Greater Northern Tigers under-16 coach Steve Haylen has admitted to suffering "nerves" ahead of the side's crucial clash against Central Coast at Farrer on Saturday.
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But that does not have anything to do with the ability of his team. On the contrary, Haylen draws encouragement from knowing that he has a "more rounded side" than last year's outfit.
While he said he did not have any "super, super stars" - "without any disrespect to the boys" - he did have "some fellas who know how to play pretty good football all round".
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"With this year's team, I'm pretty happy to say we can expect the same from every player, and not rely on key players doing the job for them, which is encouraging for us," he said.
On Saturday, the Tigers will look to open their Andrew Johns Cup account after going down 18-12 to the Knights in round one at Maitland last Sunday.
Haylen said "silly mistakes" cost the side in that match. And given the short nature of the tournament, the Tigers had to "step up" on Saturday and win.
He said his players were "very disappointed" after the Newcastle match. "Which is not a bad sign ... Overall our effort and some of our defensive sets were really, really encouraging."
Haylen singled out "busy" hooker Aiden Bermingham and prop Jake Clydsdale as Tigers with plenty of promise.
Tigers: Aiden Bermingham, Joash Boney, Jake Clydsdale, Jermaine Craigie, Thomas Donahue, Kurt Fischer, Jack Grob, Malakia Griffiths, Calum Goodwin, Corbin Hampstead, Malik Hunt, Lewis Hippi, Ben Jones, Mitch Kemp, Hunter Marsh, Dan McMillan, Max Smith, Junah Warden.
