Jersey Flegg Match Preview: Round 1 v Raiders
New Manly Coach Chris Cotty wants to see some strong defensive toughness and energy from his Jersey Flegg Cup team in the opening round this weekend.
The Sea Eagles kick-off their premiership campaign in the U/21s competition with a home clash against the Canberra Raiders at 4 Pines Park on Saturday at 3.15pm.
Match: Sea Eagles v Raiders
Round 1 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
away Team
Raiders
Venue: 4 Pines Park, Sydney
After taking the Sydney Roosters to the second week of the finals in the Harold Matthews Cup last year, Cotty returns to the Sea Eagles for the first time since 2014 as a head coach.
A former first grade player at South Sydney, Cotty was an assistant coach of Manly’s SG Ball and Holden Cup teams in 2014-15 under Chad Randall.
A Northern Beaches local, Cotty feels the Sea Eagles have a well-balanced squad for the 26-round competition.
Furthermore, four local Manly juniors will line up against the Raiders in Amyn Hamilton, Benji Keene-O’Keefe, Charlie Boyle, and Tom Klem.
The Sea Eagles will be captained by Sebastian Piukala with Boyle the vice-captain.
“Sebastian and Charlie are level-headed. They don’t get overawed, so we are hoping they have some calming influence on the team, especially when things don’t go to plan,’’ Cotty said.
“We signed three players from Penrith in Mitchell Heather, Cameron Robertson, and Billy Thompson.
“They played a fair few games last season for the Panthers who made the Flegg grand final, so they add some class and come from a pretty good system.
“Our props in Sebastian Piukala (Eels) and Lewis Saad (Bears) have some size but they do have pretty good skills for big guys and both have a good offload, so we are looking to play some football off the back of that.
“Another player to watch out for is full-back Will Herbert (Titans). Will has been one of our better players in the trials. I will be surprised if he is not called up to NSW Cup soon. He has some class.”
Cotty said there were plenty of positives to take from the trials against Penrith (won) and South Sydney (lost).
“Trials are trials but we have taken some good things from them,’’ he added.
“The big thing I want to see is defensive toughness and some energy and effort.
“Early on, we don’t expect our attack to be flying, but effort areas like kick chase, kick pressure, and defensive resilience is what I’m hoping to get. The boys have bought into that. We’re excited about the season ahead.”
