A second rower isn’t often seen as a try scoring machine,but in Lachlan Fitzgibbon’s case his year could again be shaping up to see a haul of four pointers similar to last year.
The 24-year-old was one of three try scorers for the nib Newcastle Knights in their thrilling one-point win over the Manly Sea Eagles on Friday.
He pulled out his signature move in the 60th minute to crash over the goal line but continues to be modest about his try scoring ability.
“It wasn’t the be all and end all in the game,” Fitzgibbon told media on Monday morning.
“Junior (Mitchell Pearce) put the icing on the cake in the end which was unreal.
“The better players around me put me in one-on-one positions against smaller blokes on the field so it comes back to a lot of the play makers around me.”
But the second rower admits there are definitely some areas the team needs to work on against Canberra this Sunday.
“We did some video this morning on some things we can obviously work on for this weekend,” Fitzgibbon stated.
“Canberra is a tough gig for any team in the comp because you go down there mid-July and it gets down to zero degrees so lucky we’re playing them early.
“They have a good crowd and have a good membership backing which always gets behind them, so it's a tough road trip and I’m sure we can do the job.”
As a young player, Fitzgibbon hasn’t seen too many wins in first grade as yet but relished the feeling of victory following Friday’s game.
“It was a good feeling,” laughed Fitzgibbon.
“I haven’t played in many wins in a first grade side and to get that win, especially for Round 1, is very exciting.”
The young forward believes the players that have been brought into the Club this year are set to make a big impact on the 2018 season.
“Browny (Nathan Brown) brought some experienced players to the Club to get the job done and we sure did,” Fitzgibbon said.
“They’re all from winning clubs and strong cultures so it helps us younger blokes go to another level and finish out those games.”
Against a seasoned Manly forward pack, Fitzgibbon commented that he thought they stood up well to the challenge.
“I thought we did alright as a pack because they’ve got some really good players, so coming together for our first game, I thought it was a decent effort,” he maintained.
“Slade did great on the weekend and he’s coming out of a successful team in Melbourne and worked under the best hooker in the world, so he brings a lot and was solid in defence.
“Kalyn (Ponga) also lived up to everyone’s expectations and he’s only going to get better, he’s only 19 still so he’s going to be a freak in future years.”
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