Devils in a Storm

Written By Cahn D. Cotter

We all know the past week that the Rugby League world has been crushed by the scandal of the Melbourne Storm salary cap.

The only people we have heard about this scandal from though, are the high priced media who have been waiting for another shock wave to hit our game.

As always they concentrate on the negative sides and studying journalism, we all know that one of the major factors is not to persuade audience’s opinions.

The stories focused from the Storm scandal were all based on the negatives on how this club and players involved have potentially killed Rugby League in Melbourne, and added the possibilities of a shake up of other NRL clubs in the future.

It has been said that this scandal could ruin the Rugby League game forever?

However, I know that this game is for the fans and even though this story encapsulated headlines throughout Australia for all the wrong reasons, Rugby League fans stood as one and supported the game like never before.

I acknowledge that and want to focus on some of the greater positives from this story to let our readers know where these champion players came from.

The story is of a junior club and how it helped the Storm, supplying them with an abundance of juniors to be one of the most successful clubs in the modern era.

This club has produced greats of the game and I am proud to write this article about them acknowledging them as a superb junior club with strong traditions, heritage and champion players of the past and future.

It is a club that focuses on supporting players, growth and development, community deeds and a passion for Rugby League that grows everyday and has done for over 100 years.

We are focusing on these behind the scenes points because it is important to support and help the Junior Rugby League Community and also acknowledge where these superstars of our game have come from. Because all of us Rugby League fanatics know that it will take more than a Storm salary cap scandal to finish our game.

Some of these Storm players are heroes of the game, some people say not anymore though because what they have done. I like to think of it like this though; it is not what the Storm players have done to the people. It is what some of the people involved in the Storm club have done to these players.

The likes of Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith, once all premiership winners for the Storm have now had their names forever tarnished on this beautiful, passionate game of ours.

It did not just stop there however; other players also affected through these Storm ranks are Michael Crocker, Dallas Johnson, Israel Folou, Ryan Hoffman and Jeremy Smith.

Where are they from? The Norths Devils

The Norths Devils are the most feared club to date in the QRL and now the Queensland Cup. All of the above players mentioned played junior rugby league with the Norths Devils. You are probably asking how did they get to the Storm? And we will get to that soon.

They are undefeated in the 2010 In-Trust Super/Queensland Cup with 7 from 7 wins and have had many successful years dating back to 1927.

They have always found juniors of high calibre and majority of these players have gone on to represent Australian Rugby League at the highest levels.

We focus on this topic at hand because the success years of the late 90’s to present for the Storm where produced by all these players that played for the Norths Devils.

Records speak for themselves as we head into the next chapter.

The Golden Years

In the 1960’s, the Norths Devils went through a golden era of Rugby League. It was from 1959 through until 1970. These Highlights included:

➢ A-Grade Premierships (8): 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966 and 1969
➢ A-Grade Grand Finalists (2): 1967 and 1970
➢ Minor Premiers (7): 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1969 and 1970
➢ Club Championships (11): 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974.
Other successes have been the QLD Cup & First Grade teams.

➢ Premierships (14): 1927 (as Past Grammars), 1934, 1938, 1940, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1980 and 1998.

➢ Grand Finalists (9): 1931, 1932 (as Past Grammars), 1939, 1941, 1944, 1945, 1967, 1970 and 1990.

➢ Minor Premiers (10): 1939, 1940, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1969, 1970 and 1998.

➢ Presidents Cup (10): 1937. 1938, 1940, 1946, 1951, 1961, 1962,1963, 1965 and 1967.

➢ Vic Jensen Cup & Penant (10): 1934, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1954, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964.

➢ Pike Cup (7): 1935, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1945 and 1951.

➢ Truth & Sunday Sun Craven A Trophy (6): 1967, 1968, 1970, 1973,1974 and 1977.

➢ F Fullerton Trophy (6): 1952, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964.

➢ Peter Scott Memorial Shield (5): 1959, 1961, 1963, 1966 and 1975.

And also the Club Championships

➢ Championships (14): 1945, 1954, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 2005.



Melbourne Storm Era (1998 to 2007)

The success of the Storm came from the help of North Devils junior players and management. It was through an agreement that saw the Storm have access to these players as juniors, and the success years for the Storm kept rolling on. It saw them have an era of domination.

