Great win for Burleigh Colts this afternoon. Sam Swift making his debuts and scoring as well.
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Great win for Burleigh Colts this afternoon. Sam Swift making his debuts and scoring as well.
Little to no representatives of the Titans at the Junior Grand Finals
Would love to know the reasoning behind that ingenious idea
Good to see a number of Titans Development staff at the Ipswich U18 Grand Final over the weekend, a number of talented boys on show at the game. After another disasterous NYC season (at least we did not final last but two wooden spoons and two second last places in the last 4 years, is still horrific) it is good to see that they are apparently looking far and wide for players who can contribute next year and beyond.
One really good junior is Josh Berkers; plays for Burleigh Bears at the moment, and one the Confraternity Cup player of the year this year. I actually am very good friends with him, and he plays Back-Row/Five-Eighth. He'll most likely be in the U20's team next year. I played in the Confraternity squad this year for Marymount (Same team as Josh, he was our Five-Eighth, and I played at Centre) and I've never played with anyone better than Josh. I've played against Sam Swift, and I've played against the Pelo brothers, as well as the Schwass brothers, but Josh is without a doubt the best I've played with and/or against.
Ultimately Josh's future is in the backrow, one spot where we seeming have a bit of depth in NYC in 2014. An advantage he has is his ball skills before the line, a product from his time wider out. May struggle to get a start immediately in 2014, but you are right should be in the squad.
U16 Cyril Connell Cup squads contains multiple Titans contracted players including:
Blake Buxton
Tom Plater
Steve Dressler
Ethan Paikea
Jack Peacock
Jai Whitbread
Sean Garner
Apaita Noema
Emery Pere
Duncan Harding
Payne Hass
Harry Fitzhugh
A number of Titans contracted boys missed out on MM Cup selected but have been named in GC U17 Development Squad.
Sam Ross
Tekapo Tuaine
Riley Yates
Alex Fitzhugh
Jake Gleeson
Waylon Wood
Rory Lillis
Jacob Roby
Missed a few CC boys:
Michael Chalmers
Baily Gill
Fletcher Harold
U18 MM Titans players include:
Puo Poihipi
Brett Stratton
Daymeric Pelo
Ethan Ahrens
Spencer Hepi
Braydon McMahon
Nick Burns
Josh Ralph
Braydon Robson - watch out for this young 5/8
Jerome Green
Jennan Wedderburn-Parrish - I think he starts in NYC
Jack Cook
Zac Beacher
Ethan Brower
Kyle Kalkhoven
Sam Elliot
Keanu Dawson
Max Elliot
Sylan Pelo
Sam Swift - I think he starts in NYC
Kyle Kennedy - real good young backrower from Lismore
Keenan Palasia
Jed Cartwright
Rohan Pottinger
Joel Hagan is an interesting pick up for the Titans. The Bronco's signed him as a 13 year old and placed him at Nudgee College in Brisbane. He has been courted by NRL AFL and Super Rugby teams. A very fast talented young fullback. Another one is Kupi Ta'ala, who has come over from rugby where he was a scrum half. Rohan Pottinger is a big front rower from NSW country with big wraps on him as well
Thanks once again mdrew, it's great getting updates like this excited about news you have given on a couple of signings hopefully our NYC will be a little better this year. Please keep updates flowing
Jed Cartwright...any connection there?
Tell me more about Joel Hagan please. How old is he and will he feature for our NYC next year?
Lightning quick and can kick in general play. Played a lot of fly half in union. Whilst he is relatively slight of build he is very strong. He will not start in NYC but after the MM competition I guess you never know. A few others more likely to feature in NYC in 2014, like Sam Swift, Jennan Parrish, Max Elliot, Dylan Pelo and smokies Keanu Dawson even though next year will be his first out of U16's and Braydon Robson (5/8) from Northern NSW
apologies missed Jordon Sims from MM
If anyone goes to the games, keep an eye out for Brandon Russell in CC, still eligible for U15's next year, he is a real talent
Another Gee on the way - Charlie Gee, (Sam gee's brother) was the stand out at an Under 14's challenge in North Queensland. Playing 5/8 he was the player of the carnival. He is obviously a way away but another to keep a look out for. Hopefully all of the young boys can keep grounded and work hard
Broncos continue to be very active in GC area, seemingly snaring a young front rower who is eligible for CC next year. They are very good at identifying and getting who they are after.
