NRL State Championship: Final say from Devils captain Kierran Moseley

Kierran Moseley's final say

The grand final aftermath

There’s been a little bit of celebration. We’ve been present with each other and acknowledged the win and embraced what we’ve been able to achieve. But over the last week or so, the big focus has been on the Jets.

The Jets

We’re expecting a physical game. They have big bodies all over the park and they have a lot of contracted Sharks players. They have good halves that lead them around and the hooker, Jayden Berrell, I remember playing against him when he was up here and he's still a really good player. Once he generates the ruck speed, he comes alive and plays his football, so a lot of their attack will come off him. We have to be on our game. We need to control the ruck and try to turn the ball over in really bad positions for them.

The key for the Devils

We have to find the balance. We need to just really focus on ourselves and be confident with the way we play and our strengths. It’s also easy to say and hard to do, but we have to not look into it too much. We’re in Sydney and it’s different to a lot of places. Being there on grand final day can get the best of you but we need to focus on what we’re really good at and look within. There’s going to be a lot of hype and external noise that we need to block out. There’s families coming down and things we have to organise like tickets and accommodation. But mostly we have to do everything right to prepare for the game like any other game – diets, football, sleep, training. At the same time, we need to be present and enjoy the experience. Some boys, they might not get this opportunity again so we also need to just enjoy it and experience it and - being in Sydney - embrace the hate we may get from the fans. I want the boys to take it all in.

Representing Queensland

It will be awesome. It would be really good just to represent Queensland in that way – to get the win. It has been nine years now so quite a long time. We have a different team to the last time we were here in '22. Everyone loves it at Norths and having younger lads in the team with young legs, they just want to play footy. No one will give us a chance and everyone will be talking about how good the Jets are. But everyone in the Norths Devils and people at the QRL will give us a chance. We know what we’re capable of and what we have our minds set on and what we can achieve. We’re not worried about what others think. We know what we can do and we’ll go give it a crack.

Third time’s a charm

It is my third time here but I just want to win for the club. We didn’t get the job done in '22. When I’m looking back at my career, it will definitely be something I can look at and have beside my name and remember all the memories. When you win, all those memories are obviously more closer to your heart and they’re more positive memories. Winning is why we play football. Everyone wants to win. It will be good too for QRL and Norths Devils fans and our community and sponsors and all of that. It’s a lot more than just us footy players. I’m a bit older and can see that side of things. It’s not just what it means individually – it’s means so much more to other people.