Vipers’ weapon

By KEITH PUARIA
SEBASTIAN Pandia cruised through 70 minutes of rugby league in last Sunday’s 30-8 win over the Goroka Lahanis in the Digicel Cup eliminator.
Word is, he is set to go out and do it all again this Sunday in the Viper’s second “sudden-death” match against the Mendi Muruks.
The powerhouse forward has been in career-best form towards the back end of season 2012 and it has come at a very crucial time for the city side.
The Southern Highlander has stepped up his performances after the mid-season departure of rugged backrower Larsen Marabe to play in the NSW Country league.
Consistently topping tackle counts and providing that wide-running forward on the left edge, Pandia looms as an inspirational contributor similar to Marabe’s “lead-by-action” style.
Coach Shane Morris has acknowledged Pandia’s rising stock.
  “We’ve brought down his weight and worked really hard on fitness, and it’s resulted in the improved quality of his contribution,” coach Shane Morris said.
“His head’s in the right place right now, and that’s probably something we want to achieve for all our players.

“We usually don’t like to have certain players out on the field for too long, but the quality that Seb (Pandia) has been able to give us in the period he was on is positive for our cause.”
Pandia and captain Steven Johns’ domination up the middle, in attack and defence will be called upon again this Sunday knowing very well what the Muruks attack can do when given a sniffle of opportunity.
“You just can’t afford to give the Muruks, or any team for that matter, an opportunity to ride off your inconsistencies, into contention,” Morris said.
“You want to go into these games with enthusiasm, we didn’t start second half last week with the enthusiasm that we would have liked, and we gave the opposition a few opportunities.”
Morris is looking more than likely to stick with the side that offloaded 2011 premiers Lahanis out of the 2012 roster, even though he maintains that spots were still up for competition.
“It wouldn’t make any sense to make changes to a side that produced a really good finals win, but commitment, effort and performance in preparation and training is still a big part of the selection of the final team.”