Cutters Add English Star to Team

MACKAY Cutters will field a team packed with international experience in the 2010 Queensland Cup, following the arrival at the weekend of an English Super League player.

Hooker Neil Budworth, 27, arrived on Friday following a horrific three-day trip from England, putting into place the final piece in the STM Cutters squad for 2010.

“It was minus 7 degrees when I left England,” Budworth said yesterday.

“It took me three days to get here. I had flights delayed and cancelled, and I lost my luggage in Melbourne.”

His arrival brought a sigh of relief from Cutters officials, who had been working for months to snare a player who will have a key influence on the team as it attempts to become a force in the Q Cup.

While Budworth left England in freezing cold, it was 30 degrees and pouring rain in Mackay on his arrival, which coincided with a three-day boot camp at Rowallan Park as the Cutters returned to training following Christmas.

While coach Paul Bramley excused Budworth from the boot camp activities on Saturday to allow him to get over his flight, he lined up with the squad yesterday morning as they did blindfold push-ups in water, then took part in an opposed full-contact session.

Budworth said he was impressed with his first experience with his team-mates.

“The boys were fatigued after their hard work over the weekend at the camp,” he said.

“But they put in a big effort in a full-contact session in the heat.”

Budworth has been a professional footballer in England for the past eight years and has played 140 Super League games, playing for the London Broncos, which became the Harlequins, and last year with the Celtic Crusaders in its first season in the top competition.

He’ll be linking again with Josh Hannay, who signed with the Cutters late last year after the Crusaders’ Australian contingent was forced to leave England because of visa problems.

Budworth and Hannay, a Moranbah junior who set a points-scoring record for the Cowboys and has played State of Origin, bring international experience that Cutters officials and fans could only dream about during the club’s first two seasons in the Q Cup.

Bramley says that experience will be the key for success in 2010.

“He’s got great vision,” Bramley said of Budworth.

“He knows what to do and when to do it. He’s a good decision-maker.

“Now we’ve got a lot of experience to build our side around some very good kids.”

 

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