Head coach Ben Woolf goes into the Intrust Super Cup opener against Northern Pride at Piggabeen Sports Complex on Sunday week pleased with the preparation of his squad and confident it can repeat last season’s effort of making the finals.
The biggest change in his squad will be in the forwards where the Ben Campbell Building Group Seagulls have lost mainstays like Jack Cook, Kalani Going, Kirk Murphy and Christian Hazard.
However Woolf – who will also work as Queensland under-20s coach and part of Justin Holbrook’s Gold Coast Titans coaching staff – believes the depth is there between some improving players from last year’s all-conquering under-18s Auswide Mal Meninga Cup and the under-20s Hastings Deering Colts squads and several newcomers to the Tweed.
Among the new breed are some interesting family lines. Ethan O’Neill is the son of former Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Australian Test back Julian O’Neill and Will Brimson, older brother of Titans fullback and Maroons squad member Alexander Brimson.
O’Neill has joined from the Sydney Roosters where he played under 20s last year while Brimson, 24, played in the NYC competition for the Broncos and ISC for Wynnum Manly before spending the two years taking a break from the game after being worried by persistent injuries.
“I’ve known Will for ages through Keebra Park (high school) and tried to get him here at the start of pre-season after he’d been overseas but he wasn’t sure,” said Woolf. “He agreed to come down and do an opposed session with us after Christmas and has stayed and he’s been really good in the trials. He could prove a pretty handy acquisition.”
Last year’s top tryscorer, utility back Talor Walters (pictured) who had looked great during pre-season, may not start the season after having a double injury setback – a hernia and broken foot.
“It’s a pity; I haven’t seen Talor fitter or keener but he could miss the first couple of rounds and we won’t rush him. We have pretty good cover in the backs,” said Woolf.
This means that Lindon McGrady is likely to start the season at fullback where he performed well in the second half of 2019 with the Gulls retaining good depth in the halves with Luke Jurd, last year’s gun under-18s halfback Toby Sexton who is in the Titans’ full-time squad, Brimson and Blake Goodman, a former a CQ Capras halfback who played for Norths Sydney last year in the NSW Canterbury Cup competition.
Other new boys include Jesse Cronin, a middle forward who played under-20s with Parramatta last year, Jamie Hill, a middle forward from the Capras and Fabian Kiri, another big middle forward who has joined from Redcliffe Dolphins.
Hill has quickly impressed and will be handy in the middle in a pack that will be led by skipper John Palavi. Last year’s fringe players Stu Mason, Bayley Faull, Harry Hughes, Rory Lillis and Kody Parsons add further depth around Palavi, along with Lamar Liolevave, Jarrod Morfett, Rory Lillis, the Titans-contracted 20-year-old Ioane Seiuli who successfully switched from the backs to the forwards last season and hookers Brent Woolf and Liam Hampson.
The Seagulls could see a bit of Titans hardman Keegan Hipgrave too early in the season after he returns from a long time out of the game because of repeated concussions. He has been given permission to return to contact training. And last year’s Mal Meninga Cup star Jowan Compain, now with the Titans, has been allocated back to the Seagulls along with his fellow NRL squad members Treymain Spry and Sexton.
“We lack a bit of experience in some areas but have quite a bit of depth in other areas; we have got some young players who I think will show a lot of improvement during the season,” said Woolf.
“We’ve improved each trial, I think we’re going better each week at training. They are working on the areas we’ve been focussing on.
“The team is starting to play the style of footy we want to play this year. We got good minutes into everyone in the final trial against Burleigh where we spread the squad across two games.”
A big addition to the Seagulls squad is Fetuli Talanoa, the talented 32-year-old outside back who has returned from Hull where he played 130 games – including two winning Challenge Cup finals at Wembley – after an eight-season stint with South Sydney (95 NRL appearances).
Gains: Fetuli Talanoa (Hull FC), Blake Goodman (North Sydney), Jamie Hill (Central Queensland Capras), Jack Glossop (Townsville Blackhawks), Fabien Kiri (Redcliffe Dolphins), Braden Robson (Wests Tigers), Jesse Cronin (Parramatta Eels), Ethan O’Neill (Sydney Roosters),
Losses: Christian Hazard (Souths Logan Magpies), Jack Cook (Albi France), Kirk Murphy (Albi France), Kalani Going (Canberra)
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