Blackhawks lose key pair

Club confident young guns will fire in 2021

TOWNSVILLE Blackhawks star Jake Marketo will not return to the club next season, as he seeks to bring his off-field endeavours to the forefront.

Since joining the green outfit, Marketo has drawn on his 51 games of NRL experience with the St George-illawarra Dragons to establish himself as a leader of the side, forming a crucial cog in one of the Intrust Super Cup’s most fearsome forward packs.

But the 31-year-old will pack his bags and move with his partner to the Sunshine Coast, where his work as a youth officer will take priority.

Hooker Krys Freeman is another who will call time on his Townsville days, while Temone Power is still undecided on where his football pursuits lie after moving back to Bowen.

Blackhawks football operations manager Adrian Thomson said the company Marketo works for was based in Maroochydore, and with family down that neck of the woods he made the decision to focus on pursuits away from rugby league.

He said the outgoing pair would be greatly missed, but there was plenty of life and leadership still in the squad to be a serious 2021 contender.

“He (Marketo) is really enjoying that life, to have that role after he gets to the end of his footy he’s looking forward to cementing that,” Thomson said. “Both (Marketo and Freeman) are experienced guys and both those guys have been instrumental in leading us each year.

“(But) we’ve got a lot of confidence in the young blokes we’ve got coming through so we don’t anticipate having to look outside our club to fill gaps.”

While the two key figures will leave the club, they have been boosted by the signing of Cameron King and the return of Shaun Nona.

Their signatures will ensure competition for spots is intense as 2021 preparations heat up, with former Cowboy Josh Chudleigh already donning the No. 9 jumper, and Jaelen Feeney forming a formidable halves pairing with Kyle Laybutt.

Thomson said despite King’s NRL calibre and Nona’s history in the Queensland competition, they would have to earn their spots through form, not reputation.

“He rang us and approached us because he wanted to move back to Townsville, we weren’t chasing Kingy he just adds (to help) that loss of experience,” he said.

“His partner is from Townsville, they’ve had a young bub and she wanted to move closer to family and it suited him.

“(But) Josh Chudleigh is one of our main leaders and in my personal opinion he’s the best player in the Qcup.”