been searching hard for players to cover the front-row so just for the next couple of weeks I’m there to make up the numbers.
“I wasn’t expecting to start on Saturday.”
North said the chance to share a celebratory beer with the old and new faces in the Eagles side had made the bumps and bruises worth it.
He surprised even himself with how well his body had recovered from a mammoth shift.
It was almost the perfect return to the Gold Coast’s top flight of rugby but for one missing ingredient, he said.
“It would have been nice to get a meat pie,” North said.
“For me I was just trying to make sure my teammates didn’t look like fools by me playing alongside them.
“I had to really stand up and put my body on the line so no one would think they’d be better off without me.”
North will continue on in first grade until his services are no longer required, which he hopes will prove the case in a few weeks time.