Manly Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold has provided an update on the condition of five-eighth Luke Brooks after he missed a significant portion of the club's training session on Thursday.
Preparing to face the Canterbury Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon, Brooks suffered a slight setback in the lead-up to the clash with a hip flexor injury but is expected to take the field and partner veteran skipper Daly Cherry-Evans in the halves.
Although he missed most of today's training session, there is a growing confidence that Brooks will be available for selection.
"He got a little bit tight through his hip flexor," coach Anthony Seibold said via The Daily Telegraph.
"He has done plenty of work over the last four or five weeks, so we gave Joey Walsh some reps in the halves.
"Joey's developing really well .... but Brookesy will be right. Our physio said it was more precaution.
"He started the session and felt a bit tight. We just felt as though he didn't need to finish the session - we would rather be cautious with him."
The absence of Brooks at the club's training session gifted young halfback Joey Walsh the opportunity to train alongside Daly Cherry-Evans in the halves with the first-grade squad.
A star cross-code athlete, Walsh was a member of the CABE Junior Blues squad in 2022 alongside the likes of Jesse McLean, Blaize Talagi, Samuela Fainu and Chevy Stewart after spending time in the Sydney Roosters pathways system.
He was also named the captain of the U18s Australian rugby union team last year and played alongside future NRL talent Mitchell Woods and Alex Conti for the NSW Waratahs at the U16 National Rugby Championship in 2022.
"He's been playing great footy so it's great to have him out there," teammate Jake Trbojevic said.
"He's got a lot of skill, but I think he's quite tough; he tackles really hard. He's only 18, 19, so obviously he's quite young; he's got a bit of learning to do.
"Jumping in there, he holds his own. If he gets a shot, whether it's this year or next year, he'll definitely do a good job."
