Hunter Rugby Union: Young half Liam Cooper the perfect man to lead Southern Beaches

In his second season at Ernie Calland Oval, Cooper expected the honour to go to one of the more established players. Not the chirpy No.9 from Timaru on the South Island of New Zealand.

"I have done it before, but being fresh over here and to be that far up the order, especially with guys like Glenn Stone and Dane Le Rougetel in the team, I was shocked."

For new first-grade coach Adam Dubois, it was a no-brainer.

"Liam is only in his early 20s but he has a great voice and is really smart operator," Dubois said. "Once he gets going, he will be one of the premier nines in the comp. I went to some of the stalwarts of the club Gavin Hayden, Glenn Stone and Mick Delore and said 'I want to name this bloke first grade captain, what do you think?'

"They all endorsed him wholeheartedly.

"He is a crafty halfback and very analytical. He watches the game-tape two or three times, usually before I have. We come together and pull it apart. There are a lot of players involved in our preparation. I lean on him and the experienced blokes. Their rugby brains are second to none. I'm happy to take a back seat for a lot of stuff."

Cooper is only 24 but boast a sports science degree from Otago University. majoring in coaching and teaching.

"I enjoy the sports science side of the game," he said. "More so the coaching, that is definitely where I see myself in the future. I am playing to fill in time at the moment."

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Cooper was lure to Southern Beaches last season by lock Lucas Rosewell. Cooper, winger Chris Hogan and fullback Marlon Adcock all hail from South Canterbury.

We love it. It is a great lifestyle," said Cooper, who is employed as a support worker. "Footy is footy. Back home there are probably more bigger bodies and the game is played more on the collision side of things. Teams like moving the ball around here. It is pretty fast and quite good footy."

After a 58-19 defeat to Hamilton in round one, Southern Beaches edged out Singleton 7-6 to open their account - a first win for Cooper as skipper and Dubois as coach.

"It is a bit tough to cut your teeth for the season against a club like Hamilton," Cooper said. "It doesn't help that we are struggling to catch the ball.

"We toughed it out against Singleton.

"If we can get our top team on the field and all going well, we will definitely get better.

"We have a few in the injury ward this weekend but I back the boys who front up to compete hard.

"Once we get the players in the positions, then we will start firing some shots."

Rosewell (shoulder) and prop Samisoni Havea (foot) are due back for the round five clash with Merewether.

Adrian Delore and Purnell Filipo have started the season with the Hunter Wildfires.

"I want those blokes to excel in that space," Dubois said. "If they get the chance to play first grade in the Shute Shield, I couldn't be happier for them."

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