Raiders propose a toast to new players
SAMUEL DAVIS PORT Douglas Reef Raiders have turned casual Sunday drinking sessions into impromptu recruiting drives with players marching up and down Macrossan Street in search of new teammates.
Like all good ideas, captain Dylan Leahy said the thought occurred to him while sipping a golden ale at one of the tourism town’s many well-frequented bars.
“You’ll think I’m joking but that’s pretty much exactly what we’ve been doing,” Leahy said.
“We were sitting outside Paddy’s and had a few quiet beers when we just started approaching people.
“We snagged two people just doing that. Even the local copper said he’d come down.”
The Raiders will have a distinctly South American flavour this weekend when they take on last year’s grand finalists the Southside Crusaders at home in round four of the FNQ Rugby competition.
After noticing a trio of Argentinian backpackers playing soccer on the Raiders field before training, Leahy suggested that, rather than leave, they join in.
“It’s great because they all play (rugby) back home,” Leahy said.
“We scored ourselves a pretty handy half-back out of it. He’s quick and has a nice kick on him.”
Port Douglas are yet to win a game this season but Leahy said his charges’ effort at train- ing had been outstanding. “The thing I’ll say about our boys is there’s a lot of heart and no attitude or arrogance,” he said. “The guys just want to play rugby and it’s so much fun.
“Because we’re such a new team, what I’ve been trying to instil in the boys is trust.”
In other matches, JCU Mariners take on Brothers, the ladder-leading Barron-Trinity Bulls face Wanderers and the Northern Beaches Mudcrabs play Penrhyn Sharks.