JUNEE captain Adam Perry yesterday declared he was looking forward to renewing his former NRL premiership winning partnership with Corey Hughes.
Six years after celebrating an NRL premiership together, Canterbury Bulldog heroes Perry and Hughes will reunite on the field for Junee on Saturday.
Hughes is one of three ex-NRL stars who are lending their name and prodigious skill to the Rick Keast Memorial Shield clash between Brothers and Junee at Equex Centre.
Along with Hughes, the Diesels will be bolstered by the addition of former Canterbury prop Steve Reardon.
Perry yesterday said he was looking forward to the chance to turn back the clock and step back on the field with his firm friends and former teammates.
“It will be really good to have a run with the boys again on Saturday,” he said.
“I am really looking forward to catching up with them. Corey was actually one of the first blokes I met when I went up to Sydney.
“I still keep in contact with Corey, and when I’m in Sydney I go and pay him a visit.
“Now he’s coming down here and I’m not 100 per cent sure but I think either his father or brother, who were both first graders as well, are coming down here too which will be good.”
Perry yesterday admitted Reardon was experiencing a bout of nerves and trepidation ahead of his return to the paddock for the Diesels, and was vying for a position on the bench and out of the starting team.
“Reardo is a bit nervous about not being fit enough to play,” Perry laughed.
“He is pretty keen to come off the bench and just play in bits and pieces.
“But the spirit of the day is just to have a run and he will do that.”
Perry revealed there would be no question mark over the fitness of Hughes when the former playmaker lines up with the Diesels on Saturday.
“Corey could do nothing for months on end and then turn up at training and be as fit, or even fitter than everyone else,” Perry declared. “He was the kind of bloke you hate because he could do it.
“Even though I don’t think he has been playing since he hung up his boots, when he did for him that was it, he will be fit and ready on Saturday.”
Perry is hoping a big crowd will come out to not only support the game on Saturday but the handful of charities set to benefit from the event.
“I really hope the weather holds out and we get a really good crowd,” he said.
“The clubs are not going to be making any money from Saturday – it is about helping out the charities, especially the Keast Family Trust.
“There are some really good auction items up for bidding and we are auctioning off the shirts we wear as well.”
While the lights are burning brightly inside the Junee camp just two days out from the Shield clash, a far grimmer situation is gripping Brothers.
The club was yesterday forced to hold off naming its team as it struggles with numbers ahead of the tussle with Junee.
Captain-coach Blake Dunn regularly names his team for the weekend after the Brethren’s Tuesday night training session but has been forced to hold off.
In a boost for the club former Canberra, North Queensland and South Sydney hooker Jason Death has been confirmed a definite starter for Brothers.
Email a friend