The Cambodian Eagles will fly out a good-sized squad of 19 players to take on a full-strength Malaysian Warriors side in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday as the top two teams in the East Asian Australian Football League renew their rivalry.

A number of key players are coming back to the Eagles fold to reinforce the side, prominent among them being former captain Allan Sorteris, spiritual leader David Murphy and the backline stalwart David Gordge.

Eagles head coach Grant Fitz-gerald is quietly confident. “We have some very handy inclusions for this game,” he told the Post yesterday.

“Although they don’t add a lot of pace they bring a lot of football experience, which will go a long way in tackling a strong Malaysian side.”

The Eagles have been putting in some hard yards on the training track over the last six weeks, working on some of the areas that let them down during the Singapore tour that saw them draw with the Warriors but succumb to a narrow loss to the Singapore Wombats.

“Inaccurate goal kicking cost us dearly in Singapore, so we have been running a lot of goal kicking drills as we try to improve our conversion rate,” Fitzgerald added.

“We have also been focusing on our contested football as we want to build our reputation of being a physical side with attacking instincts.”