The Mornington Island Raiders last played a game six months ago in Normanton, where they made a strong return to rugby league.
It was a respectful loss to mid-west powerhouse, Normanton Stingers. Since then the team continued to train with next to no resources. All the players committed to getting to training with no transport, and the team had very little support in the form of sponsorship.
The jerseys were provided by Queensland Health in a project where all the players completed a health check. In partnership with QRL, all players and officials were registered.
When the opportunity came up to go to Georgetown to play the Etheridge Boars the Raiders were determined to make the trip.
The Normanton players promised each other they will follow their hopes and dreams and have no excuses when representing their community in the sport they love.
The Raiders squad has a phrase they use when things get tough. “We swim against the current”. This saying resonates with the young men, and they all agreed that they must put in their best performance for their families back home.
The oval at Georgetown looked fantastic. The game kicked off just as the oppressive daytime heat subsided and a cool breeze entered the arena. The residents of the region supported the game with a healthy crowd creating a wonderful atmosphere for the first rugby league game to be played in the town in decades.
The Etheridge Boars capitalised on some early mistakes from the over enthusiastic Raiders, to take an early 8-0 lead.
It was quite apparent their larger opponents had a simple but effective game plan to run through the middle of the young Raiders.
The Raiders went in to the game with one of the smallest forward packs on offer and it showed in the early stages. However the Raiders had the speed advantage and Andre Roughsey ran a hard unders line, and went through the available gap to score. Frank- John Amini converted, to take the score to 8-6 at quarter time.
An entertaining second quarter saw a try and conversion to each team with Etheridge taking a 14-10 lead into the second half.
The high intensity match continued to see-saw in the third quarter, the Raiders defended bravely, but couldn't hold out the bustling Boars, who finished the third quarter ahead 20-16.
The final quarter was highly entertaining with the Raiders were looking to chase points, and made one mistake too many which led to three quick Boars tries and as time expired Etheridge came out winners 32-22.
It was a brave effort from the Raiders with everyone contributing to a solid performance in some way. The community should be proud of their team.
After the game the team presented some Boomerangs made by local artist John Williams to the Etheridge Shire Council, who kindly donated significant funding to get the Raiders squad to the game.
At the after match function, the Raiders put on an impromptu Mornington Island dance performance which had the local crowd mesmerised and was the icing on the cake on what was a special evening of sport and culture.
Rugby League is a passion on Mornington Island, it has the ability to have a broader positive impact on community life beyond the white lines and goalposts.