Talented junior players not linked to the Titans but maybe should be

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Exceptionally talented former Parramatta youngster Blaise Barnes started on the right wing this afternoon to Randwick in Round 16 of the Sydney Colts competition this afternoon and scored as the Rats overcome Eastern Suburbs 62-28.

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Outstanding No. 10 Ben Donaldson scored a try and kicked three conversions this afternoon for Randwick in Round 16 of the Sydney Colts I competition this afternoon and scored they defeated Eastern Suburbs 62-28.

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Former Sydney Roosters SG Ball winger Jackson Mohi started on the left wing and scored a hat trick this afternoon for Randwick in Round 16 of the Sydney Colts I competition this afternoon as they defeated Eastern Suburbs 62-28

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I have been fortunate enough to see some talented young players run around on a football field whether it is rugby league or rugby and Eastern Suburbs fullback Matt McTaggert is as good as I have ever seen.

This afternoon he scored once again in Round 16 of the Sydney Colts I competition this afternoon as Eastern Suburbs went down 62-28 to Randwick.

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I have been fortunate enough to see some talented young players run around on a football field whether it is rugby league or rugby and Eastern Suburbs fullback Matt McTaggert is as good as I have ever seen.

This afternoon he scored once again in Round 16 of the Sydney Colts I competition this afternoon as Eastern Suburbs went down 62-28 to Randwick.

How old is he Mdrew?

[mdrew]

19 mate

How old is he Mdrew?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrjgyxMwONs

I think I found his schoolboy highlight reel. Probably not as agile on his feet as Ponga (who was my first comparison) but wow what a talent.

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George Fai. (Revised) The big strong young 21 year old front rower is the older brother of former Titans NYC player Justin Fai and like his brother came through the ranks at the outstanding Logan Brothers Junior Rugby League club in Brisbane’s south.

George Fai is currently contracted to the Brisbane Broncos through to the end of the 2019 season but with the emergence of a number of talented young Bronco forwards it would not hurt at all for the Titans to see if George Fai is in their long term plans.

Gorge Fai has made one NRL appearance this season with the Broncos coming off the bench in Round 12 playing 14 minutes. In those 14 minutes he took three hit-ups making 29.1 metres, 12 post contact and also made eleven tackles at a tackling efficiency of 91.7%.

In May 2017 the 187cm 111kg George Fai made his NRL debut in a Round Twelve match against the New Zealand Warriors, making 40 metres, 19 post contract and 23 tackles in around 35 minutes of playing time.

This season George Fai has been playing for the Souths Logan Magpies in the Queensland Cup competition and has started in the front row in all sixteen of their matches. Through his sixteen matches, George Fai has been on the field for 827 minutes, run for 1 889 metres, 763 of those post contact (40.39%) and made 268 tackles at a tackling efficiency of 86.5%.

George Fai has scored five tries, the first of which came in Round Six against the Central Queensland Capra’s. The other tries have come in Round Eight against the Townsville Blackhawks, Round Eleven against the Mackay Cutters, Round Thirteen against the Northern Pride and in Round Seventeen once again against the Central Queensland Capra’s.

George Fai’s 2018 Queensland Cup per game averages include playing 52 minutes, running for 118.1 metres on 9.9 hit-ups and making 16.75 tackles. George Fai has also been credited with seventeen offloads and an impressive 89 tackle breaks which puts him in the top five of the Queensland Cup through sixteen rounds. Thirteen of those tackle breaks came in Round Six against Central Queensland.

On twelve occasions George Fai has run for more than 100 metres in a match, including in Round Six when he ran for 165 metres and in Round Sixteen against the Norths Devils when George Fai ran for 149 metres.

George Fai’s “best” game defensively came in Round Three against the North’s Devils when he made 27 tackles in just 49 minutes of playing time.

In addition to his two NRL matches, George Fai has played for the Broncos in a World Club Challenge match against the Warrington Wolves in 2017 and has previously represented Queensland at the U20 level, is a former GBJRL U17 player of the year and has represented Samoa in a number of junior rugby league competitions in Australia.

The pace and power in terms of how George Fai runs the ball is the outstanding feature, he takes the ball to the line with speed, but he does not just put his head down and rush forward. He uses subtle footwork prior to the line and seems to targets the gaps between defenders and will actively seek out opposing forwards who are slow to move up.

