With devastating fires hitting much of the town recently, the club had a highly disjointed pre-season, but was quick to rally behind the community, playing a key role in some fundraising efforts. 

“The disastrous fires that happened have been a terrible thing - we had a week off from training to gather and rally for the community,” senior spokesman Luke Taylor said. 

However, once the smoke cleared, the club has been back on the training track to chase “a bit of normality” and Taylor says the Sea Eagles have “bounced back in spades”. 

“It was disappointing to miss the Lightning Cup, but doing our part for the Tathra community was important to us,” Taylor said as all senior players instead headed out for fundraising endeavours. 

However, they’re now focusing on getting on the park with the seniors to host Eden Saturday in an annual Anzac Day showdown. 

“We know what Anzac Day means to the country and we’ll just be doing our little part to represent the club and we’ll be out there doing our best.”

The Sea Eagles have kept a core group of returning players, but will also welcome the depth of an under 16s team this year. 

“With the 16s on board it has added a new dimension to the numbers on board and it motivates everyone to get there,” Taylor said. 

Meanwhile, Dean Gartside has taken on the captaincy this year and Taylor said he was “immensely valuable up front”. 

“We’ve got the likes of Tom Marshman, Louis Coulton and Troy O’Loghlin are some of the similar faces and we’ll expect big output from them this weekend.”

The women’s team is also looking strong with Cymmon Parker taking charge and the Eaglettes are looking to give the flag a good shake this year, but the ladies will wait until next week to launch their campaign. 

The Last Post and Anzac tributes will open the round between the Eagles and Whalers on Saturday with play to start at 2.30pm.