Country vibe makes 150th all the more special for Pelgrave
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It's not where Nick Pelgrave expected to bring up another milestone, but if he ever had a choice, it would be in Activate Queensland! Country Week.
The 31-year-old referees his 150th Hostplus Cup game on Saturday when he takes the reins of Sunshine Coast Falcons versus Northern Pride in Weipa, the mining town on the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula.
As coincidence would have it, the Falcons have featured in most of his career milestones, including his Cup debut, his first grand final in 2017 and his 100th game, which was also a Country Week fixture in Nanango.
Pelgrave said the fanfare around regional and remote communities in Country Week was unlike anything else, having also experienced matches in Hughenden and Blackall, the latter a particularly memorable one.
"I think the Blackall experience is probably one that stands out because the town effectively hadn't seen a plane land on the airstrip for however many years, 30 something years since a plane had landed on that airstrip," Pelgrave said.
"To see that 1100 people, or however many people it was in the town, basically lined the airstrip and watch a plane land, it's things like that. They're sort of money-can't-buy experiences, and to see a community like that sort of band together for a game of footy and an experience like that... yeah, it's pretty special.
Match: Falcons v Pride
Round 18 -
home Team
Falcons
8th Position
away Team
Pride
9th Position
Venue: Andoom Oval, Weipa
"Rugby league provides so much to so many people. I played the sport for 13 years, I've officiated now for about 13 years and I've worked in the game, including my time as a casual, for nearly 13 years. It's something that's provided a lot to me in terms of experiences and things like that.
"So I think the ability to sort of bring rugby league in a statewide competition to communities like we do, and yeah, there's the economic benefit and tourism and things like that that it brings, but to bring an experience like the premier statewide competition and arguably that the second best rugby league competition in the world to places like this is really special to and to see what it does for those communities is probably a big part of why I enjoy being a part of it."
Pelgrave admits his 150-game milestone hits a bit different. Seeing so many of his Cup officiating counterparts mark similar milestones lately has had him reflecting on how far he has come in his journey, from what he'd label a bit of a scallywag to start, to a settled senior member of the QRL High Performance Unit.
"It gives you a bit of time to sort of stop and think about what your contribution has been and what it is now, and to come from sort of a pretty obnoxious, sort of 'little rascal', pretty naïve in some of my early parts of my career where my application to training and things like that probably wasn't where it needs to be for where I want to perform at," he said.
"But to transition from that person and sort of grow into a leader and a mentor amongst the group has been a pretty exciting journey. It's something that I hold quite close to me.
"I've experienced what a lot of these younger guys and girls are sort of going through now where you're sort of battling your first experiences in the workforce and you're juggling study commitments and things like that.
"So to be able to be sort of an older head who's lived and breathed some of those experiences is something I hold really close to me because to be able to develop myself, but also use those experiences to help develop others is something that I'm sort of enjoying in this sort of mid to maybe back part of my career."
It's all these experiences, and a timely opportunity to refresh when COVID-19 claimed the competition in 2020, that has given Pelgrave a new lease on his officiating life and drive to keep refining his craft and work towards his ultimate goals.
"It seems like I'm in a really good spot that's quite well rounded in the sense that it's providing me some good opportunities," he said.
"I've still got aspirations in terms of first grade (NRL). That fire still burns.
"But you're never guaranteed one game in Cup and if the NRL opportunity sort of doesn't present then I still think I've got a few good years left in me in a statewide competitions and rugby league space."
