Savage is quick to boost hopes
THE Tugun Seahawks will pin their hopes of a local derby upset against Currumbin Eagles on the livewire skills of two 18-year-olds in the outside backs.
Langer Cup stars from Palm Beach Currumbin State High, Jack Smith and Xavier Savage, will combine with Corey Morris to form a potent back three that will challenge the Currumbin Eagles, whose strengths lie in the forwards.
Canberra Raiders signing Savage is one of Australian rugby league’s fastest players with a personal best 100m of 10.5 seconds.
He will make his senior debut at 3pm on Saturday.
Wing partner Smith is a schoolboy fullback but has found his feet with two games under his belt on the wing at the Seahawks.
Head coach Clint Barends says strike power in the outside backs is his side’s key to ambushing last year’s semifinalists at Tugun.
“The game against Currumbin is always good, it’s a local derby and there’s a bit of history there so it’s easy for the boys to get up for this one,” Barends said.
“Our strength is we have a bit of strike in our outside backs.
“Hopefully we can get them clean footy and give them some space to work with and see what they can do. They have got all the promise in the world and they’ve done some unbelievable things at training.”
Former Parramatta Eel Pele Peletelese, Stu Mason and Jarrod Gill are just some of the names Currumbin has built its forward-dominant reputation upon.
Former Tugun forward Martin Griese now coaches the Eagles which will only add a level of spice to the southern RLGC derby.
At 4.30pm, Southport Tigers will host a Mudgeeraba Redbacks outfit running hot after an upset victory over Tugun last week, 22-10.
Ormeau Shearers drew with Runaway Bay 18-all last week but they’ll need to find another gear if they hope to challenge the defending champions Burleigh Bears on Sunday, who are undefeated after two weeks of the season.