Congratulations to Sam Swift, Zac Young, Max Elliot and Braydon McMahon for their selection in the AIS squad to tour NZ leaving next week. Shane Wright another boy from PBC also in the side. Well done to all
Max Elliot, Sam Swift and Brayden McMahon all played in the AIS 78-6 win against NZ West Coast U18's. Shem Vaoa and Aaron Booth also involved
Van Harris a young backrower is currently in Europe with the Indeginous U16 squad
Sam Swift scored three first half tries in their 76-8 win in game 2 for the AIS New Zealand tour. Brayden McMahon and Max Elliott were also in the starting line-up
Sam Swift named player of the AIS tour. Well done to Sam and all players, all the best for the future. You have done yourselves and your families proud.
CC & MM selection trials tonight at Runaway Bay
1st game 5pm
A couple of Titans contracted boys attending the NSW Country development seminars in Sydney, a good thing to prepare them for the future
2014 MM and CC squads finalised, squads on GC junior rugby league website. A heap of titans contracted boys in all teams
The announcement of the CC and MM squads, has brought a couple of serious points to light, being how poor the information from the Titans is about junior development and also how many local juniors have signed with other clubs.
Point One first, over the last couple of weeks, a number of Titans contracted juniors have represented Australia overseas, for example Van Harris, Sam Swift, Bayden McMahon, Sam Elliott etc, nothing from the Titans, yet other clubs like Penrith, did articles on their plays to keep the fan base up to date. The Titans have been very poor at this, and even with the "new" regime, the same old same old. Outside of people posting on this forum, we would not have a clue who is contracted, even then we do not have a complete picture.
That brings me to the second point, don't get me wrong, there are a number of very talented young Titans players in the squads such as Ethan Paikea, Sean Garner, Steve Dressler, Ben Newland, Duncan Harding, Emery Pere, Sam Swift, Keanu Dawson etc, it also highlights players like Brent Woolf (who Titan Pete has already mentioned), Keegan Hipgrave, Apiato Noema with the Broncos. We appear to be hopeless at making sure the best in our region play for us. Good luck to the Bronco's they know how to sign and keep juniors, as do the Roosters, have have made it an art form of signing top juniors, such as Eden Syme and also stealing Nene McDonald from us mid season. Do not get me started about the fact that we had Marion Seve in development squads when he was 13.
The frustrating part is that there is an amazing amount of talented players on the gold coast, there are far more than I could possibly mention and obviously they will not all make first grade, but give them some encouragement and let people know about them. It may encourage people to attend some junior games or even get to the ground earlier to watch the NYC (go Nathan Wilson etc). We have a vastly talented group at the U15 level in 2014, such as Konrad Edwards, Payne Haas, Dray ngatuere-Wroe, Ezra Tuitopu-Isaac etc, please don't waste the opportunity.
A lot of this obviously happened under the old development regime, and Annersley came in talking about a focus in the junior development area, but outside those words, nothing! Great appointment of Woolf as NYC coach and player development manager, but come on Titans, other clubs promote their juniors and give them some recognition, we stick our heads in the sand and do not even acknowledge them at all, maybe it is so people do not realise how poor we have been in this area.
Thanks to Titan Pete, Hail Sezer etc for keeping people up to date.
Rant over
Great post mate
Mdrew what a great post, I for one take a lot of interest in our juniors and as I dont live anywhere near the GC if it wastn for this forum I wouldnt know of anything that may be happening in our juniors.
I did a quick search of other NRL clubs and its amazing on how far the titans are behind in regards to information on their juniors, a lot of the other clubs have soem really great write ups and information on who is representing etc etc, but the titans well what can I say our website still has last years players profiles.
