LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 87, 13 April 1936, Page 14

LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

THE COMING SEASON. OPENING CLUB DAY. CROP OF RECRUITS REPORTED.

It is asserted with a good deal of official justification that prospects for tho twenty-seventh season of the Auckland Rugby League were never brighter. Indications are for a general increase in team nominations together with other developments for which the executives are well prepared. Club training has been in operation weeks earlier than usual, and very fit teams will take the field, containing promoted players and an appreciable proportion of useful talent from the sister code. No announcement has been made as to the Control Board's intentions in regard to the application of the Manukau Club for senior status, the grant of which would make eight teams in the top flight with a corresponding number in the senior reserve competition. At the moment there is ample room for many surprises on the score of code changes. The visit of a British team, and possibly a State side from across the Tasman, adds to the importance of early play and a programme that will embrace several representative fixtures, including a visit by Wellington, and the intorIsland match, before the international fixtures. Most of the senior clubs have made captures, and tliero is an unwillingness to divulge information at this stage, but what limited detail has been gleaned during the past few days is significant enough. Marist Old Boys. The Marist Club, except for the striking success of its reserve team, was shaded" last season, but it looks as though the first thirteen will take an important part in 1936 events. Mr. Con. Hall, one of the national selectors last rear and who recently left the West Coast, has been appointed selector and coach in succession to Mr. C. E. Gregory, who, now living in an outer district ot the city, found it inconvenient to retain a position he has held with credit. The n-reen and gold pack will be a solid proposition, for, in addition to valued regulars like Dan Keane, Woods, Carter and hooker O'Kane, J. Anderson, the exWest Coast representative forward, will be included. An ankle injury caused the latter's defection from the New Zealand team against Australia. The club will miss the services of J. Laird, . the international, whose injury last season may compel Ms retirement. Portion of the opening day proceeds are for his benefit. A worthier player never donned a jersey. Norman Campbell (New Zealand full-back) and young backs like Bakalich, Loader, Furlonger, Kerr, Chalmers and Clover are on hand. New players include Aro, the Technical Old Boys' half-back and ■ another convert of international reputation. There are twenty-four players available for the reserves and the club is discussing the wisdom of entering a second grade side Extra juniors will mean the neicling of two third grade sides. The clubs schoolboys are in strong force J^ d attractive thirteen drawn hom the secondary schools will be nominated.

Richmond and City. Richmond Rovers, holders of! the Fox Memorial Shield, will be keen to uphold their championship prestige of recent years. Literally, the club has a swarm of players, and one official has declared that two, and in some cases three, teams could be placed in the field with ease. The club's greatest loss is Bert Cooke s transfer to Ponsonby as coach. Acquisitions are the South Auckland international George Tittleton, who is to be o-iven the responsibility of full-back, and his brother Walter, a fine young five-eighth, who will be associated with Eric Fletcher and Powell behind the scrum. Mincham may be at centre, with Mitchell and McNeil on the wings, although Bickerton also has to be considered. Hadley, recently transferred from the Foster Club of the Australian Country League, is being tried out as a forward, but may find it difficult to displace packmen like Telford, the Satherleys, Broadhead, Tetley and Lawless, if the latter's leg trouble is overcome. The maroons will have a hot reserve grade, for a number of promising juniors are being promoted. Richmond is proud of its schoolboys, and the team for the secondary grade is considered some City Rovers will enter the fray with several additions back and forward. The ex-South Auckland Union hooker, Lapwood, will have support in a pack to include Clarke, Herring, McLaughlan, Dye, Watene and others to be considered. Strength will be given to the rearguard by the return from Taranaki of Harry Wayne, and it is expected that the South Auckland Union representative fiveeighths, J. Rata, from Tuakau, will soon show his merits. Another newcomer will be Allen, the Waikato Union full-back. The ex-Wairarapa man, Ford, is expected in town to play again. Wiberg, Tawhai (last season's reserve five-eighth who did so well for the Tamaki team which maintained possession of the Waitangi Shield for Auckland) and Porteous are others in the running, with winger Thompson, who had the misfortune to meet with a shoulder injury last year. Porteous, previously Newton Rangers' half-back, is said to have served the Marist Union team well last year. New blood is still being studied, and this also applies to the reserve grade. City's juniors will be good. Extra teams may be a seventh grade and special side in the schoolboy competition. Newton and Mount Albert. The Roope Rooster holders, Newton Rangers, consider that it i& their turn to win the championship and that they will take a power of beating for the trophy and honour. Wearing their new outfits supplied from their friends of the St. Helens Club, England, there will be several new players claimed to be topnotchers, some of whom have been training to advantage. The first team will still have weight and pace. The representative full-back, Dempsey, is doing well and the nippy combination of Young, the Brimble brothers, Sissons (a brilliant junior), H. . Brady and Schlesinger will be in evidence again. The last mentioned was just reaching his best last year when injured. Knott, of the Ponsonby Union team, a likely inside back, is among the possibles. Strong forwards, Johnson, Middleton, Nathan, Clenim, Kelsall, Ginders (exRichmond) are in the front division and Lou Hutt may be found sporting fresh colours. Emanuel, a forward who suffered a serious leg injury the season before last, is available, as well as Meirick (back from North Auckland), Mackin and Shadbolt, a brother of the Mount Albert player. Interest will attach to the appearance of Watson, Northern Wairoa Union representative, and a Hawke's Bay-Taranaki representative Union packman of considerable promise, whose identity is not disclosed. The club has some fine junior teams, and r.'fo will .participate in the school grades. 1

Mount Albert Club, whose senior novitiate last year was attended with surprising success, expect to make the going very tough for all rivals. This now strongly entrenched club has a surplus of players, too, and selector Tom Haddon will have no difficulty in fielding two powerful senior teams. It is understood that the international hooker T., Campbell will lead the reserves. With Flaunagan, Herring, Constable, Gunning and Shadbolt at call, the top pack will bo good. Peterson, the Hawke's Bay Union rep., looks like earning a place as breakaway, but newcomers also are Elwin, the Manukau Union player, J. O'Brien, South Auckland representative, and several others. The club feels that it has made a worth-while capture in the ex-Grafton half-back Watkins, who is shaping quite well at training. The inside backs will be Len Schultz (back from York), J. Schultz and probably Pawson, the resolute South Auckland rep. B. Schultz will be on one flank, and tho wing formerly covered by McNeil (now in Wellington) will be taken by Halsey, the Otahuhu senior B winger. The selector is also keeping an eye on the runner' Stewart, who showed a brilliant burst of speed last year in reserve grade play. Morrissey will be full-back. Mount Albert will be well represented in the lower grades, and for the first time will be in the school competitions. Ponsonby and Shore. It is hard to get a line on two prominent clubs—Ponsonby and Devonport —although both are known to be very active. It may be taken for granted that the former, with Bert Cooke "on the warpath" as mentor, will be effectively represented. The club has substantially benefited from the recent district carnival and is looking forward to capturing more than tho Plielan Shield this season. With brilliant backs like Kay, Riley and Halloran as a basis a fine reiarguard should be possible. Tho trial match with Mount Albert showed that the forwards need strengthening. The club has sound junior teams and district schoolboys will also be wearing the blue and black. North Shore is said to be getting together the best side the club has had for some years. Ex-inter-national B. Laing is in charge. Reg. Hollows, the North Auckland Union rep., will feature in- the pack. He is said to have the weight, speed and ability of the type of forwards required against the Englishmen. The club is well supported in the lower grades— not forgetting the schoolboys.