Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Coach Trent Barrett is waiting results of scans on an injured left ankle to prop Darcy Lussick following’s last night’s trial against the Cronulla Sharks.
A Manly junior, Lussick captained the Sea Eagles for the first time but suffered the injury in his first run of the match, lasting just two minutes in the trial won 30-14 by the Sharks at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
“We are still waiting to see how bad it is. It doesn’t look particularly good at this stage for Darcy, which is a shame,’’ Barrett said.
He has had a really good pre-season. We will just cross our fingers and hope he is alright.
Trent Barrett on Darcy Lussick
Barrett said he was pleased with some individual performances in a ‘disjointed trial’.
“We had some blokes in different positions. It was good to give some of our kids a chance. We had about three or four Under 20s kids in there and some blokes who are new to the club,’’ Barrett said.
“I thought Addin Fonua-Blake, Brian Kelly, Frank Winterstein, and Shaun Lane were good. They got some good minutes out and they will be better for it.
“Trials are necessary evils I guess. I’m just disappointed for Darcy.
“It did highlight a few things that we need to work on, more from an individual point of view than a team one. That team won’t trot out too much together during the year but individually, there are some things we can look at.”
Barrett confirmed he will field his strongest team in the final trial against the Sydney Roosters at Central Coast Stadium next Saturday (Feb 24) night.
“Daly Cherry-Evans and Lachlan Croker will start in the halves with Tom Trbojevic at full-back and Api Koroisau at hooker,’’ he said.
“We are pretty settled there. We had about 10 or 11 players who didn’t play (in this trial). Next week, we will get a better indication of how we are going.”
Second-rower Frank Winterstein said the trial was a great opportunity for some of the younger players like Cade Cust and Luke Metcalf to step up ahead of the Roosters trial.
“It was good to have a good hit out and some live action. We have been doing a lot of opposed sessions, so it was good to go out there and play some footy,’’ he said.
“(Baz) has told us that he will pick his best 17, so everyone is hoping to be in that 17.
“We have the Knights in round one in two weeks so we definitely want to put our best foot forward.”
Winterstein said he was impressed with prop Addin Fonua-Blake’s first up run.
“He came back from the World Cup with the Kiwis full of confidence, so it is great to see him start the season off so well,’’ he added.
