Endeavour Hills star Tim Finau will line up for the Eastern Suburbs in this year’s Pillar Cup. 17785By Stuart Teather
THERE is little down time in Melbourne’s rugby union circuit this year, with the Pillar Cup kicking off on Saturday, just a week after the Premier One grand final.
The competition enters its second year after a successful opening season saw Westgate Power defeat the Eastern Suburbs 34-19 in the grand final.
Indeed, the opening round this year will be a grand final rematch, with Eastern coach Stephen Tia saying his side is looking forward to avenging the loss.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll go well – blokes have memories,” he said.
“We made the grand final and all that sort of thing, but at the end of the day we were still bridesmaids.”
The club was holding its first training session just four days before the competition, with Tia still unsure as to who would make up the final squad.
“A lot of the boys have been involved with their clubs,” he said. “We’ll find out who’s interested, because sometimes they’ve had enough footy (with Premier One).”
This year, the Pillar Cup has seen some significant changes, the biggest of which sees the season played after the Premier One competition, not concurrently, as was the case last year.
“I think it’s better for everyone, because last year you had blokes playing half a club game then running off to play a full game here,” Tia said.
Tia said he expected Endeavour Hills players Tim Finau and Junior Salesulu to join the Eastern Suburbs squad, along with former Hills player Lewis Leaumoana.
Endeavour Hills coach Jeff Lemalu also expects captain Presley Naea and Setu Felise to play for Eastern.
The rematch against Westgate Power starts at 3.10pm on Saturday at Albert Park.
