Sport
2 December, 2024
New faces lift club’s confidence
PREPARATION for the Mareeba Gladiators 2025 season is officially underway as the club held its first pre-season training session and announced several new faces within the squad, including two recent Northern Pride players.
The Gladiators turned out to a training session at Mareeba CrossFit last week, and were in good hands, with world-renowned fitness coach Shane Orr heading the workout.
“We had a good turnout of about 30 blokes. I think they built into it nicely and engaged really well with Shane’s speech on mental fitness,” co-coach Trent Barnard said.
“It was a pretty tough first session, but they all got through it together which was good to see.
“You could see the natural leaders of the group helping the ones who were struggling a bit push through, and that’s part of the culture we’re trying to establish within the team.
“The feedback from the boys was that it was really tough but also good, and that they can’t wait for the next one, so that’s some pretty positive news there,” he said.
Shane Orr is an old boarding school friend of A Grade co-coach Tom Hughes, and in his new role at the Mareeba club, Hughes asked a favour of his “old buddy” to come in and help set his team up for success.
Shane is also the coach, and husband, of seven-time CrossFit Games winner Tia-Clair Toomey and is a passionate performance coach within the CrossFit world. He was also the coach of Mat Fraser for a period of time, who was the first male athlete to have won five CrossFit Games titles, winning from 2016-2020 consecutively.
The A-Grade Gladiators side will be completing a two-month CrossFit program before beginning field sessions in early January.
The club’s new signings to date include four players from Cairns, one from Kuranda and one from Atherton, a young local who has returned home, and a familiar face who is returning after five years.
Among the new signings are Whyatt Barnes and Ash Little, two former Northern Pride players who were part of the 2024 squad.
According to Barnard, Barnes will bring a lot of experience to the team and is someone who the club and community will “get behind”.
“I was keen for a bit of a change, I was at my previous club for 20 years and I think change is always good,” Barnes said.
“I’m looking forward to this season, I think it’s going to be really exciting.”
Ash Little has also made his way to the Mareeba club after retiring from the front row position of the Northern Pride at the end of this year’s season.
“It was pretty exciting when I heard that he was thinking about retiring and wanted to have another year or two back at his local club,” Barnard said.
“He’s definitely a great signing for the club, and I think we’ll have a good shot at doing our community proud this year with all the other signings we’ve made.”
Tommy Waianga and Alphonse Bulkua are the other two players who hail from Cairns. Waianga is a “speedy” outside back and Bulkua plays hooker.
“Tommy is just coming into his career, he’s a freak of a player and he’s finally made his way into the A Grade system,” Barnard said.
“He’s one of those players that can score tries from anywhere, so to have him added into our backline with his skills and speed, it excites me a fair bit.”
Bulkua is another player who the club is “very excited” to have on board.
“They had a lot of depth in my position at my old club and so I came here for the opportunity to play in my number,” Bulkua said.
“I’m excited to start training with these boys and am keen for the season to get underway.”
Kris Verevis-Brim is a talented Kuranda local who will be taking his best shot to secure a position in the senior side.
“He reached out to us wanting to have a real crack at A Grade, and he’s just one of those natural footy players where if you get him fit and fired, he’s pretty exciting to watch,” Barnard said.
“He can slot in just about anywhere for us, whether that be in the middle or in the halves.”
Wes Walker is also an exciting prospect who reached out to the club after wanting a change from his previous club in Atherton.
“He’s another exciting outside back and he works really hard on his game,” he said.
“I’m really excited for what he can bring too, he can play in a few different positions, he knows how to score and he’s really solid defensively.”
After last playing for the Gladiators about five years ago, “human wrecking ball and crowd favourite” Aparama Vulavou, or Abe, will be making his return to the club in 2025.
“After me and Tommy got the (coaching) job, we heard Abe was back in town, so Tommy went and caught up with him and he ended up signing with us,” Barnard said.
“He’s a big body, he’s strong and powerful, and I think he’ll prove pretty hard to handle in the backline.”
Life Junior player Bryce Fincham has also signed with the club for the 2025 season after finishing school in Townsville and moving home.
Fincham is a young talent who has already gained much experience in rugby league through various representative duties.
The club is still looking to sign a few more prospects, with conversations taking place over the coming weeks.
In addition to the many new signings, the club has also committed to several re-signings of local talent including Hubert Elu, Trezman Banjo, Keripo Gutchen-Gela, Ian King, Kyle Hastie, “Bash Brothers” Caleb and Reece Dally, Tyrone Williams, Kim Shadrick, Reece Boyle and Kyan Sheppard.