George Fai’s movement prior to engaging the defensive line is actually quite impressive, from the moment that he receives the ball from the dummy half he is moving subtly from side to side thus not allowing defences to key in on him.

When the opposition are on the back foot George Fai will target the smaller defenders on the edge of the ruck and burst through and for a big young bloke he has very good speed over the medium term and has the strength to drag defenders with him. Close to the line he was very effective for South’s Logan and scored a number of tries from reasonably close range where he just carried opposing forwards over the line with him.

George Fai is an aggressive defender whether he is defending in the centre of the ruck or wider on the fringes, and due to his natural strength is more than capable of defending one on one and can and will stop even the biggest opposing forwards in their tracks and targets the area around where the attackers carry the football.

George Fai’s speed and lateral movement means that he will not be beaten by light stepping halves trying to take advantage of tiring forwards or the opposition running out of dummy half. Due to his speed and athleticism George Fai covers across the field well, thus putting him in a good position to make the tackle when the ball is turned back inside from the halves.

As I have noted, George Fai is contracted to the Brisbane Broncos to the end of the 2019 season but with the emergence of some young forwards and pressure on the Broncos salary cap to resign Matt Lodge, Tevita Pangai Junior and Corey Oates amongst others an inquiry to the Broncos about his availability may yield a positive result.

George Fai certainly would provide a more than solid acquisition for the Titans. For that matter also bring back his younger brother Justin who just needs experience (He is currently playing for Souths Logan in the Brisbane Premier Grade competition) to be a potentially solid NRL player of the future.

George Fai will play out the remainder of the 2018 season with the South’s Logan Magpies at the Queensland Cup level and continue to be their forward leader. It will also be interesting to see if George Fai is able to add to his single NRL game over the remainder of this NRL season.

With the wealth of young forwards that the Broncos have locked up long term a move to the Gold Coast for George Fai would give him an outstanding opportunity to break into the NRL with the Titans.

At 187cm and 111kg with speed and mobility, George Fai shapes as a very solid young NRL front rower who is still a couple of seasons away from his peak.

For me a solid NRL comparison for George Fai is current Wests Tigers and New Zealand International front rower Russell Packer as a front rower who regularly crashes head long into the defensive line but does have some subtle footwork which seems to get largely over looked, as for that matter is his solid defensive technique and impressive functional strength

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Harry (Harrison) Wilson. (Revised) Harry Wilson is a giant young rugby forward formerly of St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace and was for me the stand out forward in the GPS First XV competition in 2016. Earlier in that same year, he was selected in the GPS 2 side for the Queensland Schoolboys rugby trials in Ballymore.

Those trials were the first time that I had seen him play and to say that he stood out would be an understatement. His ability to off load effectively in traffic was eye opening to say the least and also his elite athleticism for a player his size was exceptional.

This season Harry Wilson has bypassed the Brisbane Premier Rugby Colts competition and has been playing for Brothers in the Brisbane Premier Rugby First Grade competition, playing in 17 matches to date, starting sixteen and coming off the bench on one occasion.

Harry Wilson started the season in the No. 6 jersey when he played in Round Two against University of Queensland and has played nine times in that jersey, once at Lock (No. 4) and six times in the No. 8 jersey, playing No. 8 for the first time in Round Six against Sunnybank.

In his sixteen matches Harry Wilson has scored nine tries for a 56.25% all coming in separate matches. His first try was in the Round two match against University of Queensland. From Rounds five to Nine he scored against Bond University, Sunnybank, Norths and Wests (Round Seven was a Brothers bye).

Harry Wilson went on another try scoring blitz scoring in consecutive matches from Rounds Eleven through Fourteen which were against University of Queensland, Easts, Souths and Bond University respectively.

From the Queensland Schools trials in 2016 Harry Wilson was selected in the Queensland Two side for the Australian Schoolboys championships and once again he was a standout which ultimately led to his selection the Australian Barbarians Schoolboy side, a great feat none the less to make the side as such a young age but he did get a late call up to the Australian School’s side.

In the Australian Schoolboy trials in 2016 which were streamed live, Harry Wilson once again stood out for me due to his freakish athleticism. It was on display in a pool match against the ACT when he charged down an attempted clearing kick by the ACT fly half and then outpaced the cover defence in a 50m sprint to the line, Queensland Two went on to win that match 22 – 10.

