Red Devils hand senior roles to emerging rugby league talent

BYRON Bay Red Devils are banking on fresh talent to revive their Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League campaign, with emerging players stepping into senior roles for the rest of the season.

It has been a learning curve for the Red Devils this year, with several players coming straight out of under-18s.

A change in leadership has seen halfback Toby Marks take over as captain-coach, supported by club stalwart Brad Lees on the sideline.

Marks played with the Tweed Seagulls in the Queensland Cup in 2024 and represented the NSW Country team this year.

Byron Bay won its first game of the season against Tweed Coast earlier this month and is eyeing home games against Casino and Kyogle as a chance to build momentum in the second half of the season.

“We’re a young side and there are other guys who haven’t played together much; it just takes time,” club president Mick Foster said.

“The effort is always there; we just need to fix up our completion and concentrate on other parts of our game.

“Toby played for NSW Country this year and he’s still a young bloke himself; he’ll be up for the challenge.”

Former NRL player Todd Carney, who spent six seasons with Byron Bay before moving on this year, returned unexpectedly before the June long weekend bye and is likely to play a few more games to help guide the side around the park.

“Obviously having Todd there helps and we’ll just have to get him keen to play a few more games,” Foster said.

“He had already been to watch a few times and we’d spoken about him coming back.”

Foster said fullback Lachlan Offley and second-rower Tommy Welman were leading the way among the younger players. The squad also includes promising prospects such as centre Will Sheridan, hooker Jimmy McCombie and winger Elliott Farrell.

“It’s a big change coming up from under-18s, but they’re getting there and there is still plenty of footy to be played,” Foster said.

“We’ve got five teams now, as a club we’re going well and there is a lot of work going into it.”

The Red Devils’ next home game is against Kyogle on Sunday, July 6.