By LIZ MOORE

One to watch, Sunnybank’s Liam McNamara is back from injury and ready to take on GPS this weekend. The former Australian Sevens and Under 20s player injured his knee in his first NRC game for Brisbane City in September last year, after finishing a stint in the Reds squad.

Missing the first trial games of 2020 following surgery and rehabilitation on his ACL joint, McNamara used the Covid delays to get his knee strong for the shortened season. He’s been happy with his progress, and grateful to the club where he started as a junior.

“Sunnybank have been good and eased me back into it with playing minutes,” McNamara said.

“I’ve been able to get through 80 minutes and it’s been feeling pretty good so just getting that confidence back has been a big thing. I feel like I’m getting that confidence and feeling confident to play.”

Commonly a fullback, this season so far 23-year-old McNamara has been playing inside centre for the Dragons.

The business student said the team’s narrow loss to UQ, 24-26, on the weekend showed the growing strength in his team.

“It was a really big test for us, with UQ being Premiers from last year. We knew it was going to be a tough battle, but I think we played really well,” he said.

“We were in front most of the game, but unfortunately UQ just came back in the last couple of minutes to seal the win, which was quite disappointing but it was a really good effort from the boys.”

It came on the back of another nail-biter in Round One against Souths, 14-13, this time with Sunnybank snatching victory by one point with a penalty goal on full-time.

“We’re definitely learning from each experience. We’ve had a few tight games now so just having that ability to win those tight situations and make sure we’re making the right decisions has been a very big learning point for us this season.”

McNamara said his team are expecting this weekend against GPS to be as tough as any other.

“It’s going to be another big test for us. GPS have got a really strong side at the moment. Really good forwards and some good ball-carrying backs, so they’re going to be quite dangerous this week so we really need to be prepared and front up against GPS.”

As with his knee, McNamara is growing in confidence with his team each game.
“We have areas we definitely know we can improve, but I feel like we’re building very well into the season for the back-end,” he added.

IMAGE: BRENDAN HERTEL / QRU