The Cairns Post

‘Comfortabl­e’ Pride not pursuing NRL stars

- ROWAN SPARKES rowan.sparkes@news.com.au

NORTHERN Pride coach Ty Williams says he’s happy with the club’s roster and won’t be actively seeking the services of former NRL players to bolster his side before Round 1.

It comes after Intrust Super

Cup rivals Townsville Blackhawks confirmed they were no longer pursuing the services of Cowboys legend Scott Bolton.

Williams said that while club was not chasing Bolton, the door was always open to someone of his calibre.

“The last I heard is Bolto’s hardly recognisab­le,” he said.

“He’s got the big beard and he’s officially got his fisherman licence now, so he’s been doing all that over Christmas.”

“If it does pop its head up with Bolto again, we’d definitely be interested, but at the end of day, when you’ve been at a profession­al level for a long period of time and with a set timetable – he’s a guy that likes to walk the earth and go fishing whenever he wants.

“I think he’s enjoying that freedom at the moment, but if he comes knocking, we’re definitely not going to say no, we’ll have a glance at it.”

Former Cowboy Nene MacDonald has been training at Stan Williams Park, the home of his former CDRL club Brothers, and Williams said the door would remain open.

“I think he’s seeking an NRL contract somewhere at the moment,” Williams said.

“He’s another local guy, if he was interested in coming back to the Northern Pride then we’d definitely have a chat to him, but at the moment I’m pretty comfortabl­e with what we’ve got in the outside backs. We’ve got some class there.

“But if he does decide to have a chat to us, we’ll open the arms up and see what happens out of it.”

 ?? Picture: AAP IMAGE/Dan Himbrechts ?? NEW DEAL: Maroons coach Kevin Walters reflects on last year’s series loss to the New South Wales Blues.
Picture: AAP IMAGE/Dan Himbrechts NEW DEAL: Maroons coach Kevin Walters reflects on last year’s series loss to the New South Wales Blues.

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