Titans contracted Brock Priestley had a buig Round Nine U16 Division One match on the weekend when he started at lock and scored two tries and kicked a conversion for Ormeau against Helensvale.
The former Northern Territory youngster moved down to the Gold Coast midway through the 2017 season playing the 2018 season in the GCRL U15 Division One competition for the Ormeau Shearers and enjoyed success straight off the bat, starting the U15 Division One Grand Final in the centres and scoring as the Shearers defeated Runaway Bay 38 – 20 to make it two from two Grand Finals since his arrival on the Gold Coast.
Brock Priestly converted that success into an opportunity with the Titans U15 Development squad and was part of the side that played against a Balmain Tigers U15 touring side in 2018 with the Titans winning 16 - 10.
As a result of his performances Brock Priestley late in 2018 signed a Titans contract to join an outstanding crop of 2019 U16 players who are contracted to the Titans.
In January of this year Brock Priestley started from the interchange bench for the Titans U16 side in their match against the Newcastle Knights U16 Harold Matthews squad and once on the field showcased his ability with an outstanding display especially defensively.
On at least three occasions that I recall, Brock Priestley flew out of marker and got to the Newcastle ball runner prior to them making any ground at all. I am not sure whether I was just not paying attention or not but on each of the occasions that I have noted above, Brock Priestley exploded out of the marker position to his right.
The first involvement that Brock Priestley had in the game was also a moment to remember, Brock Priestley had come on after the Knights had scored their first try and on the subsequent kick return, Brock Priestley and Nicholas Hilton lined up the Knights forward returning the kick-off and hit him front on in an outstanding tackle.
Running with the ball in the match, Brock Priestley showcased some neat and subtle footwork prior to impacting the Newcastle defensive line and on more than one occasion looked to target the area behind the Knights play the ball either by stepping back towards the ruck or by running an inside shoulder route.
On each of the occasions that he used this tactic Brock Priestley made ground and was also in a position for a quick play the ball because by using his footwork and targeting sparely populated areas of the Knights defence he was not gang tackled and thus was able to generate the quick play the ball.
To cap off an outstanding 2018 season Brock Priestley was named in the Gold Coast Vikings U16 Training Squad of the 2019 U16 South East Queensland Challenge and as a result of his play in that competition Brock Priestley was named in the South East Queensland U16 train on squad.
Brock Priestley started Round One of the GCRL U16 Division One competition in the second row for Ormeau against Currumbin.
Brock Priestley has named in the 2019 South East Queensland Green U16 side the for the Queensland Age Championships.
For Ormeau in the U15 Division One competition in 2018, including finals matches, Brock Priestley played in twelve matches scoring six tries for a solid 50% strike rate.
In Week One of the U15 Division One of the Finals Brock Priestley started in the centres and scored as Ormeau defeated Runaway Bay 28 – 12. Brock Priestly backed that up in Week Two starting in the centres and scoring once again as the Shearers qualified for the Grand Final with a 44 – 6 win over Coomera.
In addition to his three finals tries (from three finals matches), Brock Priestly scored three U15 Division One regular season tries including a double against Robina and a late June try against Southport.
In addition to playing rugby league for Ormeau in 2018 Brock Priestley also played club rugby on the Gold Coast for the Griffith University Colleges U15 side who won the Grand Final which ended in a 47 – 19 victory over the Helensvale Hogs in a match that was curtain raiser to the Wallabies v Argentina test at Cbus stadium. Brock Priestley started the match at lock.
In total for the Griffith University Colleges U15 side Brock Priestley played in eight matches including the Grand Final starting five and coming off the bench in the remaining three.
Brock Priestley’s first match with the Griffith University Colleges U15 side was in Round Eleven when he started at lock against Wollongbar/Alstonville with his first match from the interchange bench being in Round Fourteen against the Gold Coast Eagles.
Brock Priestley scored two tries for the Griffith University Colleges side, the first coming in Round Fourteen against the Gold Coast Eagles with his second try coming in their semi-final victory over the Helensvale Hogs.
Brock Priestley played his first rugby league game in the Gold Coast in late June 2017 after his move down from the Northern Territory. Brock Priestley played one U14 Division Three match in 2017 for Ormeau scoring a try and kicking two goals against Mudgeeraba.
Brock Priestley in 2017 also played in six U14 Division One matches and scored his first try in that age group actually in the Grand Final when he started a lock as Ormeau overcame Burleigh 31 – 16.
In 2017 prior to his Gold Coast move, Brock Priestley played for the Litchfield Rugby League club in the Harvey Norman U14 competition in Darwin, playing in seven matches and scoring eight tries and kicking nine goals to finish his abridged 2017 season with 50 points, scoring in each of his matches.
Brock Priestley scored doubles against the Palmerston Raiders and the Nightcliff Dragons and also scored against South Darwin in two matches, Darwin Brothers and Litchfield Red.
Brock Priestley in 2017 impressively also played in four U16 matches and scored in just his second match against the Nightcliff Dragons after making his U16 debut a fortnight earlier against the Northern Sharks.
Brock Priestley also played some representative rugby league in the Northern Territory including in 2017 representing the Northern Territory in the U14 Norther Queensland Junior Championships.
Brock Priestley played for the Good Shepherd Lutheran College including being named their Most Valuable Player in the final of the 2015 Palmerston with Good Shephard defeating Bakewell 28 – 12 in the final.