Manly Assistant Coach Jim Dymock will take over the coaching reigns for the Sea Eagles opening match of the NRL Pre-Season Challenge in Gosford on Saturday, February 17.
Similar to last year's Pre-Season Challenge match against Souths, Head Coach Anthony Seibold has stepped aside to give Dymock the chance to further develop his coaching skills.
It gives Seibold the rare opportunity to observe team logistics from the coaches box to the sideline.
The Pre-Season Challenge sees $100,000 in prize money up for grabs, split evenly between clubs and players. Teams earn bonus points for tries, line breaks and offloads.
The Sea Eagles won the inaugural Pre-Season Challenge last year.
We caught up with Jimmy to get his views ahead of the Sydney Roosters match at Industree Group Stadium. Kick-off 3.45pm.
The match will be shown live and exclusive on Fox Sports and Kayo.
Wayne Cousins: Jimmy, what did you learn from coaching the team in the Pre-Season Challenge match last year?
Jim Dymock: It was a good experience for me. It was a young side. It was a different concept for the boys, especially with the bonus points being up for grabs because of the prizemoney on offer. With that in mind, we still tried to play the way we worked on stuff all pre-season for our game model. At the end when the game was in the balance, we sent out a message to try and rack up the offloads as well to give us every chance of tying to win the money.
WC: What changes on Saturday now that 'Seibs' has appointed you as coach?
JD: It will be good for ‘Seibs’ to get down on the sideline and see how it all runs. For me, it’s nothing really different. At the end of the day if we win, we are still on zero (competition) points. If we lose, we are still on zero. But what you do want to do is put out a good performance. Every time we put the (Manly) jumper on, we are representing our community and our families, so you always want to do well.
WC: What is the mindset for Saturday with Manly heading to Las Vegas next week to prepare for the historic Double Header.
JD: The Roosters have got a strong side in but in saying that, it gives our boys an opportunity to perform well. Some blokes are trying to get a foot on the plane to Las Vegas, they may have one foot on. There’s an opportunity for some of these young blokes to get on the plane, not to play obviously, but to be part of the squad and to help us train, so it will be a good experience either way.
WC: What excites you about the team taking on the Roosters?
JD: What I do like is that the majority of them have played first grade. There are a few younger blokes there that haven’t played NRL like Bailey Hodgson and Lehi Hopoate. We will send out a good side. No disrespect to Souths last week as they didn’t send out many first graders, it was more reserve graders and some Jersey Flegg players. This is a step up in class as the Roosters are fielding a good side. It will just show where the boys are at. We don’t need to worry about what the Roosters do. We can’t really control that. All we can control is what we can do, so just stuff we have been working on the whole pre-season. Hopefully they can put their best foot forward.
WC: You are now into your second year as Manly Assistant Coach under 'Seibs'. What are some of the main lessons you have learnt from working with him?
JD: ‘Seibs’ definitely leaves no stone unturned. He is very organised, he is very prepared. If you come to meetings, or you have to do any video or are up in front of the boys for a talk, you have to make sure you are prepared and that everything is planned. He has been good for me in that respect. Just with attention to detail, he is very good at that. Sometimes its look like I’m a little bit off the cuff but I’m not really. I do like attention to detail, so it’s been a bonus for me to be able to learn under him.
