PAYNE THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET IN TRIALS
BROTHERS strike centre John Cullen is adamant he has taken a major step toward his dream of playing in the NRL and he isn’t about to waste the opportunity.
Cullen is one of a group of top-line Townsville District Rugby League guns who have been asked to start pre-season at the Mendi Blackhawks next month.
For Cullen, who moved to Townsville five years ago in hopes of furthering his rugby league career, it was a realisation of years of hard work.
“I can’t believe it to be honest,” he said.
“I moved up from Canberra to explore my opportunity up here, getting to Queensland Cup was the goal.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy because I was an unfamiliar face, I hadn’t been asked to come up.
“But I wanted to give it a crack. I had to create some form for myself in local footy.
“I was pretty happy with the last two seasons I had with Brothers. I felt like I have developed as a player under Roy (Baira). His coaching style has really worked for my game.
“I don’t have any expectations, I want to give it my best and put my best foot forward.”
Blackhawks coach Aaron Payne has thrown down the gauntlet to the group after he and his staff hand-picked the best eight players from the TDRL to come in.
T h e group includes fellow B r o t h e r s p r e m i e r s h i p winner Faron Morris, Herbert River trio Aaron Adcock, Oscar Carter and Mitchell Grimes as well as Marcus Nona (Western Lions), Dylan Hastie (Charters Towers Miners) and David Munro (Centrals Tigers).
Each player will start on a train and trial deal but Payne was adamant he wanted to extend as many as he could through to the end of pre-season.
“I will have a good chat to them around our expectations and what I am looking for and if those guys impress us, not just me but our staff, there is scope for that to be e x t e n d e d , ” Payne said. “We are a club that wants to give people in the TDRL an opportunity to play at that higher level. We sort of hand-picked the best eight players in the competition and invited them along to train with us. If they want to be professional and want to be committed then we will be happy to have them in permanently.
“That is what we are here for, to give blokes an option to still keep progressing their career and play at those higher levels and even get themselves on NRL radars.”
Payne said he had worked with both Morris and Carter in the Cowboys under-20s program, and looked forward to getting the pair under his tutelage again.
The Blackhawks have also asked a host of young players from the A Grade clubs to come in and train in their under-21s ranks as well as the club attempts to rebuild its roster in the off-season.
“Having so many blokes retire at the end of last season and we haven’t signed many players as yet, it has allowed us to bring in a big group of outside players,” Payne said.
“It is a real opportunity for these blokes. I would be reluctant to pinpoint anyone I am excited to watch, they all earned an opportunity through their form in the season. “They have all really impressed me.”