Sport
14 February, 2022
Rugby league set for big return in 2022
THE 2022 rugby league season is gearing up as both the Atherton Roosters and Mareeba Gladiators have announced their trial match dates due to kick off in March.
The town rivals will face off against each other on Roosters turf on 12 March at Atherton’s Mungalli Creek Dairy Stadium but other trial matches are booked in before their fated face off.
Gladiators will first host Ivanhoes at Davies Park on 5 March while the Roosters will be taking on the Herbert River Crushers out of the Townsville competition on the same date in Ingham.
Afterwards the Roosters are hosting a round robin match day, inviting both the Edmonton Storm and Cairns Brothers to Roosters Territory on 19 March.
The 2022 premiership competition draw has been released to start with round one on March 26 and sees the Mareeba Gladiators away to Suburbs at Gordonvale while the Atherton Roosters play the Leprechauns at Innisfail.
Local rugby league is now under a new structure following the introduction of a significant off field progress that will improve the administration of the game in one of the state’s strongest areas.
Affiliated members of the Cairns District Rugby League agreed, in November, that the adoption of an independent governance model would be in the best interest of the game across far north Queensland.
This decision resulted in the closure of the CDRL, with all eleven senior clubs and the referees association now affiliated members of Far North Queensland Rugby League(FNQ RL).
The newly established entity is now governing all competitions across Cairns and districts, spanning from Cardwell to Mossman and west to Ravenshoe.
The move to formalise a streamlined administration is aligned to the key governance recommendations from Sport Aus, in which the Queensland Rugby League is endorsing throughout its competitions state wide.
Meanwhile, the Atherton Senior Roosters continue to tighten their links with the local junior club’s and held Thursday nights training run in Ravenshoe at the Tigers JRL ground where the junior players trained with the senior squad.
This will now be a regular highlight on the Roosters program and training will be held at the Malanda JRL a few weeks time.
The Roosters have been back in training since early December for all grades and this year’s squad will boast a lot of experienced players along with many talented local youngsters from all corners of the Tablelands.
Among the seasoned campaigners is Senior Roosters 2021 First Grade Player of the Year Glenn Dumbrell who has resigned for another season and was a standout in the competition last year.
Dumbrell had his first year at Atherton last season after moving north from Wagga Wagga and is predicting a strong showing from the Roosters in the year ahead.
“We have assembled a very quality group with plenty of energy and I am confident there will be plenty of success this year,” Dumbrell said.
“The hard work is being put in at training and if we keep this going the rewards will follow.”
