By MARK CASHMAN

In the words of their coach Matt McGoldrick, the Manly Marlins are “banged up” but ready to go to put in when they take on Southern Districts on Saturday.

In my conversations with the Shute Shield coaches each week it’s been hard to split the clubs that have been hit hardest by injury, but if we were going to have a grand final Southern Districts and the Marlins would be in it.

McGoldrick says they have used four scrum halfs, four No.10s and four inside centres.

“But on the other side of things we have found first graders to fill those gaps and we will benefit from that in the future,” McGoldrick said.

“It’s tough to find the wins when the injury toll is like that, we’ve busted our arse to compete and haven’t tossed it in at any stage.

“Against Randwick last weekend they had six or seven guys back from the Rebels and the Tahs while we didn’t have any to bolster our ranks.

“That said we have really improved a lot of our younger guys like Sio (Tatolo) and Conor (Davidson) so I’m really bullish about the future of the club.”

Souths’ injury woes have been well documented with more than a handful of their Shute Shield squad copping season and sometimes career ending injuries.

The latest was their scrum half Sam Harris who got a head knock a couple of weeks back and has been advised not to play rugby again.

That whole scenario has been guys like Cooper Chambers and also Sama Malolo come through and perform well.

Malolo was pretty close to the best on the field in the first half against Northern Suburbs last weekend but he will be missing after copping a blue card.

The big in for Souths coach Todd Louden is on the wing where Trae Williams will get his chance.

The former Sevens squad member and sprinter has genuine gas and will have to be watched closely.

Back on the Marlins front this will be the final game for Mick Adams who is retiring at the end of the season.

Adams has been a major contributor to the Manly cause since he headed south from Warringah and he will be missed.

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS (1-15):

Andrew Tuala, Joe Cotton, Tetera Faulkner, Jordan Brown, Jake Douglas, Phil Potgieter, James Finch, Clayton Clinch, Cooper Chambers, Christian Kagiassis, Trae Williams, Viliami Latu, Nathan Lawson, Deon Evans-Ao, Brandon Finnegan.

MANLY MARLINS (1-15):

Alefosio Tatola, James Hilterbrand, Conor Davidson, Alex Dalzell, Max Douglas, Hunter Ward, Harry Bergelin, Dan Alley, Jack Young, Harley Attwater, Mick Adams, Fraser Toohey, Dennis Pili-Gaitau, Harry Haywood, Yool Yool.

IMAGE: ADAM MACDONALD / MANLY MARLINS