The Campbell Construction Co. Tweed Seagulls have been allocated a strong group of Gold Coast Titans players who will potentially play a leading role in the Gulls’ quest to play finals football for successive seasons.
And that includes classy 20-year-old five-eighth Toby Sexton, who was an outstanding contributor to the Seagulls’ Mal Meninga Cup and national under-19s title-winning side of 2019 and prop Joseph Vuna after going through a pre-season train-and-trial regime.
Vuna made his NRL debut for the Warriors, and represented the Junior Kiwis, in 2018 before spending two years as a Mormon missionary. He is the younger brother of former Wallabies back and Newcastle Knights winger Cooper Vuna.
The other Titans squad members who could wear Seagulls’ colours in early rounds are fullback/winger, back-rower Sam McIntyre, props Herman Ese’ese, Sam Lisone and Jai Whitbread, winger/centre Tremain Spry, who played 20 games for Tweed in 2019 (nine tries), and second-rower Darius Farmer.
The Seagulls kick-off their 2021 campaign against Central Queensland Capras on Saturday March 20 (3pm), only their second game after playing finals in 2019 due to last year’s competition being reduced to just one round because of the impact of COVID-19.
Ese’ese – who was chosen at jersey number 20 in the Titans’ extended squad which will start their against the Warriors on the Central Coast on Saturday – is the most experienced of the Titans-allocated players. The former Broncos and Knights prop has played 93 NRL games and represented New Zealand (one Test) and Samoa (six) and is expected to push for inclusion in the Titans’ 17 early in the season.
Campbell, 20, is the son of Titans legend and Dally M Medal winner Preston Campbell and has similar exciting attacking skills and pace, although taller and with a slight frame.
“Our allocation of Titans players is certainly concentrated up front with three front-rowers but generally there is a lot of youth there and players who are still developing as NRL players,” said Seagulls CEO Matthew Francis.
“Obviously injuries to Titans will play a big role in how much of these players we will see in the Intrust Super Cup but the Titans go into the season with a very clean bill of health, so we can look forward to being strengthened by their inclusion in Ben Woolf’s team.
“Joey Vuna is an interesting pick-up. He showed tremendous potential when he played four NRL games for the Warriors in 2018 before following the path of players like Will Hopoate and embarking on two years of mission work and has his best football ahead of him.
“We could see a bit of Toby Sexton as he adapts to senior football after losing last season’s opportunity to develop in ISC. We’re excited about having him in the side after watching him develop into one of the best teenage prospects in the state with our Mal Meninga Cup side in 2019.”
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