The Boys are trimming down to look good in the new gear
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/gallery-e6frextr-1226527077276
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When the mighty Manly Sea Eagles meet their moment of truth
Nick Walshaw
The Daily Telegraph
November 30, 2012 12:00AM
Brent Kite struggles on the monkey bars during the Raw Challenge Adventure Run at Doyalson.
THESE days are never about the mud.
No, save the sludge and splinters and the slipping from wooden beams into rancid water for the Fox Sports package. What Geoff Toovey wants is his moment.
It's why, in the middle of a paddock at Doyalson, on the Central Coast, the Manly coach watches his players jog, scramble and crawl through 29 obstacles in the Raw Challenge course.
It weaves, uphill, through six kilometres of paddocks and scrub. One minute players are inching through long pipes, the next they're on all fours for a sloppy scramble beneath army webbing.
Sea Eagles conditioner Don Singe had told The Daily Telegraph to watch for the pain from obstacle five. "A rope climb first - easy," he said. "Carrying sandbags at station two won't be a problem, either. Then it's over some hurdles, a long water trough ... and that's when we start looking for our moment."
Early on, new recruit Justin Horo was approaching a huge barricade when a staffer, aware of his recovery from a knee injury, offered a leave pass.
"Nah," Horo shouted. "All good." But it was a moment held for only three stations. Usurped by George Rose (we couldn't believe it, either) when the big prop swung across a pit via 24 metal bars.
That some players were even standing was surprising Toovey, who told how, over the previous two days at Competitive Edge fight camp in Wyong, most had been "almost completely broken".
Then came obstacle 28, Wolf Mountain. A tower two shipping containers high, you climb it by sprinting to hit a near-vertical ramp, then take three steps before lunging at a rope to haul yourself 10m to the top. Sounds impossible.
So it seemed for nuggety Vic Mauro, whose bung right elbow rendered him one-armed. He refused to concede and, at attempt nine he made it.
Which is when Geoff Toovey turned and went to lunch.
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http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/when-the-mighty-manly-sea-eagles-meet-their-moment-of-truth/story-e6frexnr-1226527014309