Most rugby teams around the world would struggle if they lost their six top flyhalves in a matter of weeks and Manly in 2020 were no different.

The Marlins missed the finals last season but were able to unearth a handful of future stars though and enter the 2021 season bigger, stronger and full of confidence. 

Overview with Matt McGoldrick:

“Everything is going well at this stage and we’re quite happy with how everyone is training,” McGoldrick told Rugby News. 

“We’ve taken a bit of a different approach to our preseason this year and we actually gave the guys time off until Australia Day to give them a good break, which left us with a 10 week preseason ahead of round one. 

“2020 was a strange one for us. At one point we had Jack Walsh, who is now playing for Exeter, Sam Lane, Jimmy Ohmsen, Jack Bergin and BJ Hartmann all injured and that made it really tough. Particularly losing such quality. 

“With Covid, the club decided that our priority was to get through the season and meet all of our financial obligations, so we didn’t go out and find players midseason to replace those injuries. 

“The teams that did well all picked up players from the Aussie 7s, or from the Waratahs but we didn’t do that. 

“At the end of the day, we were able to give a lot of guys opportunities that probably wouldn’t have played first grade last year otherwise. 

“A guy like James Parker, who played No.12 for us last year, he was playing third grade in 2019 and he’ll be starting in the centres in our first trial this weekend. He was a flanker at this point of the season last year.”

“It was quite useful to spend a season looking at all the talent that we had at the club and then addressing the holes that we needed to fill from elsewhere. 

“It was a hard season, particularly for the players, but we all took a lot out of it. We lost six flyhalfs in a month in 2020, it’s pretty unheard of, and we didn’t recruit to replace them. 

“To the boys credit, there weren’t many games that we weren’t in last year. Against Easts it was 10-5 with 15 minutes to go, against Gordon it was 7-3 with 15 to go. A lot of guys really stood up for us and it was great to see. 

“Hunter Ward is going to be unbelievable this year. He’s put on eight or nine kilos and he’s the ultimate teammate. He’s a great bloke with a really strong work ethic. 

“We’ve got another guy Langi Gleeson, he’s coming out of our colts and played in the Waratahs A game the other night, he looks like a superstar. 

“Max Douglas is also at the Waratahs but will most likely spend a fair bit of time with us this season. It’s an exciting time for the club.”

2020: 9th (4 wins, 1 draw, 7 losses)

Ins: Tevin Ferris (Western Force), George Noa (Newcastle) Manaia Koko (Melbourne), Dion Spice (West Harbour), Justin Tavae (West Harbour), Komiti Tuilagi (West Canberra). 

Outs: Alex Dalzell (sabbatical), Van Stewart (MLR), Kotoni Ale (retired), Gunz Fuavao (Gordon), Tim Donlan (sabbatical), Mick Adams (retired).

Key areas of improvement: 

“We need to get better around our game management and we need to improve our attacking structures. Last year made it so difficult to build any sort of clarity in our attack with so many injuries so we had no choice but to drive mauls and try to win games from scrums. 

“Our attack has been a big focus over summer. I think we’re a lot clearer now about what we are trying to do and I think we’ve got the players to do it.”

Player(s) to watch:

“I think Harley Attwater is going to have a really big year for us. He looks really fit and has been training really hard over summer. He’ll play No.12 for us and I think he’s going to have a good year. 

“Hunter Ward is also going to have a big year. He turned 22 today actually and he’s just a terrific player. 

“We had our preseason camp out on a farm last weekend and he’s just the ultimate teammate, one of those guys that sees something that needs to be done and does it. He never complains and just gets on with the job, whatever that might be.”

Bold prediction for the 2021 season:

“Eastwood are probably the team to beat, they are going to be really good. Newcastle are also going to be good, gee they’ve spent some money. 

“Those two along with Sydney Uni, they’ll be the pacesetters. Sydney Uni will be Rob Taylor Uni, not the Uni we saw last year. 

“For us, we want to be back playing finals footy and give ourselves a chance at the end of the year. 

“I think our squad is a lot deeper than it was last year, I think there are a few different ways we can play and I’m reasonably comfortable with where we are at ahead of round one.”