Lakes United expect to be hunted in the next Real NRL season

The premiers returned to the training paddock at Cahill Oval on Tuesday night to kick-start the long road to backing up their grand final victory over Macquarie.

The Seagulls defeated the Scorpions 24-18 at Hunter Stadium in September, after trailing 18-4 at half-time to break an eight-year title drought.

The victory wildly exceeded internal and external expectations, but next season Lakes will not fly under anyone’s radar.

“It’s obviously new territory for us and something we need to be able to deal with,” Noonan said.

“We’re well aware of that too. We’re hearing around town that many of the clubs are strengthening their rosters, so we’re expecting a pretty good season.”

Lakes were active last off-season, recruiting representative players Chris Adams and Brad Murray.

Props Marcus Marsh (Aberdeen) and Jared Clark (Macleay Valley) have been the only new signings so far.

The only member of the first-grade squad to leave the Seagulls has been fullback James Mackin, who returned to Brisbane for work.

 “We haven’t been too heavily involved in the recruitment market, we’ve wanted to place faith in the boys who did so well for us this year,” Noonan said.

“A lot of emphasis will be placed on our juniors who played reserves last year and their ability to stand up.

“We’ve been grooming them for a couple years, so we have expectations on guys like Chris Randall, Blake Smith and Matt Bridge.”

Many pundits are already expecting Macquarie to challenge again next season and Noonan is among them.

The Scorpions dominated Lakes for the first 50 minutes of the grand final and new head coach Adam Bettridge has recruited heavily.

Scott Briggs, Joe Leighton, Matt Simon and Shane Beale have joined the Scorpions from Bettridge’s former club Souths, along with Daniel Abraham from Kurri Kurri. 

“I was really impressed with what Macquarie were building and with Adam in charge out there, they have to be a massive threat,” Noonan said.