DAY 17 (Part Two) – After three incredibly bruising games in eight days, this final week has been about refreshing weary bodies and fine tuning some areas of play for the final game against Penrith this weekend.
Much of the focus has been about positional specific elements, decision making under pressure and defensive techniques to combat the bigger and more physical Samoan and Tongan players that form the bulk of Australian Academy sides.
Today’s activity for the players was very much an “off feet” focus seeing them head out to Shelley Beach in Manly to try their hand at scuba diving.
As usual Chris Follin seemed to have the most questions and he rarely engages his brain before his mouth.
This time though he was assisted by Rob Fairclough who wanted to know if they could have a little practice in a swimming pool.
Jordan Olmez’s anxiety saw him fail the initial task of writing his own name on a sheet of paper… typically Harry Coleman struggled to get his size 14.5 feet into a pair of 12s and they didn’t have enough weights to allow Levy Nzoungou to sink!
After much swapping and changing of wetsuits Kevin Brown was combing his hair and spraying deodorant everywhere, mystifying everyone as to who or what he was trying to impress five metres below.
Overall the afternoon was a success and we even saw Derek Traynor at the bbq cooking the lads’ food once they’d finished.
The penultimate training session that followed was as impressive as they’ve all been. The players have consistently been focused, determined and eager to learn and this attitude has been reflected in the three performances to date.
Just one more big challenge remains and the squad of 2015 can equal the squad of 2011’s four wins from four games record in a side included Adam Swift, Luke Thompson, Mark Percival, Greg Richards and Andre Savelio!
By Neil Kilshaw
