Nona takes on familiar faces

FORMER Northern Pride premiership winner Shaun Nona will mark his return to the Intrust Super Cup with Wynnum-Manly against his former club in Bamaga today.

The Tully junior, who led the Pride to the 2014 ISC and NRL State Championship titles, was in the Dragons’ NRL system but, after being told he was not in their future plans, looked to return to Queensland.

Nona suffered a shoulder injury in his last game for Dragons feeder club Illawarra Cutters before joining the Seagulls prior to the June 30 deadline but will conveniently come back to the field against his old club.

The 26-year-old spoke to the Pride about a possible return home but the lure of training with the Brisbane Broncos, where his former coach Jason Demetriou is an assistant, for the rest of the season was too good to pass up.

“The opportunity came up there to finish the season, which I was very excited about,” Nona said. “I spoke to my partner and we decided to move closer to home.

“I’m enjoying my time at Wynnum and the Broncos and we’ll see what comes of that.”

The Seagulls No.7 said it couldn’t have worked out better to return against some familiar faces.

“I’ve still got a lot of good mates at the club and I still have a lot of respect for the club for giving me the opportunity at this level,” Nona said. APPARENTLY you can get a good crayfish burger in Bamaga.

That’s all Tom Hancock remembers about his last trip up the Cape.

At least he knows where he’s going.

Patrick Mago thought he was going “down south somewhere” for Country Week.

Hancock thought that was