Teamwork key to maintaining winning culture: Seri
HERBERT River leader Mitch Seri reckons there is one key factor behind the Crushers’ dominance of the last decade.
The boys from Ingham have dominated the Townsville District Rugby League making the grand final in three out of the past four years.
It comes down to the club’s culture, according to Seri.
“Probably to be fair, if you looked at our players as individuals and were to pick a rep team there’s probably not many blokes that you’d pick,” Seri said. “But as a team we just work really well together. We’ve just got this attitude and mentality of just not letting the bloke down beside you.
“We’ve just got this culture that has been ingrained in the club for a long time now of turning up, rolling your socks up, footy is not always the prettiest game but we do tend to get into the dogfight and that’s where we play our best.”
While they proudly display the premiership from 2016, the Crushers have notably struggled in the big dance. They were blown off the park in last year’s decider, going down 42-10 to fierce rivals Brothers.
It is a loss that still weighs heavily on the Crushers.
“If you look at that Brothers team that convincingly beat us in the finals, if you look at the players man for man, we are not as big, not as strong, not as fast.”
Seri believed it was a credit to the organisation that Brothers runs off the field as much as on the field.
With the leagues club going strong, it has allowed a handy revenue stream going into the Townsville club.
“That’s the way it is … Brothers are an exceptional club and have been for a long time, not only their football side, their business side, they do things extremely well and we take our hats off to them, they are probably the benchmark throughout Queensland and possibly even Australia.”
Seri said he was relishing the prospects of going head to head with the arch foes, with the sides drawn to face off in
Townsville in the TDRL second round.
It will be the first time former Blackhawks outside back Wayne Ulugia returns to the field at Jack Manski Oval, after he signed with the Crushers in the off-season.
Former Northern Pride lock Mitch Grimes will also pull on the orange this season in an attempt to bolster Herbert River’s forward pack.
Damien Devietti will captain the side while Seri coaches the team and steers them from halfback.