Manly's Retiring Turtle Ready To Hit The Beach After Finals Assault

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday August 16, 2006

Ben Kimber

THE finish is in sight for Turtle. After 14 years in first grade, Manly's Damien "Turtle" Cummins says this will be his final season - but exactly when he hangs up his boots is up to the 33-year-old and his teammates in the Tooheys New Cup finals.

The Marlins take on Eastern Suburbs on Friday night at North Sydney Oval and Cummins is listed to make a timely return to the starting line-up to add his usual drive and commitment. A loss would mean the end of the Marlins' season and of Cummins's career, while a win would keep alive the chances of a fairytale finish for the front-rower.

"I've had a few injuries this year, and while I'm still able to compete reasonably in first grade, it's probably time to give it up, I don't want to end up not enjoying training or playing," Cummins said. "And there's my family and my work as well. My wife's been great through my career and we've got a young family with my little girl and boy and another due in March next year."

By that stage Cummins will be a spectator but this Friday night he and Manly venture into sudden-death rugby, confident their five-week, knife's edge run into the finals has them well prepared.

"We lost four in a row and we knew week-in and week-out we had to get pretty much maximum points every week, and we did it with 25 points from the last five games," Cummins said. "And this week at training we talked about the fact that now we don't need to score four tries but we still have to win. If it comes in the form of penalty goals and one try, so be it."

Manly don't care how it comes, but to bow out before the grand final would mean another year of pain. "Just to get to the grand final would be fantastic, and the guys won't be complacent," Cummins said. "We've had two or three years of being disappointed and finishing third and it's quite a familiar pain, so we don't want to end that way again."

Cummins doesn't believe the fact it could be his final game will affect his teammates, but coach Rod Cutler is not so sure. "He'll be playing like every minute is his last one, and hopefully that infects the team," Cutler said.

Turtle sounds more relaxed. "I'll just be out there with the workers while blokes like [back-line star] Pete Hewat flash around trying to look good," he said.

Joking aside, Hewat's presence will give Manly the kind of lift Randwick will miss after confirmation yesterday of centre Morgan Turinui's broken hand.

Turinui is likely to be sidelined for up to six weeks, missing the Wicks' Tooheys New Cup finals campaign, which kicks off against Sydney University on Saturday, with a return slated for NSW's Australian Provincial Championship matches in September. Matui Mailie replaces Turinui in the centres, with Matt Carraro shifting to outside-centre, the only change expected for the minor premiers.

Sydney University are expected to have representative second-rowers Will Caldwell and Al Campbell back, while veteran winger Michael Griffin has suffered a shoulder injury, opening the door for Joey Phillipe.

In other club news, the status of Gordon coach Lachlan Fear, a promising young coach much admired by opponents in the Sydney premiership, was unknown yesterday after sources said he was dismissed following the team's final match on Friday night, only to be reinstated this week.

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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