For Gregory Terrace in the 2016 GPS First XV competition Harry Wilson was an ever present at lock across the nine rounds of the competition which was ultimately won by Brisbane State High School. Harry Wilson’s stats, curtesy of Greenandgoldrugby.com<http://Greenandgoldrugby.com> were 71 hit ups, 96 tackles and 13 missed tackles for a tackling efficiency of 88%. I have already noted his ability to off load the ball under heavy pressure and the stats from the website indicate that he offloaded eight times in contact and three more times prior to the defensive line. He also scored three tries.

Due to the superb coverage of the GPS First XV competition via live streams I have been able to watch seven of Harry Wilson’s eight matches either live or via streams both live and on replay and he really does stand out.

A synopsis of Harry Wilson’s skill set could be seen in Gregory Terrace’s 2016 Round Two clash against Brisbane Church Grammar School (Churchie) when early in the second half, Harry Wilson burst onto a flat pass from his half, smashed through the defensive line and offloaded a great short ball to fellow forward Harry Webster who scored untouched under the posts.

In Round Three in a big win against Ipswich Grammar School when early in the second half once again he burst through the defensive line down the right hand side of the field before offloading a great pass under pressure to Australian Schools winger Will Eadie who scored in the corner. In another example of his athleticism Harry Wilson in Round Nine against St Joseph’s Nudgee College he once again charged down an attempted clearing kick, kicked ahead twice before scoring.

His ability to burst through defensive lines and then offload under extreme pressure is the most outstanding feature of his game and the key point is that the skills that he utilises in rugby are transferrable to rugby league.

Harry Wilson has impressive speed off the mark even against set defensive lines when he picks and drives off the back of a ruck or mall he is still able to promote the ball through the power and speed in which he impacts the defensive line, he gets down low and uses an impressive leg drive to maintain the leverage he has generated through the core of his body to promote the ball further.

Where Harry Wilson is almost unstoppable is when he running wider of the congestion off his half. He is able to time his rights to receive the ball flat and not lose momentum as was evidenced by the break he made that set up a try for Australian Schools winger Will Eadie.

His offloading skills though are exceptional, for Gregory Terrace in the GPS First XV competition in 2016 and for Brothers this season he regularly as able to get his right hand free and offload to support players. Some examples have already been noted above and it is clear that as his team mates adjusted to his play the more effective his off loads became.

Harry Wilson is an aggressive defender whether he is defending in the centre of the ruck or on the fringes, and due to his natural strength is more than capable of defending one on one and can and will stop even the biggest opposing forwards in their tracks with his initial contact and targets the area around where the attackers carry the football looking to prevent offloads.

Harry Wilson’s speed and lateral movement means that he will not be beaten by light stepping halves trying to take advantage of tiring forwards or the opposition running off the back of a ruck or mall.

Harry Wilson’s aggressive tendencies are also on show when he was cleaning out at rucks and mauls, he would get low and clear out defenders who had not rolled away after the tackle was completed, and regardless of the size of the opponent he was able to clear them out to allow his team to get a quick clearance of the ball.

Harry Wilson will play out the 2018 season with Brothers in the Brisbane Premier Rugby First Grade competition and is still Colts eligible in 2019.

From rugby league perspective he has been a rugby league fan all of his life and already received interest from multiple NRL sides including South’s Sydney a year or so ago.

Harry Wilson will also certainly be a rugby league second rower upon any transition and be a great wide running, offloading runner with superb athletic skills.

From a player comparison perspective it is impossible not to see aspects of Sonny Bill Williams in his play with his superb athletic abilities and also his strength and power in both his attack and defensive and his incredible offloading ability.

Regardless of the code this young man is going to be a star who will wow supporters of rugby or rugby league with his exceptional skills and athletic ability.

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Ben Bucknell. The 18 year is a lightning quick, big stepping youngster who earlier this season played for the Easts Tigers in the MM Cup competition and post that competition is playing for GPS in the Brisbane Premier Colts rugby competition.

Ben Bucknell started all seven of the Easts Tigers MM Cup matches this season alternating between centre, wing and fullback. He started off the season at centre against the Central Queensland Capra’s and also played in the centres in Rounds Three (Victoria), Six (Northern Pride) and Seven (Tweed Heads), played on the wing in Rounds Four (Sunshine Coast) and Five (Redcliffe) and at fullback in Round Two against the Mackay Cutters.

Ben Bucknell’s three tries came Rounds One, Three and Five against Central Queensland, Victoria and Redcliffe respectively.

