TRL duo hard at work
Pride pair enjoys new ‘regime’
RUGBY LEAGUE: Fresh off a blistering 2018 playing in the Toowoomba Rugby League competition, Northern Pride newcomers Hugh Sedger and James Dempsey are ready to take their footy to a new level.
Sedger, 23, who played a leading hand in the Valleys Roosters taking out this year’s TRL premiership, said he was still acclimatising to the Far North’s sweaty summers, but he was eager to make the most of his opportunity.
“The heat’s been a bit of a shock so it’s going to take a while to adjust,” Sedger said.
“Training is on another level when you add that heat component in there.”
Sedger said his goal for 2019 would be to put in a consistent
‘‘ TRAINING IS ON ANOTHER LEVEL WHEN YOU ADD THAT HEAT COMPONENT IN THERE. HUGH SEDGER
showing for the side “week in, week out”.
“There’s a lot of good players in the side at the moment, so hopefully I can sneak my way in there and do whatever (coach Ty Williams) needs me to do.”
Dempsey, 23, joins the Pride development squad from Pittsworth Danes and will line up for Ivanhoes in the Cairns District Rugby League competition.
“It’s good to be training with the main squad and I’m really enjoying the challenge at the moment,” he said.
“Pride five-eighth Jordan Biondi-Odo has helped me out a fair bit at training and everyone’s been really welcoming.”
The two will join fellow Toowoomba junior and “best mate” David Murphy at the club and at home, as the Pride co-captain’s roommates.
Murphy said both players had their own style of play that could benefit the team.
“Hughey plays off-the-cuff a lot,” he said.
“He’s a ball-playing secondrower and he plays what he sees in front of him.
“He’s got a natural instinct for the game, but he also knows how to stick to a game plan too.
“Jimmy, he’s just a competitor. I haven’t seen him play a great deal the past year, but growing up with him he’s always been a freak.
“He’s always been able to do things on the footy field that makes you think ‘how did he do that?’”
Murphy and Dempsey were roommates through most of their time at boarding school at Toowoomba’s Downlands College, while Murphy first met Sedger playing for the local rugby league team in “about Grade 9”.
“We’ve been good mates ever since,” he said.