Sheppard wants to put spark back into rivalry
WHEN it comes to representing his region, Chris Sheppard has just about done it all.
Whether it was with his beloved Mareeba Gladiators in the CDRL, the Cairns Cyclones and Northern Pride in the QRL, or the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL, the retired playmaker knows all too well what it means to represent his home region on a footy field. With his experience in such a domain, Sheppard was this week announced as new head coach of the Cairns Foley Shield side, replacing former Cowboys and Pride teammate Ben Rauter.
Growing up in an era when Cairns, Townsville and Mackay footballers despised one another, Sheppard said he was looking forward to being part of regional rugby league’s greatest rivalry yet again.
“You always want your area to win and do the best,”Sheppard said.
“All the way through juniors, we always played Cairns, Townsville and Mackay and you were always looking to show your area was on top.”
The time-honoured rugby league tradition was discontinued from 2011 to 2016, before making its triumphant return in 2017, with Townsville taking the spoils.
Last year, it was Mackay that came out on top.
The last time Cairns raised the Foley Shield was in 2008 – a statistic that Sheppard was aware of.
“We haven’t won it for a couple of years but we weren’t far off it last year, so I reckon we’ve got a good shot,” he said.
“No doubt we’ll get in and have a crack at it this year.”
Breathing life into the bygone rivalry, Sheppard said he wasn’t buying into Mackay’s claims that they had the state’s strongest competition outside of the southeast corner.
“Talk’s cheap,” he said. “We’ll see what happens when we get on the field.
“There’s no shortage of talent up here, it’ll just be about getting the boys to play to a bit of a game plan and really utilise our strengths, because we are quite unique in how we play footy up this way.”