Post the 2018 MM Cup competition transitioned to the GPS rugby club for the Brisbane Premier Colts I season and to date has played in nine matches starting all bar one at fullback. Ben Bucknell came into the GPS side in Round Ten against Brothers and has played the majority of rounds since.

His only appearance outside the fullback position came in Round Fifteen against Wests when Ben Bucknell started at outside centre.

In 2016 Ben Bucknell was identified as a talented rugby league player when he was named the player with the most potential at the Confraternity Shield Rugby League competition, where Gold Coast Titans Rookie Squad member youngster Lochlyn Sheldon was named best player at the carnival.

In June of 2016 he was selected in the AIC representative side for the Queensland Schools Trials and played against the GPS representative sides. Whilst he was not able to show off his full ****nal of attacking skills in those trials, he was certainly able to over the course of the AIC schools competition which was played from April to June that year as well as in the Confraternity Shield Rugby League competition.

Let’s cut to the chase, when he runs the ball, he is exceptionally quick and explosive, with exceptional speed, both off the mark and when he gets into open space he leaves defenders in his wake.

On many occasions when he makes a break, his support could not keep up and thus he used his incredible footwork and speed to beat the opposing fullback by himself. There is nothing that Ben Bucknell cannot do running the ball and it is only now about developing his ball playing skills to make his footwork and running ability even more lethal. I

In attack Ben Bucknell also played up in the line quite often and was his team’s primary attacking option for Marist College Ashgrove both in rugby and rugby league in seasons past.

In addition Ben Bucknell also has the ball playing skills to set up his support runners and get them lines to run into when defenders came out of the line to negate his time with the ball in hand. He obviously was a key target for defences but he understands that he cannot do it all himself and thus became adept at drawing defenders out of the line and putting his support runners into the subsequent hole. As Ben Bucknell’s play making skills continue to evolve, the attacking possibilities are endless.

In terms of running the ball back from kicks, his timing and anticipation means that he gets to a lot of balls on the full and makes a quick decision whether to run the ball flat out back into the oncoming defenders or look to create an opportunity by running across field. Regardless he is an absolute handful to tackle with his speed and evasion skills.

Defensively in the fullback position Ben Bucknell understandably he does not make a huge amount of tackles but the ones he makes are the ones that need to be made. If an attacker runs directly at him, he will come forward to cut down the time the attacker has to make a decision and he will hit very hard and does not fall for a dummy in those situations.

An impressive attribute that Ben Bucknell does have is ability to force attackers who are in open space to try to beat him down the side line. He will stay inside the attacker and force him in the required direction and then use his timing, closing speed and anticipation to make the tackle, usually forcing the attacker into touch.

Ben Bucknell will finish the 2018 season in the Brisbane Premier Rugby Colts I competition for GPS and it will be interesting to see what code he plays for in 2019, certainly he would not look out of place in the Hasting’s Deering’s Colts competition.

From a position perspective, I think that Ben Bucknell’s timing, anticipation and speed is perfectly suited to the fullback position moving forward.

From a player comparison perspective, when you see him in full flight it is scary how similar Ben Bucknell’s style compares to Sydney Roosters and New South Wales State of Origin fullback James Tedesco, he is just so fast and elusive and it looks so effortless but he obviously has a long way to go to come close to reaching those heights however

[mdrew]

Outstanding Randwick Colt Lachlan Day played on the left wing this afternoon in the Colts II competition and scored a double and kicked a conversion as Randwick defeated Sydney University 38-8.

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Former Parramatta Eels NYC squad member Blaise Barnes started at fullback this afternoon and scored a try in the Colts II competition as Randwick defeated Sydney University 38-8.

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Northern New South Wales 18 year old Tristian Reilly is as good as any teenager running around in either code and scored a double this afternoon in Round from the fullback position for Randwick in their Sydney Reserve Grade 52-28 win over Sydney University.

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Exciting left winger Jackson Mohi scored once again this afternoon for Randwick Colts I this afternoon in Round 17 as Randwick defeated Sydney University 47-22.

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18 year old Randwick Colts I five eight Ben Donaldson is more than just an outstanding attacking threat, he is also an accomplished goal kicker and this afternoon in Round 17 as Randwick defeated Sydney University 47-22he kicked six conversions from seven attempts.

He then backed up to be on the bench for the Randwick First Grade side