Shane Muriata

THE Tully Tigers wrapped up their pre-season trials last weekend when they travelled to Ingham to play the annual clash against one of North Queensland's top Rugby League teams, the Herbert River Crushers. Both Reserve and A grades had mixed results, with Reggie's claiming the win, whereas the Crushers took the chocolates in the main game. Tigers stalwart and former WWE Champion Fabian Tauli hinted that the team isn't far off, and trusting the process with belief will get their confidence up "We have the team, we just need some belief. If we spend a little more time together understanding our roles,then we won't be to far". And that test will begin this weekend when Tully hosts two-time premiers of the last five years, the mighty Yarrabah Sea Hawkes. With all three grades raring to run onto the Showgrounds come Saturday to start the competition, it will be the test they need to see if we're contenders or just pretenders — all the best Tigers.

In the next few weeks, we will be going over Tully's young up-and-coming roster giving the reader an idea of what our next crop looks like. This week, we analyse Jamie Muriata, Logan Deloryn, Riley Congoo and Xavier Carlaw. These four players represent the future of the Tigers and, in my opinion, will make higher honours in a few years. They work harder than most players, do heaps of extras and are always, and I mean always, ready to play footy at any time of the day.

Jamie Muriata is more at home in the forwards but can run faster than most wingers. He's tough and can hit almost as hard as his famous footy father, who also played for the black and gold back in the day.

Xavier Carlaw is one of those rare players who has the speed to burn off the mark but can ball play from