Sea Eagles recruit Jake Arthur will come up against his former club and his father, Brad, for the first time when Manly faces Parramatta on Saturday.
Jake has been named as the stand-in halfback for the Sea Eagles after departing the Eels last month because of limited game time.
He played 20 games for Parramatta across three seasons under his father as coach.
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Ahead of the face-off, Brad admitted there had been a bit of teasing around the dinner table.
“He came over for dinner and I just fired off a sneaky question [about training] and he was quick to reply. He was quite cheeky about it,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“His reply was, ‘Baldy is rattled’. He reckons we’re worried.”
But Brad insisted he was unconcerned heading into the meeting, firing back at his son’s barb.
“We’re coming after him. We’re going to bash him,” he joked.
with Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans tied up with State of Origin duties, Jake will take to the field at CommBank Stadium on Saturday.
Brad also confessed that despite the hype, the father-son clash would be one of his more straightforward games concerning Jake.
“It’s probably easier for me on game day this week with him not being in the [Parramatta] team than if he was,” he said.
“If he was in our team playing for us this week, I’d be a bit more edgy and nervy about it. Whereas now all I have to worry about is preparing the team and worrying about them and he’s got another coach worrying about him, what he has to do and what his job is.
“I don’t have to worry about that. I’m too busy worrying about how we’re playing to be worrying about how he’s playing.
Brad said Jake’s mum was going for Parramatta but wanted her son to play well.
“[Jake] was nice and relaxed and joking about the situation,” he said.
“He’s happy [at Manly], he loves the coaching, it’s a different point of view and different voice. He’s only ever known and listened to what I had to say and our coaches. Now he can help develop his game and work out the bits that he likes from us and the bits he likes from them.
Arthur’s a Manly man
“He can put it all together and work out what style of footy player he wants to be.”
Brad said the Eels, sitting just outside the eight, needed to focus all of their attention on their own game plan.
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“We are a lot more focused on ourselves because there are things that we need to get right,” he said.
“We probably do 70 per cent us and 30 per cent the opposition. The bit around Jake, the boys have trained with and against him for two or three years now in opposed sessions twice a week.
“They know what he’s good at, what he needs to improve on and where they might get him. The boys are all across it and they know more about it than I do.”
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