Edmonton Storm coach speaks as A-grade side forfeits in Far North Queensland Rugby League

Harris said the league will continue to monitor the club’s progress as it tries to rebuild after a brutal 2025 campaign which has seen it lose all 13 of its A-grade games by an average of 50 points.

“We’ll continue to work with the club quite closely. It’s obviously a bit concerning when you’ve got an A-grade club that needs to forfeit,” she said.

“They’ve done a great job up to this point in fronting up with a team every week, and we just want to ensure that is maintained over the final couple of weeks of the season.

“At the same time there’s only so much we can do, the for them is going to be recruiting players which is obviously outside of our purview.

“But we will continue to be supportive as they try to get back on track with a new committee, I know the rest of the clubs in the competition feel similarly.

“It’s not too long ago that (Southern) Suburbs were in a similar spot and they turned it around.”

Storm coach Frank Crathern said the decision to forfeit their A-grade fixture this weekend was “the hardest decision (he) ever had to make.”

Speaking exclusively with this masthead, Crathern said a combination of injuries, suspensions and unavailabilities meant they couldn’t get the required number of players to take on Atherton on Saturday.

He said he expects the club will be able to field a side in future weeks.

“We will be right next weekend though. We just don’t have the depth here like other clubs do at the moment,” Crathern said.

But the Storm coach has vowed to turn things in a positive direction for the 2026 season.

“Next year will be different,” he said.

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“We have had a lot of people walk away from the club, so the plan is to get through these last few weeks and then get back to recruiting again.

“I’ll be calling for all ex-Storm juniors to come back to their old club, we’ve lost too many over the years.

“I have to wear this forfeit and player shortages, but we have some big sponsors coming on board for the coming years that will make a huge difference.”

Originally published as Edmonton Storm coach speaks as A-grade side forfeits in Far North Queensland Rugby League