It will be a case of leaving the severe heavy rain of Sydney to walking into the tropical humidity of Townsville for the young Manly Warringah Sea Eagles tomorrow.
Holden Cup Coach Wayne Lambkin and his team will fly up from Sydney tomorrow before tackling the North Queensland Cowboys at 1300Smiles Stadium a few hours later.
It will mean the team has limited time to adjust to the humidity, currently being felt by the NRL team after completing their final training session in Townsville this morning. The forecast for Townsville on game day is 33 degrees.
To keep his players fresh, Lambkin has changed the team’s training preparation ahead of a tough battle against the Cowboys. Both sides are undefeated.
“It has all been about the preparation this week and making sure we are as fresh as we can when we hit the field,’’ Lambkin said.
“There are opportunities for us there to win this game and we are certainly not going up there to do just our best, we are going to win.
“We are not training on Friday night to try and relax the players the night before we fly up. I will try anything I can to make them believe they are ready to go.
“The Cowboys are strong across the field. They have got some really good mobile forwards, so we are going to have to do a job in the middle. Their halves are clever and have a good kicking game.
“We just have to be on right across the field, there is not just one area to pin point."
The Sea Eagles sit on top of the ladder following impressive wins over Parramatta Eels 38-20 and South Sydney 52-20 at Lottoland.
The Cowboys recorded a 28-12 win over Canberra Raiders in round one and then a 20-18 win over Brisbane Broncos last round to sit in third place on the ladder.