When Melbourne entered the NRL competition, they agreed to terms with the Norths Devils for them to become the feeder club in 1998.

With that came more glory for the Norths Devils, when immediately in that year they had won the QLD Cup defeating the West Panthers.

And in the following year, the Melbourne Storm went on to win their first NRL premiership against newly merged side the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

This system was working and was highly successful for both parties. The feeder club Norths Devils seem to have struck gold when they were embraced with the development of youngsters for the Storm and allowing players to have dual registration.

It did not stop there, the success of the Storm continued to grow and from the 2006 NRL Grand Final team the Storm had 13 players who had all previously played with the Norths Devils. This team included the likes of Matt Geyer who won a Premiership with the Devils in 1998 and Melbourne in 1999.

But in 2007, the ties were ended. Norths Devil associated in being apart of the Brisbane Broncos development and has done ever since.

Current and Past Norths Devils Players

We only have to look over the record books from the Norths Devils to see how many successful players have played for them. And some of these players that have played with the Norths Devils are now legends and immortals of the modern game and the past.

We can measure the size of success for the Norths Devils by introducing Test Matches, Australian tours, Tri-Nations and State of Origins.

In Sunday, 14th October 2007 the Kangaroos came up against the Kiwis at Westpac Stadium. From both these sides, the Norths Devils had produced 10 players. The Australian Kangaroos were Captained by former Norths Devils Captain Cameron Smith, who also is the now Storm Captain.

The Australian side contained the following former Norths Devils players: Cameron Smith (c), Greg Inglis, Israel Folau, Dallas Johnson, Cooper Cronk, Ryan Hoffman and Michael Crocker.

The New Zealand side contained the following former Norths Devils players: Jeremy Smith, Jeff Lima and Paul Whatuira.

A positive to be brought out of this is three of these players above, Crocker, Lima and Jeremy Smith all played in the 2008 premiership with Norths Devils and for the majority of players, all were raised and bread juniors with the Norths Devils.

Only five players in the history of the Storm have been brought over to play with the Norths Devils.

But next, we show you the past greats and some of these names will knock you off your chair, if you are already not blown away.

The Norths Devils are enriched with talent and acknowledge appreciation and respect for the players that have come through the ranks. Some of these players went on to bigger and better levels in the Rugby League code and some forever have the name marked on the wall of fame.

Here are some names that over the many decades have strapped the boots, lifted their socks and raised the roof for this successful club.

➢ Clive Churchill
➢ Bill Pearson
➢ Lloyd Weir,
➢ Fonda Metassa
➢ Johnny Brown
➢ Elywn Walters
➢ Steve Calder
➢ Darryl Brohman
➢ John Sattler
➢ Nev Draper
➢ Glen Harrison
➢ Peter Hall
➢ Nick Geiger
➢ Mark Graham
➢ John Payne
➢ Greg Conescu
➢ Mark Murray
➢ Paul Khan
➢ Greg Dowling
➢ Steve Walters
➢ Joe Kilroy
➢ Paul McCabe
➢ Trevor Gillmeister
➢ Ross Henrick

What a list Rugby League Player fans, who would not want to also strap on a pair of boots and pull the Devils Guernsey proudly over their backs when associated with names like these above.

Fine Tune

It seems the Norths Devils are a club that have produced many great players over a long period of time, the list can go on for them.

The Storm is in crisis at the moment. But the Norths Devils are not. They are stronger than ever and already in 2010 have proven to be difficult to beat.

They have produced immense talent and are the food chain to most Rugby League clubs in the NRL and the Rugby League world.

It is a club where players are the priority and it has been proven that that is the case. It is a club of long and proud history.

It is for the above reasons that we should not stamp hate on players playing for the Storm, because majority of these players came from a successful junior club called the Norths Devils.

The Norths Devils are proud to say that these juniors came from their neck of the woods and wore the gargantuan responsibilities on their back when putting the jerseys on.

Look at the Storm, and differ the club from the players. Because majority of these players came from the Norths Devils and looking through the history archives, it will show you that they are some of the best and their successes, even though stripped from them goes to show the strength of this junior club, the Norths Devil.