We caught up with Dyldam Parramatta Eels forward Daniel Alvaro today (Monday 21 September) during the Blue and Gold Junior Members’ clinic to talk about the forwards’ 2015 season and the upcoming pre-season.
Alvaro, who has earned the nickname the Polar Bear for his blonde hair, was a fan favourite amongst the Junior Members’ clinic and the forward enjoyed seeing the Blue and Gold army in droves during the school holidays.
“I did a bit of camps like this through school and on the weekends every now and then and it’s really good. It gives kids something to do during the holidays and it’s a bit of fun,” Alvaro said.
“Everyone is really enthusiastic, the kids seem to be having a good day and there is plenty of energy around,” he added.
The 22 year old, who made his debut in Round 12 this season, finished the year with seven NRL games, gaining more and more minutes in the middle as the season progressed.
In the last third game of the season, Alvaro made 102m, one tackle-break and 17 tackles in his 30 minutes against Manly, before 109m, seven tackle-breaks and 35 tackles in his 41 minutes against Cronulla.
Alvaro topped it off with 45 minutes against the Raiders in the final game of the season, finishing with 141m, three tackle-breaks, one line-break and 25 tackles.
“I was pretty happy overall with my year,” Alvaro said.
“It was pretty gradual [my step up in minutes and game time] which was good. I slowly had more and more minutes and eased into it and the boys really helped me out throughout it which was good. They made me feel comfortable.”
“I just got very lucky in the last couple of weeks!” Alvaro added commenting on the two tries he scored in the final two games of the season.
With the forward looking forward to the pre-season with the Blue and Gold, the next few weeks will see Alvaro spend some family time in Brisbane before returning to Sydney ready to improve.
“I am just going to have a bit of a break, go up and see mum and dad who live in Brisbane,” Alvaro said.
“I think it is more of a team thing [on what we can work on during the pre-season]. We just have to find ways to win and that will be the main theme of the pre-season and everyone will be working hard on that for sure,” Alvaro added.
“We have plenty of real good quality forwards so I will be trying to soak up as much as I can off those guys and just try and get better.”
