Former Manly Sea Eagles Anthony Watmough and Glenn Stewart head to US with new NRL clubs
Dean Ritchie
The Daily Telegraph
October 30, 2014 12:00AM
FORMER Manly teammates Anthony Watmough and Glenn Stewart will embark on a 100,000km world odyssey to kickstart new careers away from Brookvale Oval.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Watmough will travel with new club Parramatta next week to an elite training camp with NFL giants Seattle on the US west coast.
Watmough and 23 Parramatta players will fly to Vancouver before travelling south to Seattle for a 10-day camp where players will be tested and train in a low-key bonding camp.
While Watmough is preparing his passport, Stewart is also ready to fly at new club Souths.
The former NSW and Test back-rower will travel to Arizona, via Los Angeles, in mid-November to a high-altitude (2500m) training camp in Flagstaff.
Stewart and Rabbitohs teammates will complete canyon hikes, fitness drills and long runs. It will be the perfect way for Stewart to meet and understand his new teammates.
In late January, Watmough and Stewart will then be in contention to play the Auckland Nines tournament in New Zealand.
And Stewart will pack his kit bag once again before the start of the NRL season.
He will fly from Sydney to London, then onto Manchester before staying in Leeds for South Sydney’s World Club Challenge showdown against Super League premiers St Helens.
Overall, the pair will have travelled more than 90,000km before playing a single NRL game for their new clubs.
Life away from Manly suddenly isn’t so bad.
“Glenn was a team leader at Manly and we want him to have a similar role here,” Rabbitohs chief executive Shane Richardson said.
“This will be a chance for Glenn to get to know his new teammates. Hopefully we can exploit all the things that made him such a great player at Manly.”
Richardson said trips to Arizona and England will prepare his side for their premiership defence next year.
“It will be a fantastic opportunity for the players,” Richardson said. “Arizona won’t be about team bonding in the old way but about bonding through physical training.
“The World Club Challenge will be a great experience in England, especially for ‘Madge’ (coach Michael Maguire, who previously guided Wigan) to return to England and for me to return to Hull.
“It will open the players’ eyes to the world of rugby league and what the game can offer.”
Manly has released Watmough but has not officially lodged the papers with NRL management.
Once that is done, Watmough can formally sign with Parramatta.
Stewart and Watmough played a combined 463 matches for the Sea Eagles. Manly have signed Willie Mason and Feleti Mateo to combat the loss of the pair and the retired Jason King.
