Wigness to be ‘a real handful in the centres’

BROTHERS coach Paul Stevens says Isaiah Wigness has filled-out over the CDRL’s long off-season and looks ready to do some damage in the Lightning Challenge.

The versatile outside back will line up for the Brethren when they take on the Northern Pride Reef Kings in the opening match of the one-off rugby league series at Stan

Williams Park on Saturday. Stevens said Wigness had been impressive since the club returned to training.

He said he was looking forward to seeing what the strike centre could produce on the field in senior rugby league’s Far North Queensland return.

“He’s filled out through the COVID period and I think he’s going to be a real handful in the centres,” he said.

“He’ll spend a bit of time in the centres, and possibly at fullback as well.

“He’ll probably get an opportunity during the series to go back there.”

Stevens had high expectations for his new halves combination of Jordan Biondi-Odo and Theo Majid.

“They look really good and they just click well with one another,” he said.

“For whatever reason, they just seem to get along really well together. I think I was saying this before COVID, that I was really looking forward to that, and it hasn’t gone away.

“How they’ve been training over the last two weeks and running the side, they look really sharp.”

While the six-week series is far from a fully fledged competition, Stevens said the club would still be going out on to the field with goals in mind.

“The most important thing for us, and what I want to see personally, is that we put on good performances,” he said.

“From a club perspective, we want to be playing a good brand of football to promote the game and our club.

“If we can do that I’ll be pretty happy and I think they will over the next six weeks.

“Another key thing for us is giving some of our young blokes a go and seeing how they handle it.”