Australia Tour Day Five

The first match looms...

Day Five – Friday October 13

Ian Talbot writes: After yesterday’s busy day and the lasting effects of jet lag slowly wearing off the lads were afforded a lie in this morning, with the breakfast crew only required to rustle up the daily delights for 8am instead of the regular 7am.

It’s taken a little longer than expected but Jamie Little came up with one of his classic comments in a discussion with Steve Leonard this morning.

As ‘Leo’ was sorting the clothes in the washing machine Jamie asked:  “Why is the washing machine on its side?” as he struggled to come to terms with a toploading machine.

After breakfast we headed off to the beautiful Manly beach to allow the lads some free time to play in the surf or roam around the shops.

With weather on the beach reaching 28 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, the lads were advised strongly to apply sunscreen, to ‘slap it on and don’t miss a bit’ with Kian Horridge paying particular attention.

Unfortunately, Kian got it slightly wrong as he missed his cheeks and put the cream in his eyes, but he showed consistency as he then made the same mistake soon after with his aftersun!

Next up we were off to Belmore, home of Canterbury Bulldogs for a stadium tour and then our Captain’s Run, the final training session before tomorrow’s game.

Good friend of the Saints, Warren McDonnell, Bulldogs recruitment manager and dad of ex-saints player Shannon, showed the lads around the hugely impressive facilities before we headed off onto the pitch to train.

The training session went really well with the lads showing that they are now ready to go.

The Bulldogs League’s Club was next on the agenda for dinner before heading off back to Penrith.

“It was nice to catch up with Warren McDonnell. He has always been a good friend of the club and has always looked after us on these trips. Once again today he has been a great host and we are very thankful to him and everyone at the Bulldogs for making us so welcome,” commented Steve Leonard.

The attention now turns to tomorrow’s opening match of the tour.

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