Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have given two promising young Queensland rugby league players an insight into life as an NRL athlete.
As part of a partnership formed this year between the Sea Eagles and St Brendan’s College, Yeppoon, Year 11 students Simon Green and Jake Oberhardt were given the exciting opportunity to observe Manly’s NRL squad at a field session in between training with the Harold Matthews and SG Ball squads.
The new partnership with St Brendan's is aimed at enhancing coach education, sharing valuable resources, and creating clear pathways for aspiring rugby league players to reach the NRL.
St Brendan’s College has produced a host of NRL players including Harry Grant, Ben Hunt, Corey Oates, David Taylor, Matt Scott, Kurt Mann, PJ Marsh, Paul Bowman, and Julian O’Neill.
Manly Coach Anthony Seibold graduated from St Brendan’s College in 1991.
Green, a five-eighth/lock, and Oberhardt, a middle forward, were chosen after consultation between Manly’s Head of Recruitment, Peter Gentle, and Luke Caplick, Director of Rugby League at St Brendan's College.
Both players were set to play in the respective junior rep trials at Narrabeen on Saturday but extreme heat conditions led to these being cancelled.
Caplick said the three-day visit last week to the Penn Centre of Excellence at 4 Pines Park was a wonderful experience for Green and Oberhardt.
“This is just another pathway for our boys at St Brendan's, who usually go and join Queensland NRL clubs or their affiliates as we have never really had that Sydney connection,’’ Caplick said.
“That’s the beauty of what the last couple of days have been. A chance for those kids to come down to Sydney and see that Sydney is not such a scary place.
“These boys are country kids. Jake is from Emerald and Simon is from Yeppoon. The thought of Sydney sometimes just scares country kids off taking up opportunities in the big smoke.
“They have now got a feel for how the operation works at Manly, so if an opportunity does come up, it’s not such a daunting task for them.
“It also reinforces to them that what we are doing at St Brendan's is all along the same lines.
“We are all about mentality, the effort plays, becoming better people and players, the same things that ‘Seibs’ is reinforcing with the NRL squad. All the staff at Manly have been amazing.
“I’m bouncing ideas off them and they are always forthcoming with information and other initiatives we could be implementing at St Brendan’s to improve.
“Peter comes up to our school regularly, like once every term, just talking to the boys and forming that connection.
“The biggest thing for us as a rugby league program is just tapping into the resources which Manly have allowed us to do. It’s been huge.”
