Originally Posted by
mdrew
Jai Whitbread. The former Gold Coast Titans and Northern Rivers junior has been signed by the Titans on a Top 30 contract and deservedly so after standout performances for the Brisbane Broncos NYC side in 2016 and 2017.* Even though Jai Whitbread is still eligible to play U20’s in 2018 I anticipate that he will start the season in the Tweed Heads Seagulls QCup side. Earlier this season Jai Whitbread was the 18th man for the New South Wales U20 State of Origin side.* *Jai Whitbread in addition to his rugby league commitments is studying a Bachelor’s Degree in Clinical Phycology so is also a very intelligent young man.
Jai Whitbread who originally hails from the Tamworth region and played his junior rugby league with the South Tweed Bears played a First Grade trial with the Broncos in February of this year when he came off the bench against the Ipswich Jets in Ipswich.
In 2017 Jai Whitbread played in twenty three matches for the Broncos NYC side including their finals matches, starting twenty one of those matches in the front row and the other two matches being Rounds Four and Five from the interchange bench.* On those matches Jai Whitbread scored two tries which came against the Wests Tigers in Round Eleven and against Newcastle in the Bronco’s first final match this season.
Jai Whitbread’s 2017 per match averages included 118 running metres on 12 hit-ups and 26 tackles (90% tackling efficiency) in just over 55 minutes.* On sixteen occasions Jai Whitbread ran for more than 100 metres including an incredible effort in Round Eleven against the Wests Tigers when he ran for 201 metres.* On sixteen occasions also Jai Whitbread made more than twenty tackles including Round Eleven against Wests Tigers when he made 47 tackles. Over the course of the 2017 NYC season Jai Whitbread also made six line breaks and off loaded the ball on seven occasions.
In 2016 whilst still U18 eligible, in fact he represented New South Wales U18 that year, Jai Whitbread made twenty one NYC appearances for the Broncos starting in the front row thirteen matches and coming off the interchange bench in eight more,* His 2016 per match season averages included 78 running metres on 8.5 hit ups and 21 tackles (92% tackling efficiency) in 45 minutes.
Jai Whitbread’s two 2016 NYC tries came in Round Eight against the Rabbitohs and Rounds Twenty Six against the Sydney Roosters. His best running metre performance in 2016 was in Round Twenty Two against the Dragons and defensively Jai Whitbread in Round Seventeen made 35 tackles with no misses against the Melbourne Storm.
The table below compares Jai Whitbread’s 2016 and 2017 NYC per game averages.
2016 2017
Games played 21 23
Minutes per game 45 55
Runs per game 8.5 12
Metres made per game 78 118
Tackles per game 21 26
The 186cm 104kg Jai Whitbread was a former Titans contracted junior from just south of the Border and played for New South Wales at the U16 and U18 levels and also CC and MM Cup for Gold Coast based squads in previous seasons. At the start of the 2016 season Jai Whitbread was signed by the Broncos after a successful GPS rugby career with the Southport School where he played three years in the school’s First XV and making a number of GPS representative sides.* Interestingly Jai Whitbread played school boy rugby in the centres but in rugby league has played either front row or second row.
Jai Whitbread is a hard running forward who is very good at running the right line including both and inside shoulder and outside shoulder line and consistently hits the pass off either the dummy half or play maker flat thus generating his best possible speed and momentum to hit the defensive line at full speed. Where he really excels though is his footwork, Jai Whitbread has very good late and quick foot work which enables him to change direction quickly allowing him to readjust where he is running to take advantage of either a late developing hole in the defensive line or where the defensive line is repositioning late.
Jai Whitbread is adept at cutting back behind the play the ball area when the markers do not work hard and make ground as a result. When the Broncos NYC side were in the attacking area, Jai Whitbread was regularly used to draw the defence into the centre of the ruck thus stretching the defensive line out wide to allow the backline more room to move.* Jai Whitbread also accepted the responsibility of regularly taking the first hit-up from kick offs and was regularly the first forward to take a hit-up after an opposition tactical kick.
Even when he is taking a hit up in the centre of the ruck, Jai Whitbread’s feet are always moving and he is constantly making slight corrections to his running vector and he is also able to maintain his speed regardless of those multiple directional changes.* He seems just to run and think at a faster pace than other forwards on the field. These attributes lead to a lot of line breaks and he has the speed to convert them into tries himself.* Jai Whitbread’s speed is probably a bit above average but it is the speed that he is able to generate from only a few paces which makes it play faster from a defenders perspective. Obviously playing high level school boy rugby for TSS has assisted in the development of this particular attribute.
Defensively he hits very hard and had one of the better defensive technique s in the NYC competition this season. Jai Whitbread’s technique revolves around timing and execution.* Jai Whitbread’s head is almost always correctly positioned and he always drives with his shoulder and never just jersey grabs.* From the matches that I have seen Jai Whitbread also tackles with both shoulders equally effectively. The impressive thing for me also is that Jai Whitbread never seems to bounce off the ball when he makes a front on tackle meaning his target area and the ability to hit the area on a regular basis is quite exceptional for a reasonably inexperienced forward.
Another defensive aspect that I noted during the 2017 season was that Jai Whitbread does not just make one tackle at a time, he makes a series of tackles one after another all as clinical and effective as the one before.* His lateral speed is quite good due to his quick twitch feet and thus he is effective at defending against smaller dynamic runners out of dummy half as well as half backs and five eights running of the fringes looking to isolate forwards.
In addition Jai Whitbread continues to display the leadership attributes that you like to see in a player/person, not just in junior rugby league, but across any level of our game and the community.* He shapes as someone who has the attributes to be a first grade/club captain one day and a well-respected one at that.
As noted Jai Whitbread has signed a Top 30 contract with the Titans and must be a chance to start the 2018 season close to the NRL side likely starting his NRL career from the inter change bench sometime in 2018.* If not he will start the season for Tweed Heads in the QCup* I anticipate bypassing his final year of Colts eligibility all together.
Even though he played a number of matches in the NYC competition this year for the Broncos in the front row I can see Jai Whitbread better suited to the second row as he progresses towards the NRL especially with his mobility work ethic and intelligence way above average if not in the plus category.
In many respects Jai Whitbread has a similar playing style to that of two other former Gold Coast youngsters who are now back on the Gold Coast after stints with the Broncos that being Jai Arrow and Keegan Hipgrave.* Like both Keegan Hipgrave and Jai Arrow, Jai Whitbread is a mobile yet powerful forward who is a tackling machine but also a player who has far more to his attacking game than just putting his head down and running straight into the defensive line.
Make no mistake those three plus the likes Max King are the future of the Gold Coast Titans forward pack for the next ten years or so.* *They are all hard working young men who you can start to build a club around.