RUGBY LEAGUE

Pride to let prized recruit off the leash

THE Northern Pride are set to unleash prized off-season recruit Nick Lui-Toso on the Townsville Blackhawks this weekend.

The powerhouse prop will make his first appearance in Northern Pride colours in Saturday afternoon’s trial match against arch rivals the Blackhawks at Barlow Park, in a curtain-raiser to the Cowboys and Broncos NRL trial match.

Lui-Toso’s Pride teammates opened their pre-season with a 32-16 victory over the Cairns Foley Shield side last weekend, but the boom middle forward was forced to sit on the sidelines with coach Ty Williams opting to keep him on ice until this weekend’s second trial.

Although, sitting might be the wrong word, according to the coach.

“He was like a dog on a leash,” Williams said.

“He was ready to get in there and he did everything possible to help us out – he was carrying water bottles.

“He just wanted amongst the boys.”

A former Penrith Pantherscontracted player, Lui-Toso was a mainstay for the club’s New South Wales Cup side in 2019.

The 23-year-old decided to move north for the 2020 season with hopes of picking up an NRL contract with the Cowboys, where he played under-20s in 2016.

He was invited to a twoweek training stint with the Cowboys this pre-season, and had his stay extended another seven days after he impressed coaching staff.

Williams said he was excited to see the 110kg forward in his first competitive hitout for the club this Saturday.

“Visually, I’ve seen a fair bit through what we did for recruitment and everything, but we’ll let him go out there and see how he goes,” he said.

“This week will be a stepping stone to next week for him. He’ll play limited minutes this week and then play majority of what he needs to play in the last trial against PNG (at Barlow Park on February 29).” to be