Manly recruit Lewis Brown has revealed he's always been jealous of the Sea Eagles and their decade of dominance he's been dealing with since his NRL debut in 2009.
On his first day as a Sea Eagle after returning from the Kiwis' tour of England, Brown is happy to back at his new club considering its proud history.
A member of the Warriors team who were beaten by the Sea Eagles in the 2011 NRL Grand Final, Brown has seen firsthand how good his new club can be.
"I've signed to a club with a lot of history and for the past 10 years they have been one of the benchmark teams of the competition. They have always been one of those teams that when I come up against them I've always been jealous about," Brown said.
"They have a great aura and a gritty attitude; I'm looking forward to playing under Trent [Barrett] and John Cartwright. To have the players we have had come on after me, I'm more than happy – especially not having to tackle Marty [Taupau] anymore.
"Our roster keeps on building as well and Trent said the other day 'we'll finish where we deserve' and I believe we'll have the effort there. I have a lot of confidence and believe we can make the top eight or even top four."
Having spent time at the Panthers with Barrett, Brown backed Ivan Cleary's former assistant to make a fist of his debut season as a first grade coach.
"Trent's a man's man. He treats you like a man and he's one of those guys you can relate to off the field. But once you cross that white line, it means business," Brown said.
"These days in rugby league you're not only after a coach, but you want to be able to approach someone about life in general. In my experiences with Trent I am very comfortable with doing that.
"There would be times at the Panthers and he'd see things in video sessions that I had no idea were happening but it made sense to me. He's one of those people that when he speaks everybody listens and that's a great attribute in a coach.
"Plus he's only young, he has a tough job ahead of him but he's surrounded himself with a great coaching staff and players who will really support him well."
Brown also paid tribute to New Zealand Rugby legend Jonah Lomu, who sadly passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday.
"Me being from Christchurch it's a big rugby area and when I was 10, I did a school speech on Jonah actually and made the finals with it, this is in 1995 when he ran over a few of those English players," Brown said.
"He was the guy every Kiwi kid wanted to grow up to be like and it's a very sad day. Condolences to his family, and just that we're all thinking of them at this point in time."
Video courtesy of SeaEagles.com.au
