A number of individuals stood out over the Easter long weekend, including a new recruit from across the ditch as well as some more familiar faces. 

We picked out five of the best performers from round three of the 2022 Shute Shield season. 

Luke Glen – Eastern Suburbs

New Beasties fullback Luke Glen was untouchable in the first half against the Two Blues at Woollahra on Saturday and set up two tries in a match Easts’ desperately needed to win to get their season going. 

Glen looks to be a real talent and will likely have even more impact when he’s surrounded by Waratahs later this year. 

James Hilterbrand – Manly

The veteran hooker rarely has a bad day in a Manly jersey but produced something special on Saturday, plucking a ball from his shoe laces to set up an important try in the Marlin’s impressive win over Randwick. 

He then scored a try of his own later in the match as Manly claimed back to back wins for the first time since May last year. 

Nathan Russell – Northern Suburbs

The Queensland centre has been in career best form for the Shoremen and continued that on Saturday against a 14-man Rebels outfit at North Sydney Oval. 

Russell showed great strength to drag three Souths’ defenders over the line to score his first try, then produced a similar effort to bag a double in the second half.

Charlie Tupou – Warringah

Warringah coach Mike Ruthven probably wasn’t over happy when winger Charlie Tupou snatched the ball and took a quick tap metres from the try line with the match in the balance in the first half. 

But Tupou knew what he was doing and scored to swing momentum back to the visitors in their upset win over Gordon at Chatswood. Tupou should have bagged a double but was tackled illegally near the tryline and awarded a penalty try instead. 

Ciaran Loh – Sydney Uni

If there is one trend to pick from the opening rounds of the 2022 Shute Shield season, it’s that teams must be able to score from driving mauls and they must find a way to stop their opponents doing the same thing. 

Uni’s maul was incredible on Saturday and led to the lion’s share of their tries. Loh led those efforts and scored twice on the back of the Students steamroll.