No word what so ever on our NYC except that we have a new coach. Surely its not hard to give the fans a bit of information.
Once again I would like to thank Mdrew, Titan Pete and Hail Sezer for keeping us up to date with our juniors.
Totally concur with the sentiments above ... what I don't get is that there are so many who would voluntarily contribute to providing such articles and up-dating information just to be a part of the club ... what is wrong with our guys that they can't engage the community?
Great article on the Titans web site about them bringing in 31 14-15 year olds and their parents to work with the top squad, great work Titans great to see the effort being put in. Thanks for the information Titans! Please have a look at the article.
Great initiative. Some intelligent forward thinking by the Titans here. Love to see more of this type of investment in the youth by the club.
Here's an excerpt from a recent courier mail article [see the ASADA thread for full article]
"While some issues in the future are beyond Cartwright's control, yesterday he commenced a program with juniors aged 14 and 15 to take ownership of the club's next generation of stars.
The two-day elite player development camp was aimed at introducing kids to the life of professional football and Cartwright hopes it helps the club find their next young star.
"I don't think any kids at any NRL club will get the opportunity to experience what those 35 or 40 kids experienced then. We're very determined to get these kids in, develop them and turn out first graders," he said.
"This is just a new direction. It's a hard thing to get approval for funds because you don't see an immediate return on those funds.
"But this is a long term approach where we want to set up the best system for kids in the NRL. Today was the first step in heading towards that."
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Like many, I really think we can/should be doing a much better job of nurturing and providing pathways for our young local talent. These types of opportunities not only help to improve our image amongst the community, but will hopefully spread those seeds of loyalty and passion for the GCTitans amongst our expanding young supporter base.
Also, to Mdrew, Hail Sezer and Titan Pete, you blokes do an amazing job keeping us all updated on our juniors when possible, and I'm really thankful for it. Wish the person(s) responsible for updating the titans website cared even almost as much as you guys. :salute:
Titans host juniors for development camp
Adam Gardini
Monday 16 December 2013 6:02 PM
iSelect Gold Coast Titans Head Coach John Cartwright and the entire Titans playing squad today handed out some coaching tips to the next generation of talented teenagers on the opening day of the club’s Elite Player Development camp.
The iSelect Titans are hosting a two-day camp for 31 juniors aged from 14-15 which includes skills sessions, strength and fitness testing, video analysis sessions, recovery sessions as well as education, career development and welfare presentations from current Titans NRL players.
The Titans have invited junior players from the Gold Coast, Northern NSW and as far north as Cairns to attend the camp, which will see them exposed to all the different facets of what it takes to become an NRL player in preparation for a potential pathway to the NRL.
The camp kicked off this morning at Titans HQ with an introduction presentation with all players and their parents before the youngsters were treated to a skills session under the watchful eye of Cartwright, Assistant Coaches Neil Henry and Trevor Gillmeister along with the entire Titans NRL squad.
The Titans Elite Player Development Camp schedule is listed below:
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16
8am - Player & parent arrival and introduction with Titans NRL coaching staff
9am - Parent Talk with Titans welfare staff
9–11am - Basic skills session with Titans Junior Development staff
11–11:30am - Individual Skill session with Titans NRL coaching staff
12–12:45pm - Lunch
1–1:30pm - Education talk with Titans NRL players & welfare staff
2–3:30pm - Game play session Titans Junior Development staff
3:30– 4pm: Recovery session at Titans HQ
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17
8:30-10am - Strength & Conditioning testing/technique with Titans NRL coaching staff
10-11am - Beep test and speed test with Titans NRL coaching staff
11–12pm - Welfare Talk with Titans NRL players & welfare staf
12–12:45pm - Lunch
1–1:30pm - Video Session with Titans NRL coaching staff
1:45-3:15pm - Skills session with Titans NRL coaching staff
3:15–3:30pm - Recovery session at Titans HQ
3:30-4pm - Closing and farewell
Nice to see management taking part in our future