Cooktown District Junior Rugby League Club members Zarrad Mansfield, Micah Parkes, Chase Hunt, Rudi Habermann, Cecil Stewart and Max Giese have received praise for their commitment to travelling to lace up their footy boots this rugby league season. Photo: Supplied.
When six Cooktown junior rugby league players discovered they were unable to get a game at home due to numbers for the 2025 season, they didn’t drop their bundles and look towards another sport – they hit the road.
The Cooktown District Junior Rugby League Club members – Rudi Habermann (under-16), Micah Parkes and Cecil Stewart (U14), and Chase Hunt, Max Giese and Zarrad Mansfield (U13) – have been spending hours in the car each Friday or Saturday since March to get a game because there were not enough players registered in their age divisions to make a full Crocs team.
So, what do you call a Croc without a team? A Shark.
The players joined the Mossman Sharks for the club’s 2025 campaign and the Cooktown footballers made their presence felt on the paddock, with the U13 team making the semi-finals, and the U14 lineup missing out on a finals berth by just one point after finishing fifth on the ladder.
Giese said becoming an honorary Shark had been a great experience, but admitted the travelling had taken its toll on players and their dedicated parents-cum-chauffeurs.
“It’s so good to play in a competitive competition this year,” he said.
“Mossman have been awesome and inclusive of us all after a while, the travelling gets boring, but once we are there, the footy vibes kick in – I appreciate mum and dad driving each week so I can play.
“I’ve never played in finals at this level, so I’m feeling nervous, but we have come so far this year and want to finish it off with a bang; to finish top four is awesome.”
Parkes’ mother, Sarah Martin, said the Croc-to-Shark transformation had been born out of necessity.
“We went into the footy season this year hopeful of having a good number of registrations, however, for various reasons, numbers in the older groups were low, with a number of boys swapping sports, focusing on study and moving away for boarding school,” she said.
“We met with Cooktown Crocs coaches at the start of the year to discuss options, and approached Mossman Sharks, who were happy for our boys to join their teams.
“As a club and as parents, we’re very grateful to the Sharks for being so welcoming and supportive of our boys and their love of footy, as without their support, our kids would have missed out completely on playing this year.”
Sharks U14 coach Craig Ger said Parkes and Stewart had been “an absolute asset” to the team and said he would welcome them back in 2026 if the Crocs were again unable to field older age groups.
“They’re hardworking, show great teamwork, and are a real pleasure to have around.,” he said.
“We’d love to have them back again, and we’re already looking forward to what they’ll bring next season.”
