Jamie McCormack appreciation thread

[mdrew]

Maroon Titans made a good point in the Junior Development thread and that is the person behind the exceptional Titans JTS Program sometimes gets overlooked, that person being Jamie McCormack.

Jamie McCormack set up the JTS Program years ago and has led the program ever since.

Make no mistake the Titans JTS Program is the best in the NRL including being above the Penrith, Roosters and Bronco's program which are all outstanding in their own right.

Without Jamie McCormack, the Titans future would be nowhere near as bright and his contribution should be not be overlooked or under estimated.

It should also be noted that it is not just about getting the "best" juniors into the program, it is then about developing them as people first and rugby league players second, the JTS Program is outstanding at both.

[lonegull]

Well said MDrew, Jamie tireless work behind the scenes if really starting to come to fruition, he is a bloke that doesn't get a lot of accolades for what he has installed with the JTS system

[MaroonTitan]

Praise be to Jamie McCormack! What a legend! I bet he's good at everything!

[DIEHARD]

Thanks for posting, mdrew. That is high praise and deserved recognition for Jamie McCormack. It even took me a back and that's the point. The people first approach is important to me and will also pay off on the field too.

[mdrew]

The hard work from Jamie McCormack and his team continues to bear fruit and will be on display in the Titans first NRL trial against the Brisbane Bronco’s this weekend with Thomas Weaver and Ryan Foran who both were identified by Jamie McCormack as 13 year olds named on the bench.

Jamie McCormack has also had a big hand in the development of Keano Kini, Josiah Pahulu and Jaylan De Groot from school boy’s to members of the wider Titans NRL squad with those three also on the bench this weekend for the Titans NRL side.

You can also throw in Klese Haas who will start this weekend after playing two NRL matches last season and also came through the Titans JTS Program. You can also add Lofi Khan-Pereira into the take with the flyer starting on the wing this weekend for the Titans.

Jamie McCormack is also the person who brought Ben Liyou into the Titans fold as a 13 year old. Ben Liyou who will join the Titans Top 30 NRL squad in 2024 and would have featured this weekend but for a serious knee injury.

[mdrew]

Jamie McCormack take a bow

[Titanic]

Jamie McCormack take a bow
Ditto … now we need to be able to hold on to them plus the other dozen not mentioned.

[lonegull]

Jamie McCormack take a bow

Totally agree

[mdrew]

Credit where credit is due for Jamie McCormack with all six of the 2024 Development Players coming through his outstanding JTS Program. YOu can also add in Tom Weaver, Keano Kini, Klese Haas and Lofi Khan-Pereira who are already in the Titans Top 30.

[mdrew]

Great to see that four of the Titans NRL train and trial players were signed to Jamie McCormack's JTS program as 15 year olds, being Kaleb Ngamanu, Joseph Shannon, Sam Stephenson and Zane Harrison.

[mdrew]

Great to see Jamie McCormack arranging for 130 odd juniors from multiple Titans squads such as the Titans Northern Rivers U14 academy and the Northern Rivers Titans U16 and U18 squads come together in Ballina last weekend.

People talk about the strength of the Penrith catchment area, thanks to Jamie McCormack the Titans catchment is as good, if not better with the fruits of that labour really starting to come to the fore.

[mdrew]

In a recent interview Erin Clark singled out Josiah Pahulu as a standout in the first batch of pre-season training. Josiah Pahulu came to prominence when four Titans U14 academy squads played at Mudgeeraba four years ago from a Jamie McCormack initiative that still is in place today.

[mdrew]

What a great achievement for Jamie McCormack and his team with 11 of the Titans Top 30 coming through the JTS Program. You can also throw in all six of the Development contract holders and the likes of Kaleb Ngamanu, Sam Stephenson, Alex Leapai and Zane Harrison on train and trial contracts.

The scary thing is that the next generation coming through is just as good!

[Hail Sezer]

What a great achievement for Jamie McCormack and his team with 11 of the Titans Top 30 coming through the JTS Program. You can also throw in all six of the Development contract holders and the likes of Kaleb Ngamanu, Sam Stephenson, Alex Leapai and Zane Harrison on train and trial contracts.

The scary thing is that the next generation coming through is just as good!

