Storm brews for 2027

Edmonton Storm’s new president Paul Drabble. Picture: Facebook

The Edmonton Storm Senior Rugby League Club Inc., led by president Paul Drabble, says it is an independent entity formed to rebuild confidence in senior rugby league on Cairns’ southside.

The organisation has announced plans to field women’s, under-19s, reserve grade and A-grade teams – and to introduce new financial controls, codes of conduct and safeguards for players, coaches and volunteers.

Mr Drabble told Cairns Local News that the organisation was also developing a strategy to reconnect with about 100 players from the 2024 and 2025 seasons who had not re-registered.

“We now have the details of those players and we’ve put in place a re-engagement strategy to see how many we can get back,” he said.

He said the Edmonton Storm identity remained important to the community and some former players were reluctant to represent rival clubs.

“What we’ve really found is the Edmonton Storm brand is really in the fabric of the community,” he said.

Edmonton Storm’s current branding. Picture: Facebook

The new organisation has apologised to former sponsors, volunteers, players, coaches, managers and the wider rugby league community for what it described as failures by the previous club.

It says an independent working group has developed a governance framework to improve transparency, financial accountability and protections for those involved.

However, the move to establish a new organisation under the Edmonton Storm name has drawn opposition from former club president Sarah Addo, who maintains that the original club holds the rights to the name.

Ms Addo has previously said that lawyers were preparing correspondence over the dispute.

Cairns Local News sought comment from Ms Addo but did not receive a response before publication.

The new organisation says it has presented its governance framework to Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and Far North Queensland Rugby League (FNQRL) and has sought affiliation to compete in 2027.

However, QRL representative Michael Hillier confirmed that no formal affiliation application had been submitted.

“No, we haven’t formally received the application yet, only the intention to apply from previous communication with them,” he said.

“And no organisation is currently recognised as the affiliated Edmonton Storm senior rugby league club.”

QRL said any application would be considered under its existing statewide process for affiliation and competition entry.

Mr Drabble said FNQRL had recently contacted the new organisation and another meeting was expected in the coming weeks to discuss rugby league’s future in the area.

“We now have a seat at that table, which is promising,” he said. The organisation has opened expressions of interest for players, coaches, managers and volunteers, aiming to start playing next year.