Sport
3 November, 2025
Captain-coach brings swag of experience
THE newly-signed captain-coach of the Atherton Roosters brings with him a swag of experience, including going through the Wests Tigers system in Syndey and playing in the Hostplus Cup for several years.
Justin Frain has jumped on board as the new leader of the Roosters’ A Grade squad. He takes the reins from previous coach Joel Riethmuller, who spent three seasons building the Atherton club into a dominant force within the FNQ Rugby League competition.
Frain said the club’s success this season and the young potential there were the major attractions for him.
“The club itself is in a really good spot, and that’s what attracted me,” the 26-year-old said.
“And that’s how Joel and Paul (president) have set up the club – it’s the most professional, semi-professional club that I’ve seen. The way they run the club, you can really see the vision, and that aligns with where I want to go as well.
“Another big thing was the development of young blokes. They got minor premiers in 19s, and I’ve watched a few of their games as well as the Reserve’s, and there’s a lot of untapped, raw potential there. You don’t really find that anywhere else.
“Another thing that drew me was how much support the club gets from the community, that was a huge factor.”
Frain, originally from Sydney, worked his way through the ranks of the Wests Tigers system, playing from U16s-U20s and then in the Jersey Flegg and NSW Cups.
He later moved north to play in the Hostplus Cup where he played for the Townsville Blackhawks. He then went on to play for Northern Pride and most recently the Wynnum Manly Seagulls in Brisbane.
Frain got a release from the Brisbane club after his partner Kodee fell pregnant early this year (who recently gave birth to their son Indhi). The pair moved to Mission Beach to be near her family and Frain played the rest of the year out at the Tully Tigers.
After seeing an ad on social media that the Roosters were looking for a new coach, Frain reached out to the club and soon met with Riethmuller and club president Paul Pensini.
Pensini said Frain would bring a lot of experience to the club and they were happy to have him on board.
“We’re pretty excited to have him on actually, obviously losing Joel was a big void to fill,” he said.
“With the club finishing in a pretty good position across all three grades, I think he saw that we’re on the right track.
“He’s had a fairly good career to date, I’ll think he’ll bring a different sort of enthusiasm around the group. He’ll be a captain-coach, so I think having his own voice on the field will be beneficial.
“The fact that he’s played at that high level, he’ll bring a lot of experience. He seems like he’s got a fairly cool, calm head.”
This will be Frain’s first coaching role – a foot in the door to what he hopes to do once his playing career is over.
“I’ve coached Under 10s when I was like 17 or 18,” he laughed. “But this is my first proper coaching gig, even though I’ll still be playing, which is where I wanted to start.
“But looking to the coaching side of it, it forces me to grow as a person as well. Obviously there’s the tactical side that you’ll always be growing in, but the biggest thing for me will be having those good conversations and tough conversations, things that make you a better person.”
He said he would be focused on growing the success the club has built in recent years, confident his experience would be beneficial to the team.
“I can bring that experience from playing the last five years of Cup, so it’s bringing in a quality player that can fit into the system they’ve already got,” he said.
“The coaching side of it is just adding someone that might have a different view and just building on that culture there.
Frain will move to Atherton later this year to get stuck into preseason training, which he’s looking forward to.
“Actually, this is probably the first time I’ve been keen for preseason, ever,” he laughed.
“I’ve been watching a bit of video and I know a few of the boys but I don’t know all of them, so it’ll be good to put names to faces and just meet everyone.”
