He’s played nine games of NRL before, but a Round 1 hat-trick to Nathan Davis has given weight to his first-grade case for 2018.
In what can only be described as the upset of Round 1, the Wentworthville Magpies took down reigning champions the Penrith Panthers in front of a large home crowd. It came off the back of Davis’s involvement, with the centre scoring three tries along with six goals to bag 24 points for himself in the 32-24 victory.
Davis, who was a part of the Wentworthville side which ran ninth in 2017, believes this will be a more successful year for Nathan Cayless’s men.
“It’s always a tough gig, coming up Round 1 against the reigning premiers,” Davis told NSWRL.com.au, “so our boys went out there and had a big crack.
“We showed the league that we’re not here to muck around.
“(I’m) obviously pretty happy with it. Just playing for the boys, we stuck to our structures and ended up playing what was in front of us and was very happy with the outcome.”
Davis, whose first two tries came in the space of three minutes in the first half, also resumed the kicking duties for the Magpies and converted six out of seven opportunities with the boot. He maintains hope of a return to the NRL, where he played eight games with the Titans in 2016 and one more with the Eels last year.
“They asked if I wanted to kick and I was like ‘yeah, I’ll do it’ – and obviously I’ve still got it,” Davis said of his goal kicking. “Wenty’s obviously a good stepping stone to get into the NRL and when BA gives me the shot to put on the blue and gold jersey I’m going to give it a good crack.”
A usual centre but capable winger, Davis can continue his push for first grade recognition with more performances like Saturday afternoon’s. Having let the Panthers back into the game in the third quarter of the game, the Magpies know their game is not perfect.
k“(There’s) always room for improvement, we’ve just got to work on our second half, our first 20 (of the second half),” Davis said. “That’s where we really struggled and we’ll go back to training and work on that and probably fix it up for next week.”
The Magpies will experience their first home game of 2018 in Round 2, when they host the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles at Ringrose Park from 3pm on Saturday, 17 March.
