Northern Pride prevails against both Wynnum Manly and Townsville Blackhawks

With a scintillating start to the Far North Queensland Rugby League season at Southern Suburbs under his belt, the gun five-eighth earned a call-up to fill the role previously occupied by the likes of Cowboys Tom Duffy and Jake Clifford.

And step up he did, showcasing both his skills as a playmaker and with his damaging right boot.

Frazer nailed all six of his shots at goal, including two conversions from the touchline and two crucial penalty goals which levelled the scores and gave his side the lead in their eventual 28-14 win over ladder leaders Townsville Blackhawks.

“I was happy with how they came off the boot, but end of the day that’s just my role,” Frazer said post-match.

“This wouldn’t be possible without the help out at Suburbs, so I’m just happy to have the opportunity to represent them on this stage.”

Frazer’s Pride coach Russ Aitken said he was “stoked” about the contributions Frazer had been able to make in his two appearances so far.

“To come in and play your second game of Cup in the local rivalry, I think he handled it really well,” Aitken said.

“He’s a competitor is ‘Jim,’ he just goes out there and tries to make an impact.

“We’ve debuted a few locals this year, which is great and it’s what this club is about.

“To see him put in that performance, I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Perfect Pride: Women secure first win on home soil

In one of the most important days in club history, Northern Pride’s men’s and women’s teams have risen to the occasion, prevailing in both clashes at Barlow Park.

The BMD Premiership side hosted its first-ever fixture on home soil, and in front of a packed house was able to dispense the Wynnum Manly Seagulls 20-14.

While the Pride conceded the opening try of the game within 90 seconds, they responded quickly, with Sian Williams rising up to snare a chip kick and ground the ball for the women’s first home try just minutes later.

From there the Pride were dominant, controlling possession and territory as Stephanie Mooka crossed just minutes later to give her side the lead.

The women were able to keep their opposition at bay, scoring two second-half tries while keeping the Seagulls scoreless until the final seconds of the half.

“I’m very happy for them, from the minute we lost our round 2 game against Clydesdales our whole focus was our defence,” Pride women’s coach Colin Wilkie said.

“It really showed (on Saturday night), the things they’ve been working on in training were put into practice.”

The side’s captain Jenni-Sue Hoepper said she was proud of how the entire squad battled through adverse conditions.

“These conditions made it a tough one, but it just feels surreal to get that first win on home soil,” Hoepper said.

“We stuck in there for the full game and really gave it our best shot. All the hard work we put in is starting to pay off now.”

Both Hoepper and Wilkie said their focus was on putting on a performance that their supporters could celebrate.

“To do it at home is a bit of icing on the cake,” Hoepper said.

“This is for (the fans), the support we’ve had is amazing and to have family and friends be here to celebrate this win with us is special.”

Wilkie concurred, saying his group was well aware of the importance of this game.

“The build up to this has been weeks and weeks in the making. As the players ran out I was up in the box behind the glass, but I could still hear the support and the crowd getting behind them,” he said.

“It certainly wasn’t lost on the players what this meant, we spoke prior about enjoying this moment.

“The amount of young girls and female players here that turned up to watch, that’s what this is all about.”

Wilkie also took the chance to get some new blood in the mix, with Caitlin Wark donning the colours for the first time, and paying back that faith with a second-half try which ultimately put the game to bed.

“I was shocked with how it opened up for me, I thought I’d take an opportunity while there was something going on in the ruck, and it just opened up way more than I expected. I’ll take it though,” Wark said.

“We put in a lot of effort and backed each other in, that’s what got us through.

“It’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point, a lot of commitment and sacrifices have been made.

“This isn’t my home, but with the support and family and friends around me it definitely feels like it now.”

Pride men secure biggest win of 2025

It’s not an understatement to say that Russ Aitken’s men produced their best win of what has been an up and down 2025 campaign, defeating the top of the table Townsville Blackhawks 28-14 in the perfect ending to a great day for the club.

The match was preceded by a vale and moment’s silence for club legend John Moore who passed away last week.

Once the teams hit the field there were no punches pulled, with the Pride able to gain decent territory with hit ups, eventually breaking through via centre Esom Ioka to take a 6-0 lead.

“(It was an) important game for us in the context of the season and we didn’t shy away from that in the lead-up,” Aitken said.

“You don’t really need to motivate the boys with a build up like this, they know what it means.

“It put us in a real good spot to compete, we were a bit down on troops with not a lot coming back from the Cowboys.

“Plus losing our captain (Nick Lui-Toso) to a fractured eye socket during the week, there was a lot of effort put in especially defensively.”

But as the first half wore on, some mistakes started to creep in, and the Blackhawks were more than ready to capitalise as they scored three tries in just over 10 minutes to take a 14-6 lead into the main break.

“Later in that first half we put too much pressure on ourselves, early on we looked way better than them when we were playing to our strengths,” Aitken said.

“We made some bad errors that are non-negotiable, cannot happen at this level, and as a result we were giving them back the footy.”

The Pride responded to the challenge in the second half, with strong defence turned into attack via Dane Aukafolau, with the margin trimmed back to just two points.

But it was the right boot of five-eighth James Frazer – making his home debut for the Pride – which would prove crucial, as he nailed all four of his conversion attempts, plus two penalty goals, to put his side in the strongest possible position.

Fullback Jarrett Subloo crossed the line in the final 10 minutes to give his side an eight-point buffer, before Ioka secured an intercept and score to put the icing on the cake.

Aitken said the overall context of the day, between the Far North Queensland Rugby League’s women’s Magic Round, the BMD side’s first win on home soil, and the commemoration of the life of John Moore, made the moment that much more special.

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“There was a big celebration for the women’s game and deservedly so,” he said.

“The vale for John was very important, his impact on this club cannot be underestimated. We honoured him with a minutes silence, but I think we also honoured him with our performance out on the field.

“It was a big day for the club, capped off with two huge wins.”

Originally published as Northern Pride prevails against both Wynnum Manly and Townsville Blackhawks