Sport
16 December, 2025
Avenue opens for young Roosters
IN a first for any regional north Queensland footy club, the Atherton Roosters have entered into a special, ongoing partnership with the North Sydney Bears to open up an important avenue for talented young players.
The local club has joined forces with the Bears to develop an annual incentive program that will allow the Roosters U19 Player of the Year the opportunity to train with the senior squad for two weeks.
The first players to participate will be Jackson Clark and Sawyer Nehow, who were both named Player of the Year for the 2025 season. The pair will travel to Sydney in February next year for the specialist training program.
The North Sydney Bears is a feeder club for the Perth Bears, which is set to make its NRL debut in 2027.
Roosters Under 19s coach Andrew Venables said the program opened up important avenues for regional players.
“The club is excited about the initiative and the opportunity it gives our younger players, especially considering the Perth Bears will soon be entering into the NRL,” he said.
“It’s very hard up here because we don’t have the same school systems as what they’ve got down in the metro areas. So the players up here need every additional pathway opened up for them that they can possibly get.
“To go down and train for two weeks with North Sydney, which is essentially where the Perth Bears are coming from, they get to live and breath what it’s like to be full-time footballers. It’s going to be really good for them.
“Both players are training hard to put their best foot forward when they attend and they’re excited to gain valuable experience and insights from training at that next level.
“The exposure this will create for our U19 players each year is extremely exciting, especially for those wishing to join the club and participate in our program in 2026 and beyond.”
He also said it was the first program of its kind for any regional North Queensland club.
“As far as I know, no one else has got anything like this. Every club feeds into the (Northern) Pride here, but I don’t know of anything specific where the Player of the Year gets to go and test themselves at a higher level,” Venables said.
“The link with the Pride is really, really important and that’s our first port of call, but it’s good to have something additional as well.”
There’s even an opportunity for the young guns to play in a trial game for the North Sydney team if they perform well enough during the two-week stint.
Venables said these are exciting times for young rugby league players on the Tablelands.
“There’s obviously players that’ll feed through to a higher level locally, but there could be a kid that doesn’t make it locally but picks up Player of the Year and he gets this opportunity,” he said.
“I just think there are so many good footballers coming out of Atherton and Mareeba, but we just seem to be on the fringes, so I think this is a really great opportunity for all these kids.”
The Roosters look forward to seeing what opportunities come from this new partnership.
