XXXX Community Club of the Year: Zenadth Kes makes dinghy trips worth it

Ferries, dinghies, any which way - if you can get to Thursday Island and want to play footy, Zenadth Kes Junior Rugby League will get you on the field.

The footy fever is intense, with a wide cross section of clubs supported, and children wanting to replicate the moves of local heroes Ezra Mam, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Seb Kris, Tahlulah Tillett and Hagiga Mosby.

But it's not about just putting a ball in the hands of any willing participant, as the Zenadth Kes Junior Rugby League's volunteers have discovered - and tackled - on the way to being crowned XXXX Community Club of the Year for 2023.

The club formalised their rugby league activities in 2017, but with that came the mammoth task of getting governance processes right to make sure rugby league was accessible as it could be.

Club secretary Marita Sagigi has been there just about from day one and said it was "amazing" to think how far they had come, and now to be acknowledged for it.

"It's pretty special. Not always do people get recognised for the work people put in behind the scenes to make something like this happen consistently," Sagigi said.

"We're not the only ones in the world who do this sort of stuff but you don't often get acknowledged for it and there is a realisation that it is something we should be proud of as a committee and a community."

Sagigi paid tribute to all of the people who had made it happen, from previous president Reece Davies, to QRL Cape and Torres league and club coordinator Terry Abednego, to the people who have gained the required accreditation to do coaching, LeagueSafe and first aid courses to build a haven for more than 140 players on Thursday Island and surrounds.

"I've got ladies who have never played league before coaching our under 6s," she said.

"They don't even have kids playing, but they say to me, 'coming to footy training, training the kids on a Thursday night and watching them play on a Friday night, this is the highlight of my week'.

"They do it because they love it and they love seeing the kids out there having a good time and watching them grow and develop."

At administration level, the club's efforts to have all the checks and balances in place has paid dividends in acquiring government funding, which they use to heavily subsidise participation costs.

Zenadth Kes Junior Rugby League president and under 8s coach Anthony Moynihan, who joined the club after taking up an opportunity as officer-in-charge at Thursday Island Police Station four years ago, said the committee's efforts felt all worthwhile once they saw the smiles of children from six to under 12 enjoying rugby league.

"We service not just Thursday Island, but kids come from Horn Island and Hammond islands and other close places like that," Moynihan said.

"They have to get ferries and dinghies to training on Thursday night and go home near dark in dinghies to get back.

"It's a big commitment from families to do that, so we don't want anyone to miss out.

"We really want to cater so anyone who wants to have a crack, can have a crack. It's rewarding.

"It takes a bit to organise, a lot of hands to get that squared away, and to keep up with all the governance required and that's a large body of work I probably wasn't prepared for when I took over the role."

But the payback is real.

"You see real value in watching the kids at the start of the year come through to the end of the year and that growth in them," the senior sergeant said.

"We have a real emphasis on coaching kids to be better kids, not just better footballers. We're pretty strict on behaviour, we like to see manners and that sort of stuff.

"We like to take a team away to an event every year and (in 2021) we went to the Laurie Spina Shield and all the reports we got back from the organisers was about the sportsmanship our kids showed and last year they went to the Vern Daisy carnival and they got award the spirit award for their sportsmanship and behaviour and manners and that's the sort of stuff we try to teach the whole club."

It leaves Moynihan grateful for being approached to get involved, having only ever previously coached men in Atherton and at Cairns club Ivanhoes.

In many ways, the kids are easier to work with.

"In my second or third week on the island I got talking to Reece Davies, who was the president then, and he asked if I wanted to get involved," Moynihan said.

"I said I only really ever coached men and he said: 'Oh mate, come down, I need an under 8s coach' and I'm still doing it.

"I don't know if I could go back to not coaching kids now."