GUARD CHANGE

SEAGULLS PLOTTING REVIVAL

A CHANGING of the guard has given Tweed Heads a clean slate to prove doubters wrong this Intrust Super Cup season.

The Seagulls have struggled in recent years as a lack of resources and top talent has forced to try to punch above their weight week in, week out.

In 2018, it’s an even newer squad in the black and white.

Champion backs James Wood and Nathanael Barnes have retired. Halfback Michael Burgess has joined Currumbin in Rugby League Gold Coast.

Long-time coach Aaron Zimmerle resigned at the end of last season, as did chief executive Scott Clark a few months later. They have been replaced by Ben Woolf and Matthew Jobson, respectively.

A fresh wave of players from the NSW Cup have migrated north, including newly appointed skipper Cheyne Whitelaw, and a host of names who played under Woolf in Titans under-20 have signed too.

Second-rower Hiale Roycroft has made a particularly big impression since moving down from the Cowboys. Fullback Ali Grant has returned from injury plus a stint at the Ballina Seagulls with a bang.

Still, many are tipping Tweed to find it difficult.

“We showed last year in glimpses that we could cut it with the top sides,” said vicecaptain Sam Meskell, a teaching colleague of Woolf’s at Coombabah State High.

“This year there is more depth which helps, so if we can keep a consistent team on the park and hopefully get a bit of help from the Titans boys I think it will be a positive year.”

While some club greats have moved on, Meskell said legacies continued in the form of Matt King, Tim Maccan and Brad Davis, all of whom now hold coaching roles.

“There is still that connection with past legends. It is important to keep that and, even though it is a bit of a fresh start, still have that culture,” he said.