I've got 14 of the top 30. Mo, AJ, Lofi, Phil, BK, JC, Jojo, Keano, Weaver, Francis, Iszac, Josiah, Klese, R Foran

Jamie deserves a lot of credit but I've gotta give a big ups to Ezra Howe as well. He's the one everyone blames for a bad signing but he also doesn't get much recognition for the good ones. We wouldn't have the likes of Keano without his influence

[lonegull]

How good and thanks for the update Mdrew, Jamie has stuck by the club and we are seeing and reaping the benefits of having him here as part of the titans organisation, that last paragraph is great news and for all the juniors coming through they can know see that there is a pathway to the NRL

[mdrew]

Thanks HS and I thought I was good at maths haha, around 50 percent is an outstanding achievement

[DIEHARD]

That is an absolutely extraordinary statistic.

A lot of clubs have this reputation of having an amazing juniors system but it doesn't stack up to scrutiny.

But this is very rewarding to watch develop. Thanks to everyone who contributes their opinions and insights.

[mdrew]

The results of the U17 and U19 sides on the weekend is certainly confirmation of the outstanding JTS Progan implemented by Jamie McCorack and his team.

[mdrew]

The Titans U19 side had wins in the pre-season against Newcastle, Penrith and Souths with all three of those sides excelling in the opening rounds of the U19 SG Ball competition with Penrith currently undefeated and Newcastle already with a 50 odd point win.

With the JTS Program the future is very bright for the Titans.

[Titanic]

Devastating news that Jamie McCormack has left the club. No funding or clash with the club of retiring? Does anybody have a handle on what happened?

[Hail Sezer]

Devastating news that Jamie McCormack has left the club. No funding or clash with the club of retiring? Does anybody have a handle on what happened?

No longer required T

[Titanic]

No longer required T HS, I’ve been following your up-dates on the future pathways challenges, could you put that all into context please?

[Hail Sezer]

HS, I’ve been following your up-dates on the future pathways challenges, could you put that all into context please?

Just by observations mate, and I'll preface this by saying that our pathways is a mile ahead of where it was once upon a time.

The competitive landscape for junior recruitment is more difficult than ever. At 15's level, it's a free for all as NRL clubs compete for the best kids in that age group (the year they turn 15 is the year they can sign with a club) and the Titans target all of the Gold Coast, parts of Brisbane, Northern Rivers, and areas in NZ.

2017ish they overhauled our pathways with more investment/resources and we had a really, really good run for a few years and were landing the best kids in the region (e.g. Arama, Seth), as well as Bris (e.g. Josiah), plus getting some really good jr talent out of the Northern Rivers (e.g. Tom, Ryan Foran, Jaylan, Oskar). This continued and our current U18's group is arguably the strongest we've had (e.g. Sam Stephenson, Cooper Bai, Zane Harrison). I've always said there's no guarantee kids turn into NRL players and that's always the case, but you have to recruit the best to give yourself the best chance of developing and transitioning the best.

In the last 2-3 years, we've really struggled to land the top tier of kids on the GC. In fact, our best kids in 15's to 17's are out of NZ due to Ezra Howe's connections, with the exception of maybe one or two. Northern Rivers we have a good hold on but realistically the talent pool isn't quite as strong year on year as SEQ.

The Broncos and Dolphins are signing the best kids between them, and their kids in 15's to 17's is a long way ahead of ours, IMO. We're missing the best GC talent, to be frank.

The reason is a mixture of things depending on who you ask. My opinion is that it's resources and personnel. We're not meeting the financial commitment that other clubs are making to kids these days either, which is seeing us miss talent or even lose some talent that's already in our system.

This isn't intended to be a doomer post, because things aren't doom and gloom at all. But we should be demanding high performance at every single level of the organisation - the Broncos do, and the Dolphins are going hard at securing their own piece of market share. Plus, more and more Sydney clubs are recruiting aggressively in SEQ every year. We need to improve how we're securing the top talent at the younger age group because I think we've gone backwards a bit.

[Titanic]

Thanks and I hope our other LoT readers take note. Developing any organization takes a lot of investment in building and maintaining their foundations.

[mdrew]

Thank you Jamie McCormack for all you did for the Titans juniors.

[MaroonTitan]

I hope there's going to be some sort of farewell for him - a gold watch or something!