Keas to defend league crown
Club pride and Canterbury Bulls jerseys are on the line when the rugby league premiership kicks off for another season.
Canterbury have lost five New Zealand Residents representatives with Matt Sauni (Linwood) and Tevin Arona (Hornby) now part of the Warriors reserve grade squad and Phil Nati (Celebration), Chris Bamford (Linwood), and Nathan Saumalu (Papanui) playing in Australia.
They leave big boots to fill, but opportunities abound for new players to fill the breach.
‘‘We’re looking for the guys that were involved last year to step it up after losing Chris and Matt, two really experienced players,’’ said Andrew Auimatagi, coach of 2016 premiership champions Linwood and the Canterbury Bulls.
Linwood have added Eddie Enosa from Celebration and rugby union recruit Ben McIvor, but can still call on a seasoned core included Bulls representatives Alex Todd, Erwin and Paul Sauni and Agaese Fiso and the up and coming Jiordan Fidow-Kele.
The Keas have a tough first-up game against the Hornby Panthers, who have offset the loss of Arona, Paradise Mann (Papanui) and David Tongo Tongo (Melbourne) by signing former Bulls hard man Ross Turi from the Northern Bulldogs and ex-Bull Will Tafua after a season’s break.
The Papanui Tigers were the 2015 champions – their first title in 17 years – and coach Shane Endacott said making the top-four for a third consecutive year would be ‘‘a major achievement’’ for a club that had ‘‘struggled a bit over previous years’’.
But Endacott has signed Mann from Hornby and Aucklander George Vuna, brother of former NRL player Cooper Vuna and still has James [Wihongi], Izic Placic, John Tafua, Josh Ka and Jules Webley.
The Aranui Eagles will also be absent from their Wainoni Park heartland, but coach Christian Swift is hopeful of cracking the top four for the first time since 2012. Riccarton stalwart Shane Tamatea has stepped down to coach the reserves in the Canterbury Cup after more than 300 first grade games.
The Celebration Lions welcome back Kasi Leka, Abraham Fonomoa and Francis Tuiletufuga after a year off and ex-Bulls scrumhalf Tama Walker has made the short journey from Aranui.
The Northern Bulldogs have lost their three most experienced players with brothers Kyle and Josh Reuben retiring in the offseason and Turi joining Hornby.
But coach Te Hira Niha, who turned the Kaiapoi team around last year, is still shooting for a topfour place – 10 years after the Bulldogs’ sole premiership success and in their 60th year. Scrumhalf Sean Scott will bolster the Halswell Hornets’ backline and Jaye Pukepuke and Jason Galland will provide much-needed experience as the 10-time champions seek to shed their wooden spoon tag.