Nate Myles has declared himself a certain starter for Saturday’s clash against competition leaders Melbourne Storm at Brookvale Oval.
The Queensland Origin prop has not played for the Sea Eagles due to a knee injury since the round 20 win over South Sydney, but says he is right to go against the competition leaders.
Myles has been listed to start off the interchange bench.
“It has taken a little bit longer than expected. I will definitely be back this weekend,’’ Myles declared.
“I didn’t want to get into a cycle of running and then being able to run. I want to try and go into a game and be able to play next week without having any dramas. The knee is a lot stronger now.”
Myles says the team is focused on finishing the season on a positive note with the finals series now out of reach. Manly lost seven straight matches before going on a four game winning streak only to lose their last two games.
“We left ourselves with a slight chance of a run home. It was asking a lot in the age of the NRL at the moment, it would have been a tough ask to do,’’ Myles said.
“The boys gave it a fair crack. We have three games to go and have an opportunity to come home strong.
“We go into this game (against Melbourne) pretty focused on the way we have been playing. There are a lot of positives there and a couple of negatives that we can definitely iron out.
“There was a patch there where everyone was pretty down in the dumps, but we worked hard to get out of it.
“Trent and the coaching staff were fantastic through it all. To keep people motivated when you are not putting wins together is pretty difficult. We have to make sure we keep going for the remaining three games.”
Brookvale Oval, Saturday, August 20
Gates Open: 3pm
NYC Kick-off: 3:15pm
NRL Kick-off: 5:30pm
Buy tickets here.
