Thanks to a player revolt in response to the Manly Sea Eagles’ decision to don a jersey promoting themes of inclusion under the banner ‘Everyone in League’, the club has searched far and wide through the junior ranks to put a first-grade team together.
While the team announcement emphasises the club’s depth and Hasler has put a respectable 17 together, few outside the club – and even some inside – will likely be unaware of the wingers named to make their respective debuts – Pio Seci and Alfred Smalley.
Though Manly’s Blacktown Workers feeder side are firmly rooted to the bottom of the ladder with just two wins from 18 and an average result of 32-12, both outside backs are still brimming with potential.
23-year-old Smalley has been playing at centre and winger in the NSW Cup. He is currently the team’s leading try scorer with six from 14 games, including a double in a Round 5 win against Newcastle.
He’s also set up two tries and sits just outside the competition’s Top 5 for tackle breaks with 65 at nearly five per game – including a phenomenal 27 in his past two outings.
Smalley has also played at Test level, representing the tiny island nation of Niue against Lebanon all the way back in 2017.
Meanwhile, Pio Seci has had a notably different journey.
Seci will come close to Darren Nicholls as the league’s oldest debutant. He's just a few weeks shy of his 29th birthday and epitomises the term ‘rugby league journeyman’.
Born in Fiji, Seci played the game locally before earning a scholarship that would take him to Innisfail. From there he graduated to the Mal Meninga Cup with Northern Pride before travelling south to link up with the Canterbury Bulldogs under-20s team.
A lack of first-team opportunities saw Seci move back to Queensland and then back home, before making his Test debut for Fiji and being named in the 2017 World Cup squad. Though he never made it to the tournament, he’s played two more Tests for his country since and impressed enough to earn a return to the Queensland Cup with Ipswich.
From there Seci returned home again, this time to suit up for the NSWRL’s Fijian-based Ron Massey Cup team the Kaiviti Silktails, moving to the second row and becoming one of the club’s best for the 2021 season.
From there, he went to French rugby league club Avignon, before eventually returning to Australia and joining the Blacktown Workers set-up in 2022.
Though he’s played just four games in the NSW Cup this year, he already has three tries to his name and is averaging close to 130 metres. At 195cm tall, you can tell he’s the cousin of another NRL colossus in Tui Kamikamica.
He’ll be well matched physically against the likes of Daniel Tupou, even if he lacks experience.
Rest assured Manly fans, though the NSW Cup team has had some terrible luck this year, Seci and Smalley will do the club and the jersey proud. Regardless of the external context, their NRL debuts should be celebrated.
Who knows, in a few weeks’ time we may wonder how the club ever managed without them.