Sport
26 April, 2025
Foley Shield squads named
THE battle for North Queensland supremacy is on, with Cairns squads named for the 2025 Foley Shield as they look to reclaim the title from rivals Townsville.
Two teams of 33 men and 29 women have been selected to represent Cairns in the 2025 Foley Shield and attempt to bring the title back home after a double win by Townsville in 2024.
Both teams only have four to five training sessions before they head off to Townsville for the competition from May 3 to 6. The final teams travelling to Townsville will be announced on Monday.
This year’s men’s team will be coached by former Kangaroos and seasoned Northern Pride pathways coach Michael White and the women’s team will be coached once again by Peri Creamer who are hoping for a better result in 2025.
“This is my first time coaching the squad for the Foley Shield, so I’m very humbled and excited for the opportunity,” Mr White said.
“We have a very diverse range of rugby league players from different backgrounds and diversity which is a strength, some are born and bred in FNQ, some are new to the area, but there’s a good mix.
“We have limited training. We only have four to five sessions before we head down to Townsville. We’ve had two sessions so far and I’m just sorting and looking at what the players are doing and looking for attributes like discipline and attitude.
“The quicker the team comes together and bonds together as best as we can, hopefully that will put us in a good place to be as competitive as we can be.
“The focus will be on our attitude and provide a culture where the players look after each other and when it comes to game time that they’ll be working really hard.
“On the technical side I won’t be teaching them much more than what they already know, just working on some basic principles on how they defend together and how we attack, keeping it fairly simple. The simpler, the better we can go at it.”
Although the Cairns women’s team has never won the Foley Shield, coach Peri Creamer is hoping the young blood of the squad can lead them to victory.
“We’re very capable of doing it (winning). It’s a matter of travelling, playing, recovering, getting a good night's sleep and starting again. Everything has to fall into one,” he said.
“This is my second and last time coaching for Foley Shield.
In the past we haven’t had the best result, so I’m hoping we can do better, be more cohesive, more competitive.
“I have a good feeling about this year’s squad, it’s quite a young squad, we have five under-19s and another four high schoolers but I’m hoping they can really play as a team.
“In these training sessions I’m letting them feel the flow, show them a few new things and we just need to keep pushing forward.”
2025 Men’s Squad
Terence ANAU-SAILOR (Mossman)
Trezman BANJO (Mareeba)
Whyatt BARNES (Mareeba)
Jayden CONNORS (Suburbs)
Samuel CRAMP (Brothers)
Aidan DAY (Suburbs)
Jhidan DIKES (Atherton)
Kaleb EATON (Mareeba)
Hubert ELU (Mareeba)
James FRAZER (Suburbs)
Ammiel HARRIS (Yarrabah)
Rhylee HERD (Atherton)
Daniel HINDMARSH-TAKYI (Brothers)
Kieshon HUNTER-FLANDERS (Innisfail)
Zane KNOWLES (Ivanhoe)
Ashley LITTLE (Mareeba)
Ty MILLARD (Mossman)
Michael MORTON (Innisfail)
Rhys MURGHA (Mossman)
Liam O'BRIEN (Brothers)
Shamish O'QUINN (Atherton)
Joseph PEARSON (Kangaroo)
Paea PUA (Kangaroo)
Dallas SKARDON (Ivanhoe)
Wade SMITH (Yarrabah)
Bradley STEPHEN (Kangaroo)
Tibau STEPHEN (Kangaroo)
Taniela TA'UFO'OU (Brothers)
Feao TONGIA (Tully)
Jirra TWIST (Kangaroo)
Damien WALKER (Suburbs)
Dylan WHITE (Tully)
Jarvis YEATMAN (Yarrabah)
2025 Women’s Squad
Rachel Abednego Kangaroos
Chloe Buttigieg Ivanhoes
Briannah Cater Atherton
Ferlene David Mossman
Jonoh Donovan Atherton
Layla Geck Atherton
Aerielle Hobbler Atherton
Trinity Kent Atherton
Mary-Sha Mairu Yarrabah
Azariah Mataio Atherton
Lexeen Mathieson Atherton
Shaneequah Mau Kangaroos
Jaeda Morato Kangaroos
Mateeka Nielson Edmonton
Mayleen Oppermann Atherton
Elenoa Regunamada Ivanhoes
Paige Schouw Atherton
Lisa Sire Kangaroos
Ashlyn Skeene Edmonton
Jarketta Smith Yarrabah
Kara Tabuai (Baker) Edmonton
Indianna Tillett Kangaroos
Lakeisha Ulutui Yarrabah
Jytte Wallace Kangaroos
Rylee Wallace Kangaroos
Kemo Wamala Kangaroos
Kaiyla Ward Kangaroos
Caitlin Wark Edmonton
Jordana Woods Edmonton
