Rookies improving, says Church

By MICHAEL PHILIP
THE new faces in the SP Hunters train-on squad have shown much improvement over the last three weeks of pre-season training, according to coach Matthew Church.
He said his coaching staff would continue to develop the rookies.
“It’s getting better now as we see the new recruits improving each day at training,” Church said last week.
“That’s one thing I’d like to thank my two assistant coaches Paul Aiton and Stanley Tepend for.
“They bring down instructions and information to the level of understanding of every individual player.
“It’s going to be a tough new season for us if some of these new faces make final squad.
“But we’re happy to develop them into the player they want to be.”
Church said the new faces had set the bar in their first week of pre-season.
“It’s great to see them improve because it tells us that they want to learn more new things,” he said.
“With the old faces in the team, the work will be easier for us in terms of communication during training.”
Church said with the presence of veteran hooker Wartovo Puara Jr, communication between players was good as he described the veteran hooker as helpful in explaining instructions.
“Wartovo is the oldest player in the team and he has been very instrumental during training,” he said.
“Most of the players look up to him. I’m grateful that he has taken on more responsibility apart from his hooking role.”