Rumble champ’s pro tilt
’Tubby’ Heron earns vice-captaincy role
EXPECTATIONS as the defending champion are not deterring Joel Hutchinson, rather they are fuelling him to another Rumble at the Ross victory.
And this could be his final chance to fine-tune his skills before launching a raid on the professional ranks.
In a past life, Hutchinson was on course for a genuine crack at boxing’s plateaus, having been signed to join the Australian Institute of Sport in his early 20s.
Personal issues and a lack of love for how the professional scene operated convinced him to take a hiatus from the sport, but now he is back a very different fighter.
All of that will be on show when he takes on Lewis Chadwick at the Ross Island Hotel tonight.
“I’m a heaps different fighter, I feel like I’m more patient in the ring, not as eager and I don’t let nerves get the better of me,” Hutchinson said.
“(It’s all about) controlled breathing, slowing the heart rate down, it’s a different game.
“I’ve always loved the sport, it was just a matter of taking a break, refreshing yourself and then slowly easing back into it.
“It’s what I did and now we’re going full pelt and I’m loving all of it — training, the lifestyle choices, everything.”
In what is being billed as a grudge match between the pair, Hutchinson is expecting Chadwick to be one of his most gruelling opponents — the perfect test to see whether he is ready to join the professionals in 2021.
Chadwick is set to bring a fast fight to the ring, with a long reach and an outside-boxing style to force Hutchinson into a game plan change from his typical approach.
But the defending Ross Island champion said that only made the forthcoming bout all the more exciting; it was a chance for him to show how adaptable he could be.
He said straight after he was crowned the Rumble at the Ross (part two) victor he was back into training, with his most recent six-week camp the most intense yet.
“Pretty much straight after it I was straight back into it, working on a few things to better my game plan,” Hutchinson said.
“This will be a very tough challenge, he’s a very good fighter, a very good boxer, but I’m always up for the challenge.”
The first fight tonight will begin at 7pm.
NORTH Queensland Football grand final winner MA Olympic has doubled down on its intent in the forward line, adding some impressive firepower as it prepares to tackle history.
The Mundingburra side will open the inaugural women’s Kappa Super Cup against arch rivals Brothers in what is a grand final rematch.
But it will be a new-look MA Olympic taking the field, spearheaded by lethal striker Monika Anderson, who made the off-season switch from
Rebels FC. The former gunner has had a lock on the NQ Football golden boot award in recent seasons and will come straight into the run-on side for Olympic following the departure of Tegan Cox.
It will also be an opportunity for Anderson to drive a dagger into Brothers, with MA Olympic captain Tamsin Brown admitting the club had to fight off its rivals to sign the striker.
“It sounds like there was a lot of player movement over at Rebels and she said she wanted a change,” Brown said.
“She came to a few of our training sessions and a few over at Brothers, but we managed to convince her to stay.
“We lost our striker Tegan and it has opened that striker spot for Monika and she has slotted right into our style, she really gets along with the girls. We are trying to get that real team bond going where we don’t rely on one or two players, we are one unit instead.
“It is good to share that workload around and we have a lot of versatility in our depth, so we have players who can cover multiple positions.”
That versatility will be key for Olympic’s Kappa Cup opener, with the tournament played under unique rules without rolling subs or an unlimited interchange bench.
The Kappa Cup is a national club knockout tournament similar to the men’s FFA Cup, and Brown said it had been a long time coming.
“I am pleased that the women finally have something to rival the FFA Cup,” Brown said.
“The men have had a national knockout for a number of years now, and it is about time the women have one. I feel like if it is something that becomes an annual tournament, it will be good to be part of.
“This is a big grand final rematch, which is not something you expect for the first hit-out, but I believe we are up for the challenge.”
It will a tough test for Olympic with Brown ruled out of the fixture at 1300SMILES Active with a back injury.
The club’s vice-captain, Paige Roncato, is expected to step up to lead the team on the field.
IT might be a scrap of limbs and bodies fighting over the ball, but Leonard Heron believes there is an art to a rugby ruck.
It is why the Burdekin leader is not afraid to put his head where many wouldn’t go to win advantage for his side.
The experienced second-rower is now aiming to pass on his wisdom to the next generation of forwards and it is that leadership that Townsville Brolgas coach Terry Sheills wants to cash in on.
For the first time in his long career, Heron has been included in the Brolgas’ representative leadership team as vice-captain to Josh Fletcher.
The appointment follows the forward taking over the captaincy at Burdekin last season in what has been an eyeopening 12 months.
“I have had to take on more of a leadership role,” he said.
“A lot of our senior
blokes have moved on so it is up to me to teach the younger generations coming through,” Heron said.
“Rugby is not the hardest sport or most technical sport to master, but there are a lot of lessons that I can pass on. There are also the values that you learn on the field which transfer to life off it.
“I am more into that gritty work. I enjoy the going into the rucks, cleaning out and defending hard. I take a bit of pride in my work in the rucks. It is not just guys trying to bash each other, there is a finesse to it.”
The added leadership has not lost the forward any of his aggression on
the field, with Heron still playing with a hard-asnails attitude.
Sheills admitted bringing Heron into the leadership group of the Brolgas had been an easy decision.
“He has been in the group for a while and he is a natural leader on the field. Where ‘ Tubby’ goes, people tend to follow,” he said.
“He is very good at the game and he does a fair bit of leadership at the Burdekin. He is 100 per cent at it all the time. I am not sure he can get any better but if the vice-captaincy gets him going at 110 per cent we will happily take it.”
While there is further selection on the cards for players in the North Queensland representative trials, Heron said his sole focus was getting a result over their Far North Queensland rivals.
With a host of new faces in the Brolgas set-up and a lack of rugby action before the representative clash, it will come down to who wants it the most.
“I am confident everyone will be ready for this. The effort at training has been there, it is now just a case of that effort coming out in the game,” Heron said.
The Townsville Bulletin will exclusively livestream all the action from the North Queensland rugby union representative trials between Townsville and Cairns today.
There will be four games including under-14s girls, under-19s, women’s and men’s, with the action kicking off at 2.30pm.
You can access the live stream, which is exclusive to digital subscribers, by scanning the QR code to the right.