2017 Northern Pride RLFC season

2017 was the tenth competitive season for the Cairns based Sea Swift Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club. They were one of 14 clubs that played in the twenty-first season of Queensland's top rugby league competition, QRL's Intrust Super Cup, with each team playing 11 home games and 12 away games over 25 weeks between March and August.

The sacked CEO Rod Jensen was replaced by Greg Dowling. Dowling had a long playing career, having been a Kangaroo (1984–1987), played for the Maroons in Origin (1984–1987), Wynnum Manly (1981–1985) in the Brisbane Rugby League, Northern Suburbs (1987) in the Winfield State League, the Broncos (1988–1991) in the Winfield Cup, and Wigan Warriors in England RL's Championship and Challenge Cup.

Interim chairman, Terry Mackenroth stood down and was replaced by board member and Cairns real estate agent Tony Williamson.

Feedback from fans convinced the club to return home games to Saturday evenings, as last year's move to 3:00pm on Sunday afternoons was not popular and crowd numbers fell. Home games this year were on Saturday evenings at 5:30pm, except for Round 17, 'Rivalry Round' against Mackay Cutters which was held at 1:40pm on Sunday afternoon and shown live on Channel 9.

Coach Joe O'Callaghan (2015–2016) resigned at the end of last season, and was replaced by Ty Williams, who had played for the Cairns Cyclones in QCup (1999), played for the NRL's North Queensland Cowboys (2002–2010), represented Queensland in State of Origin (2005), and played for the Indigenous All Stars (2008 and 2010). Williams had played 78 games for the Pride (2009–2013), 52 of them as captain (2011–2013). After leaving the Pride, he was captain-coach of CDRL Innisfail Leprechauns, and more recently had been the Lep's coach.

The Pride struggled this year, winning only six games, and losing seventeen, including eight losses in a row from Round 11 to Round 19. The Pride, who previously had an unenviable record of wins at home, managed only two victories at Barlow Park. They finished in twelfth place, their worst season to date.

Team of the Decade
To mark the ten-year anniversary of the Northern Pride, a 'Team of the Decade' was selected. Eligible players had to have played 30 matches for the Pride. The selection panel was Brett Allen, Rhys O'Neill, Pat Bailey, Greg Dowling, Rob White and Bob Fowler. The Team was announced at a Gala Anniversary Dinner on 30 June 2017.

2017 Season - Sea Swift Northern Pride

 * Competition: Intrust Super Cup
 * Sponsor: Sea Swift

Coaches/Trainers

 * Coach: Ty Williams
 * Assistant coach: Sam Obst
 * Assistant coach: Shane O'Flanagan
 * Mal Meninga Cup U-18s coaches: Dave Scott
 * Cyril Connell Cup U-16s coach:
 * Strength and conditioning coach: Jonnie Walker

Captain

 * Ryan Ghietti
 * Jared Allen (Vice-captain)

Managers

 * Administration Manager: Kerri Neil then Lauren Dowling
 * Marketing Officer: Rachael Tierney
 * Team manager: Alan Marsh
 * Assistant manager (Home): Kev Anderson
 * Assistant manager (Away): Murray Stalley
 * Chief executive: Greg Dowling
 * Chairman: Tony Williamson
 * Board of Directors: Colin Moore (CDRL), Ian Lydiard (CDJRL), Troy McGuane, (Cairns Post), Gail Andrejic (finance), Stephen Tillett, Rob White (football), Eleanor Scott (government). Peter Parr (Cowboys)

Squad
The Pride used 31 players this season. Fourteen players from last year signed with the club again, and one of the Cowboys allocation players from last year was assigned to the Pride again this year. Fourteen new players made their debut this season; ten were new signings (Brad Lupi, Connor Jones, Darryn Schonig, Jack Brock, Jack Campagnolo, Kienan Grogan-Hayes, Matthew Musumeci, Shawn Bowen, Troy Kapea and Will Bugden), and four were new Cowboys allocation players (Ben Hampton*, Gideon Gela-Mosby*, Marcus Jensen* and Patrick Mago*). Joel Riethmuller came out of retirement and Graham Clark came back from the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

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Allocated but did not play for the Pride in 2017:

2017 season launch

 * Pre-season training: 7 November 2016.
 * Pre-season boot camp:
 * 2017 Sponsors Launch: 25 February 2017, Whitfield Chapel, Whitfield

2017 player awards
27 August 2017, Brothers World of Entertainment, Manunda
 * Player of the Year: Graham Clark
 * Players' Player: Graham Clark
 * Rookie of the Year: Troy Kapea
 * Best Back: Jordan Biondi-Odo
 * Best Forward: Darryn Schonig
 * Most improved player: Nathan Wales
 * John O'Brien Club Person of the Year: Shane Howton

2017 player records

 * Most Games: Jordan Biondi-Odo (23), Graham Clark (23).
 * Most Tries: Gideon Gela-Mosby* (8), Marcus Jensen* (8)
 * Most Points: Khan Ahwang (80)

2017 representative players

 * 🇮🇹 Ryan Ghietti
 * 🇮🇹 Joel Riethmuller
 * 🇮🇹 Justin Castellaro
 * 🇮🇹 Colin Wilkie

Played for Italy Azzurri in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualification

Northern Pride (regular season 2017)

 * Win = 6 (2 of 11 home games, 4 of 12 away games)
 * Loss = 17 (9 of 11 home games, 8 of 12 away games)

Team of the Decade, 2008–2017
In 2017, to mark the ten-year anniversary of the Northern Pride, a 'Team of the Decade' was selected. Eligible players had to have played 30 matches for the Pride. The selection panel was Brett Allen, Rhys O'Neill, Pat Bailey, Greg Dowling, Rob White and Bob Fowler. The Team was announced at a Gala Anniversary Dinner on 30 June 2017.