Despite missing out on a win against a classy Lennox Head second grade outfit, the Glen Innes Elks showed promise in their pre-season trial in Tenterfield.
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Sporting a host of new faces and green players, the Elks were beaten 29-17 by Lennox in an effort which left club president Ben Emery impressed with what he saw.
"It was a really tough game, we were stoked with the performance.
"It was a style of rugby we haven't played before but we adapted. We had new guys come in last year and we are still finding our feet together.
"Saturday, the performance we did there was amazing.
"I think we are starting to really gel together now.
"To get such a close result with Lennox, as we did, was great."
Coupled with their efforts in the trial, another impressive angle was the fact around half of their outfit had already lined up earlier in the previous game with Walcha down on numbers.
While quite a few members of the squad played last year, there's still plenty who are green when it comes to rugby experience.
"I think our 9 and 10 combinations on the weekend worked out really well," Emery said.
"Mark Law at 9, this is only his second season, he is one of the younger fellas playing league as well and he is really starting to come into his own and excel in that position.
"We are really eager, we have got a lot of combinations starting to work."
Another newcomer to rugby, but an athlete in his own right, was soccer convert Brent Pedlow who played at fullback.
"Brent has got a really good attitude, he is keen to train, he has been to a few trainings and he is keen to play," Emery said.
"He is a hell of an athlete, he brings a great attitude to the team so we are really eager to have Brent on board as well. We went up there to trial a few things, try a few different positions and we managed to give Brent a run at fullback and I think he really did excel and showed potential there."
Emery was also pleased with the performances of some of the more experienced players.
"Then as well with some our senior guys standing up, Harry Brown he's a freak, he has taken a lot leadership this year," he said.
"Adam Kerr, he came out on the weekend and had a really tough game, really led with the physical aggression and the attitude."
Plus there were a handful playing for the Elks for the first time.
"We had some guys we haven't played with before, come into that side and were really good," he said.
"They have shown commitment for the rest of the year so we are really eager for that."
Skipper Michael Miller was absent but Emery said he'll be back on board this year.
"Michael is in training to come into the front row with his eating and diet," he said.