JASON AVEDISSIAN
24feb05
MANLY can lay claims to being the fastest team in league with three of their backs clocking under 11 seconds over 100m during the past week.
Chris Hicks, Brett Stewart and Scott Donald have all sliced up the track at Narrabeen with Sea Eagles sprint coach Clayton Kearney claiming no other club in the NRL will catch them this year.
Kearney revealed all three have clocked under 11 seconds hand-timed with Hicks the quickest at 10.55sec.
It's enough to convince Kearney that Manly will have the fastest backline in the NRL this year.
"I can't think who's going to beat us," Kearney, a former Australian 200m champion and World Indoor semi-finalist, said yesterday.
"I'd like to think they are number one.
"We've got three guys or so who are capable of going under 11 seconds.
"Even Hoppa (John Hopoate) is at 11.1, 11.2. He's dropped a lot of weight and is probably the fastest and strongest he's been in his career. It's a credit to Des (head coach Des Hasler) and the coaching staff."
Kearney said the speed is not restricted to the backs with forwards Steve Menzies and Brent Kite burning up at the club's impressive training facilities at the Sydney Sports Academy at Narrabeen.
"This is our strength this year," Kearney said. "Beaver has got faster and I think he's the fastest in his career.
"Even Kitey said he was so much quicker than he's ever been."
Kearney, in his fourth season as Manly's sprint coach, said Essendon got a "shock" when they trained alongside the Sea Eagles earlier this month at Narrabeen.
"We were consistently faster than them over 20m," Kearney said. "Essendon got a bit of a shock as to how quick we were. The harmony in the joint is really good."
Manly travel to Albion Park on Saturday to play St George-Illawarra in their final trial before the season kicks-off next month.
Geoff Toovey's Premier League squad meets the Dragons at Brookvale Oval on Sunday.
Manly meet the Warriors at Ericsson Stadium in round one on March 13.
24feb05
MANLY can lay claims to being the fastest team in league with three of their backs clocking under 11 seconds over 100m during the past week.
Chris Hicks, Brett Stewart and Scott Donald have all sliced up the track at Narrabeen with Sea Eagles sprint coach Clayton Kearney claiming no other club in the NRL will catch them this year.
Kearney revealed all three have clocked under 11 seconds hand-timed with Hicks the quickest at 10.55sec.
It's enough to convince Kearney that Manly will have the fastest backline in the NRL this year.
"I can't think who's going to beat us," Kearney, a former Australian 200m champion and World Indoor semi-finalist, said yesterday.
"I'd like to think they are number one.
"We've got three guys or so who are capable of going under 11 seconds.
"Even Hoppa (John Hopoate) is at 11.1, 11.2. He's dropped a lot of weight and is probably the fastest and strongest he's been in his career. It's a credit to Des (head coach Des Hasler) and the coaching staff."
Kearney said the speed is not restricted to the backs with forwards Steve Menzies and Brent Kite burning up at the club's impressive training facilities at the Sydney Sports Academy at Narrabeen.
"This is our strength this year," Kearney said. "Beaver has got faster and I think he's the fastest in his career.
"Even Kitey said he was so much quicker than he's ever been."
Kearney, in his fourth season as Manly's sprint coach, said Essendon got a "shock" when they trained alongside the Sea Eagles earlier this month at Narrabeen.
"We were consistently faster than them over 20m," Kearney said. "Essendon got a bit of a shock as to how quick we were. The harmony in the joint is really good."
Manly travel to Albion Park on Saturday to play St George-Illawarra in their final trial before the season kicks-off next month.
Geoff Toovey's Premier League squad meets the Dragons at Brookvale Oval on Sunday.
Manly meet the Warriors at Ericsson Stadium in round one on March 13.
