Manly has named James Segeyaro to play his first NRL match in over three years, as the Sea Eagles deal with the fallout of seven players refusing to wear the club’s LGBTQ pride jersey.
Key points:
- The seven players told the Sea Eagles they would not play the Roosters on Thursday
- Segeyaro has previously played for the Cowboys, Sharks and Panthers
- Des Hasler could only name a squad of 20 players
Jason Saab, Christian Tuipulotu, Josh Schuster, Haumole Olakau’atu, Josh Aloiai, Tolutau Koula and Toafofoa Sipley have all opted against playing the Sydney Roosters on Thursday night.
Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler was forced to dig into the depth of the club’s youth set-up and feeder club Blacktown to name a squad.
He was only able to name a 20-player squad when NRL guidelines state they usually must select a 22-player list on Tuesday.
There will be at least three debutants for Manly on Thursday at Brookvale Oval, with Pio Seci and Alfred Smalley named on the wing and Segeyaro listed as a bench hooker.
Josh Schuster, Christian Tuipulotu, Josh Aloiai and Jason Saab are four of the players who have refused to wear the jersey.(AAP: Dan Himbrechts and James Gourley )
Segeyaro has spent the last year with Blacktown in the NSW Cup after receiving a two-year drugs ban for the use of a performance-enhancing substance while with Brisbane in 2019.
The 31-year-old hooker, who has won five Test caps for Papua New Guinea, played over 100 NRL matches for North Queensland, Cronulla and Penrith.
Winger Seci spent last year with Fijian Ron Massey Cup side the Kaiviti Silktails. He also represented Fiji and had a stint in France with Avignon.
Smalley has played for Niue at international level and scored six tries in 14 matches for Blacktown at NSW Cup level this year.
Hasler has also named Zac Fulton and James Roumanos in the extended squad.
Fulton is the grandson of club great Bob and has played in the back row for Manly’s youth teams.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.WatchDuration: 1 minute 28 seconds1m 28s Des Hasler apologises to LGBTQ community
Hasler conceded the Sea Eagles had made a grave error in not consulting players before unveiling their “everyone in league” jersey.
He said he himself supported the jersey, with the club making the call to go ahead with wearing it after a lengthy meeting with players on Monday night.
“Personally I share the views that are inclusiveness across the game and society,” Hasler said.
“It is an important matter and the NRL is for everyone.”
AAP
Source:: ABC News
