Leopards in good shape back up in Fox

By Campbell Burnes

The building blocks are in place for the Otahuhu Leopards to make a good fist of their re-entry to the Fox Memorial competition in 2018.

Second year coach John Ackland, who guided the premiers to the 2017 Sharman Cup title, has lost no one from last season’s squad and says the early trial form, which includes reaching the semifinals of last month’s ARL Nines, has been promising.

“They were a very young side in 2017. They are a year older, so we are expecting them to improve. We’ve had really good numbers at training again, so that’s a plus. It looks like we’ll have enough depth to last the year,” says the vastly experienced Ackland.

“We’ve got an energetic committee who are behind the team, so it’s looking as good as it can for this time of year. We’ll see how things pan out. Everyone’s fit and healthy and the bad weather hasn’t set in yet.”

The question of how significant the gap is between Sharman and Fox levels will be definitively answered in the coming weeks.

“I suspect that, aside from the top 3-4 Fox teams, there isn’t such a big gap, but we’ll have to wait and see,” says Ackland.

He is enjoying his stint at Otahuhu, having previously coached the Mt Albert Lions at both Fox and Bartercard Cup level.

“Both clubs are very similar, in my opinion. Both have survived a long time and had a lot of good players. They are real rugby league clubs and steeped in tradition. The good thing about these boys is that a lot of them started at Otahuhu at the age of five or six. That’s fantastic and very unusual in this day and age. That was one of the attractions for me in coming here.”

Ackland’s assistant is again former Otahuhu, Newcastle Knights and Wigan centre/wing George Carmont.

His captain will be Tana Kuea, who was named on the interchange bench of the 2017 Sharman Cup team of the year. But there is a core of leaders in the squad.

While there are no defections of note, there are five significant new recruits, two of whom – wing Setu Tu from Mangere East and centre Sione Tongia from Australia – are returning to their Otahuhu roots. Jonah Sofele, who is injured, has come over from Point Chevalier. Hooker/utility Izak Matene shifts from Marist, while back-row Damon Simann hails from Christchurch.

The Leopards open their Fox campaign on Saturday against the Marist Saints at Murray Halberg Park. The first home outing at Bert Henham Park will come on April 14 against the Howick Hornets.