They were hardly names to set the hearts of Manly fans racing, but off-season recruits Brenton Lawrence, Justin Horo and Peta Hiku have become integral parts of the Sea Eagles’ NRL title push.
Lawrence says there’s a big contributor to that – Manly’s professionalism and culture of success.
Former Titan Lawrence and ex-Eel Horo have both played all but one game this season after injuries wiped out fellow forwards Jason King and Joe Galuvao.
Former Warriors back Hiku hasn’t had as many opportunities, but he has provided invaluable cover for the back three, especially with Brett Stewart out for a good portion of the second half of the season.
Covering wing and fullback, Hiku has averaged 135 run metres across 11 games, including an eye-catching 297 metres in the qualifying final against the Sydney Roosters last Saturday.
Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran is full of praise for the trio.
“You look at all the buys that we had at the beginning of the year and no one knew too much about them,” Foran said.
“The way that they have come in and slotted into our footy side, it’s been pretty impressive and they’ve done a really good job.”
Asked if he’d ever imagined getting so much playing time in his first season at the club, Lawrence said: “I had definitely imagined it, but I wasn’t sure whether it was going to happen or not.
“But I just take every week as it comes. The first couple of months, I was playing every week I got accustomed to that and I wasn’t going to let that stop.”
Lawrence said the culture at the club made it easier for new players to be successful.
“They (the club) have been so professional all year and expected good things throughout the season, pretty much from when we started training in November, so the culture is unbelievable,” Lawrence said.
He said Manly needed to be ready for whatever Cronulla threw at them in Friday’s elimination semi, whether it be trying to go through the middle or around them.
“They’ve got a big side with (Andrew) Fifita and (Paul) Gallen and they will want to use that, but we’re up to that,” Lawrence said.
“We’ve got a good side in the middle as well and out wide, so when we’re on, we’re pretty hard to beat.”
