A wave of excitement swept Marcellin Park on Saturday as it appeared the Maitland Blacks had unearthed a new star.
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Wearing a helmet, No.22 was lightning quick and super strong as he carved a swathe through the Singleton Bulls line, setting up two tries for winger Rob Williamson.
In unfamiliar headwear and sporting a different jersey number the new star was actually co-captain Chris Logan who gave Blacks fans a reminder of his huge talent with an exciting cameo.
“He’s fast and he is strong, he is reading the game well and his talk and communication are fantastic,” Blacks co-coach Mick Hickling said of the Blacks fullback who returned to play the final 20 minutes after rep duties.
“He has really set the benchmark for other players this year in terms of his approach to his game.
“He looks after himself, he trains hard, prepares well, thinks about what he has got to do and just very professional in his approach to playing footy.
“It rubs off on other guys which is good.”
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The Blacks returned to winning form with a 46-17 win against Singleton and look to continue their run when they host University on Saturday.
“It was good to get a win after a couple of losses and a few weeks of having byes,” Hickling said.
“We have Uni at home this weekend, so we’ll try to build on that winning performance.
“There are areas we want to improve. We are still concerned about our ball security and turning over too much ball and not being able to capitalise on all the opportunities we create.
“We probably squandered at least two try-scoring opportunities in the first half and two or three at the start of the second half.”
Travis Brooke was best on ground for the Blacks in his first starting game for the season.
“Travis showed his class, he controlled the line outs, made a couple of line breaks and scored a try,” Hickling said.
“The scrum was really good, for the past 12 months it has been really solid and on Saturday we had the upper hand on the scrummaging for sure.
The Blacks other co-captain Michael Howell may make a return off the bench this weekend.
“Mick Howell as long as he pulls up all right on Thursday night might make a bit of a cameo off the bench for us,” he said.
The Blacks will be without John Birrell who injured his knee and will be out for a couple of weeks and James Howell who is out for at least a week with a groin injury.
“Ben Wood will come back from rep duties to replace James in the second row and Nick Davidson will come up and replace Johnny Birrell,” Hickling said. “It’s fantastic to have that depth.”
