If Zac can turn out even half as good as Tommy Bishop, the former great English international and Cronulla captain, the Sharks will be on a winner.

Like Rogers, Ettingshausen, Miller, Pierce and Watson, there are no more famous names than Bishop in the 44-year history of the Sharks.

Last week Tommy Bishop, who led the Sharks to their first grand final (1973), brought grandson Zac, 18, from Queensland to his old Sydney club for an under 20s trial. Bishop revealed the Brisbane Broncos had bypassed Zac, a hooker-half, saying he was "too small''.

"I had to laugh at that because when I played I was two stone lighter than what Zac is now,'' said Bishop, who worked in a coal mine as a teenager before becoming one of the game's greatest half-backs.

"So I thought of my old club Cronulla and we made arrangements to trial Zac at Shark Park.''

With Tommy Bishop and Gavin Miller among the 3000 at the game played in torrential rain at times, young Bishop got on the field for the last 20 minutes and, despite limited chances, displayed some of the old Bishop "fire and brimstone'' traits from someone so small

in a game won by Manly 16-12.

"The boys are stronger and faster than the competition up north [Brisbane],'' said Zac, who played rugby union with Nudgee College before switching to league.

Asked what did Tommy think? "He thought I went well, even though I didn't get much time,'' Zac said.

Coach Joe Grima said Zac was "young and raw'' but showed potential.

"He showed, like Tommy, he is willing to mix it, so we're going to trial him again this week and give him a go at hooker, where he also plays,'' Grima said.

The main Sharks vs Sea Eagles trial was broken into two, with the clubs' A-sides playing the latter two, 20-minute quarters.

Sharks coach Ricky Stuart was reasonably happy.

"I hated so many dropped passes so early in the tackle count, but I got a fair bit of joy out of our first trial. The defence was great, and Manly scored from two kicks,'' Stuart said.

Manly won 12-4 (18-4 overall) but there were some promising signs for the Sharks:

1) The new halves combination of experienced ex-Wests Tigers John Morris with captain Trent Barrett functioned well.

2) New recruit Albert Kelly shone in both trials and staked a claim at fullback.

3) A bigger Nathan Stapleton trialed in the centres and could fight out a starting spot with tryscorer Ben Pomeroy and new recruit Dean Collis, who suffered a minor knee ligament strain.

4) A fitter Adam Cuthbertson shone in an impressive forward pack boosted by fellow recruits Broderick Wright, Siosaia Vave, Josh Cordova and Stuart Flanagan, and Fiji international Jayson Bukuya returning from injury.

5) The clubs gave no quarter in defence and Manly's bloodied Jason King discovered you don't start a dust-up with Kade Snowden unless you can finish it (both were sin-binned for 10 minutes).

6) The Sharks should have more variety and player-depth this season, considering Anthony Tupou and Paul Gallen have to return along with Blake Ferguson, who with Tupou and St George Illawarra's Jamie Soward and Matt Cooper were among the stars of the outstanding

Indigenous v NRL All Stars match on Saturday night.