The Manly Marlins showed that they are not far from being a genuine contender to add to their trophy cabinet but injuries and some big name departures meant they came up short in 2018. The Marlins finished fourth and were out of the playoffs by the second week of finals but there were some diamonds found in their playing ranks. Head Coach Brian ‘Billy’ Melrose loved the work rate and toughness of backorder Sam Shires and feels that as long as some locals come through they will be in a vert good place in 2019. Here’s what Melrose had to say about their 2018 season: With hindsight, how do you look back on the season?  We had a lot of new players coming in and some significant injuries as well as some departures but we fought hard and played fairly close to our potential in a toughly contested competition. Disappointing though to fall short. You started the season reasonably well, what can you put that down to?  We started the season in win-then-loss mode for six