The Mackay Cutters have announced Michael Comerford as the club’s 10th Hostplus Cup Head Coach for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Mr Comerford will take over from Dave Elliot who recently announced he will be departing the club to take on the Head Coach role at Norths Devils.
A former player and current Assistant Coach for the Cutters, Mr Comerford says the news was unexpected, but he’s excited to take on the role.
“A full-time opportunity in rugby league is something I’ve been really wanting over the last few years and to finally get that in my hometown at my club is very exciting for me,” he said.
Mr Comerford says the role has progressed from a part-time to a full-time role and he hopes to use the extra time to develop the club’s pathways.
“Keeping this playing group will be priority number one and, off the back of that, being in a full-time capacity now there’s a real opportunity to grow the football program and really go into a fair bit of detail with our planning and hopefully that translates into results on the field,” he said.
“Hopefully we do get that finals spot this year and, following the conclusion of this season, there’ll be a review process.
“Dave’s put us in a really good spot, I’m very comfortable with where we are at as a football program to take over from there and he deserves a lot of credit for that.”
The announcement came the day after the Cutters upset top-of-the-table Burleigh Bears at home on Sunday.
The Women in League Round clash started well for the Cutters with Kane Bradley opening the scoring in the third minute.
Try-scoring machine Alofiana Khan-Pereira crossed twice for the visitors before the Cutters snuck in three quick tries in eight minutes before half-time thanks to Gehamat Shibasaki, Adam Cook and Kyle Krisanski-Kennedy.
With the Cutters leading 24-14 at half-time, momentum swung the way of the visitors in the second half, scoring four unanswered tries in the first half hour of the second half to hold a lead of 26-34 with ten minutes to go.
The Cutters hit back in the final ten minutes thanks to Ross Bella and a second from Krisanski-Kennedy.
With both teams scoring six tries each, it was Adam Cook’s 6/6 conversions proving the difference with the Cutters winning 38-34.
The Cutters will return to BB Print Stadium on Saturday, taking on the second-placed Sunshine Coast Falcons in their last home game of the regular season.
Michael Comerford has been announced as the Mackay Cutters Hostplus Cup Head Coach for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Photo credit: Sam Gillespie
The Cutters defeated the Burleigh Bears to claim the Kerry Pattinson Memorial Shield for the first time since 2015. Photos supplied: Mackay Cutters
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