Jeremy Crooks is coaching the Marist premier grade side this year with his mate Marty O’Connell and Lucian Lauofo.
The captaincy has been shared between No 8 James Moodie, first five-eighth Aiden Harrington and midfielder Riley Hika.
Captain Jackson Bevin had been one of the competition’s best loose forwards in recent seasons.
Marist has also lost its most experienced backline members Scott Eade and Keanu Kahukura.
Eade had made his mark as a representative player and is now excelling as a coach with the Stags.
Despite these significant player departures, the premier team has been performing well.
New to town this year after developing his rugby in Australia, Toufan is planning to earn a spot in the Stags team.
Prop Ollie Harris from Queensland is working his way towards a position in the Stags this year via Marist.
Tight-head Liam McIntosh is still on the Marist books, as is young prop Hessed Lemmnea.
Luka Cassidy has come south from Taranaki and has spent time at blindside flanker for Marist and in the second row alongside Hemi Raimona.
Halfback Jordie O’Connell has partnered up with first five-eighths Sam Downing and Aiden Harrington.
Midfielder Mike Moodie and outside back George Turanganivau are also doing a solid job for Marist this year.
Stags have signed former Otago loose forward Konrad Toleafoa.
He is aligned with Marist but he is not expected to be ready to play club rugby due to injury.
Eastern Northern Barbarians beat Marist 50-22 in round one at Newman Park in Gore. Marist was leading two tries to one after 25 minutes but Marist had a man sent to the sin bin after 30 minutes and trailed 17-10 at halftime.
Marist had another man binned after 50 minutes which helped the Barbarians increase their lead through forward dominance.
The halves pairing of O’Connell and Harrington were the best of the Marist team that day and lock Harrison Milne also made a good start to his season.
In round two Marist had a 62-31 victory on their home ground against the Blues.
Fullback Tiam Toufan was the best for Marist, while centre Riley Hika and prop Hesed Lemamea also impressed.
Marist lost 54-20 to Pirates Old Boys (Pob) at Miller St on Thursday night before Anzac Day weekend.
Try-scoring Marist centre Tiam Toufan continued to impress against Pob after he moved to fullback.
Blindside flanker Bradley Ray was Marist’s best, while lock Luke Cassidy and Vesi Fonoti-Pasolo also made an impact.
The Marist premier team are playing Star at Waverly Park at 3pm on Saturday.
The senior B side have won two of their three competition games in division two and will play Star B at 1pm on field two at Waverly Park on Saturday.
The Marist women’s team have won their first round game against Blues 49-10.
Their second game in the competition of five is against Star at Waverley Park on Saturday at 1.15pm.
Marist will have multiple Small Black Junior teams rolling out for their first games this Saturday.
- John Langford
