Marlins kick off Saturday
Marlins kick off Saturday
March 21, 2007
Section: Sport
SHELLHARBOUR'S newest sporting team, the Marlins, kick off their inaugural Jim Beam Cup campaign this Saturday night.
The Marlins host Erina at Ron Costello Oval in the season opener for 2007, which will double as the Kia Cup.
The Marlins, an offshoot of the Shellharbour City South Coast Rugby League club, have a host of local juniors and Sharks players in their 17-man squad for Saturday night.
Jamie Manukonga, Nathan Cooper, Matt Coelho, Jeff Zwolsman and Hans Schuster are all in the Marlins' side after starting their careers at the Sharks.
Marlin's skipper Brendan Tunbridge guided the Sharks to the 2006 grand final while Craig Paku has made his way up from the lower grades to win a spot on the bench.
Among the club's big buys are prop Peter Magnone, formerly of the Melbourne Storm and Queenslander Mitch Muir.
The Sharks also have a quartet of former St George-Illawarra Dragons in Jamie Dunning, James Keelan, Lewis McPhail and Ian Cataninia.
Shellharbour Rugby League Club hopes the Marlins can make their Ron Costello Oval base a graveyard for their Jim Beam Cup rivals in 2006.
The Marlins scored a first-up win over Penrith's Jersey Flegg side before losing narrowly to Raymond Terrace in the curtain raiser to the Charity Shield at Telstra Stadium.
The Sharks and Marlins held a joint season launch at Shellharbour Workers Club on Friday night.
Shellharbour Rugby League Club's sponsors include Shellharbour Workers' Club, Corban Kia, Thomas and Coffey, OneSteel, Matrix Financial Services, WIN Television and i98FM.
Junior Vice President Ralf Sablowski said the club took the plunge into the Jim Beam Cup to bring elite football to Shellharbour.
"We figured this area deserves to have a standard of football like the Jim Beam Cup," he said.
"We have taken a big step " this competition is meant to replace the NSWRL Premier League and now we have our foot in the door."
The Marlins kick off their 2006 Jim Beam Cup campaign against Erina at Ron Costello Oval on Saturday at 6.30pm. Admission is $6.
The Shellharbour Sharks first grade side meets Mt Druitt at 4.45pm while the Shellharbour Under 18s will kkick off at 3pm.