By MARK CASHMAN

In Harley we trust – that’s the attitude of Manly coach Matt McGoldrick as he gets ready to throw himself once again into the great northern beaches derby against Warringah on Saturday.

The Marlins haven’t won a derby game against the Rats since May of 2018 and the feeling at the Village Green has an “It’s Time” vibe about it.

I’m not sure if we could say it’s Gough Whitlam and the 1972 Federal election all over again, but as they say in rugby the longer you go the closer you are to a breakthrough.

McGoldrick has been impressed with the way that his mid season recruit Harley Attwater has handled the way that he has come to the Marlins.

“Doesn’t matter who he’s playing, he’s keen to do well,” McGoldrick told the Northern Beaches Sports Tribune this week.

“He’ll be as keen and motivated this week as he was at Penrith, or against Gordon, or Wests.”

Attwater is one of 11 former Manly Colts in the Marlins team for Saturday’s game, a big tick for the club’s development processes.

“Most of the guys he played Colts with are in the team, so it’s been great for them to see him back and have him around,” McGoldrick added.

“He’s been very good for our club. He’s just a very good footballer: tough, super-competitive.

“And he’s a champion bloke. I really like him. I liked him when he was here before.

“I even liked him when he was up the road!”

Up the road Rats coach Mike Ruthven believes form will go out the window on Saturday.

“The group are really looking forward to the derby so it should be another great battle,” he said.

“Not much changes for us in terms of how we approach this game.

“I am confident we have more footy in us than they do so we will be looking to be up tempo and positive with the ball.”

What Ruthven is talking about is the impact of guys like Seb Wileman and fullback Ben Marr who I reckon is the most impactful player in the Shute Shield at the moment.

Marr was great in the first 20 minutes against Southern Districts but will need to not let himself drift out of the game like last weekend against the Rebels.

The Marlins will come at the Rats at scrum time and they will try to unsettle their line out as well.

But with Boyd Killingworth, Maclean Jones and Charlie McKill all working off the bench the visitors should get a kick up in momentum some time in the second half.

“We will be looking for a real shift in momentum when those guys come into the game,” Ruthven added.

Whether that will be enough is yet to be determined. Ah the uncertainty of sport!

MANLY MARLINS (1-15):

Alefosio Tatola, James Hilterbrand, Conor Davidson, Van Stewart, Alex Dalzell, Harry Bergelin, Mitch Tye, Daniel Alley, Harry Emery, Harley Attwater, Fraser Toohey, James Parker, Michael Adams, Yool Yool, Jed Ibbotson.

WARRINGAH (1-15):

Sateki Latu, Wes Thomas, Wayne Borsak, Andrew Davies, Alex O’Dell, Rory Suttor, Mungo Mason, Sam Ward (c), Josh Holmes, Tom Halse, Charlie Tupu, Tyson Davis, Seb Wileman (vc), Ezera Chee-Kam, Ben Marr.

LAST TIME: Warringah W 28-23, July 20, 2019

IMAGE: ADAM MCDONALD / MANLY MARLINS