To add to his achievements at the 2019 New Zealand National Youth U15 competition Titans contracted Keano Kini has been named in the All- Tournament U15 Merit Team.
To add to his achievements at the 2019 New Zealand National Youth U15 competition Titans contracted Keano Kini has been named in the All- Tournament U15 Merit Team.
Powerful centre or second rower Devonte Vaivela from the Souths Acacia Ridge club in Brisbane started at left second row for the Titans U14 side that a Titans Invitational U14/15 NRRRL side 32 – 10.
Devonte Vaivela scored in the first half when he held off the NRRRL right winger to score in the left corner. After match Devonte Vaivela was named Titans best.
Devonte Vaivela had an outstanding season for the Souths Acacia Ridge Magpies in 2019 including starting at left centre in their GBJRL U14 Division One 28 – 4 Grand Final win over Carina. Over the course of the 2019 GBJRL U14 Division One season Devonte Vaivela played in fifteen matches, including finals scoring team leading sixteen tries to finish with a strike rate of 107%.
Devonte Vaivela also represented South East Queensland Green U14’s at the 2019 Queensland Age Championships playing in all four of their matches and scoring an outstanding hat trick in their 26 – 4 Grand Final win against Northern with his tries coming in the 9th minute of the first half and the 18th and 24th minute of the second half.
Devonte Vaivela also scored earlier in the Championships against Northern as well.
In 2017 Devonte Vaivela played in the centres for the Met West U12 side from Ipswich State High School.
Devonte Vaivela will play the 2020 season with Souths Acacia Ridge in the GBJRL U15 Division One competition and he will also look to push for a spot in the Met West U15 side for the 2020 QSSRL U15 school boy Championships.
Impressive effort by Titans linked Xavier Atoa who recently was named in the Queensland All Stars Merit Team from the 2019 OzTag Schools Challenge Cup.
He was also named MVP of the tournament.
Orlando Swain and Kedan Chan-Tung have been named in the initial Ipswich Jets 2020 MM Cup squad.
More than a few GC based boys have been named in the Cook Island's U16 side for the upcoming QPICC Carnival.
They include Connor Te Kani, Jay Marsters, Tukatahi Borrell and Xavier Collins amongst others.
Will Evans making his debut for Wales at the moment against France at the World Nines.
The Titans contracted Will Evans started at left centre.
Will Evans started from the bench for Wales in their second match today against Lebanon.
Titans contracted 18 year old Will Evans played in two matches for Wales, both on the second day of the Nines Tournament on Saturday.
Will Evans started at left centre against France in his first match and came off the bench later the same day against Lebanon also playing on the left.
In his first match against France Will Evans played 18 minutes, making twenty six metres (eleven post contact) from three runs, played the ball at an average speed of 4.71 seconds and made six tackles at a 100% tackling efficiency.
In his second match against Lebanon, Will Evans also played eighteen minutes, running for twenty four metres (ten post contact) from two runs, broke a tackle, played the ball at an average speed of 3.6 seconds and made a team leading eight tackles.
One of the better young players running around in Queensland is Pittsworth’s Patrick McGinn.
Patrick McGinn had a coming out party in 2019 starring for the Western Mustangs MM Sup side before graduating to the Western Mustangs Hastings Deering’s Colts side for the final two regular season rounds.
The Pittsworth HS School Captain Started all six of the Western Mustangs MM Cup matches in 2019, starting the first four rounds on the wing before moving to fullback for the final two rounds.
Patrick McGinn ended his 2019 MM Cup campaign with a 100% strike rate including an impressive hat trick against the Northern Pride in Round Two. Patrick McGinn also scored in Round Three against Sunshine Coast, Round Four against the Easts Tigers and Round Six against Central Queensland.
Patrick McGinn made his Hastings Deering’s Colts debut in Round Twenty Two starting on the wing and scoring in the 36th minute against Redcliffe and also started on the wing against Sunshine Coast in Round Twenty Three.
In between the conclusion of the MM Cup and his Colts appearances, Patrick McGinn played for Pittsworth in the Toowoomba Rugby League U18 competition playing nine matches, finishing with fifteen tries, twenty nine goals and a field goal (kicked against Goondiwindi mid-season) to account for his season points tally of 119.
Patrick McGinn scored in eight of his nine matches, only not scoring his the final regular season round being Round Eighteen against South Burnett, but he did kick three conversion that day to have scored in every TRL U18 match that he played in.
Patrick McGinn scored hat tricks against Toowoomba Brothers and Wattles and scored doubles against Oakey, Goondiwindi and Highfields, with his other tries coming against Highfields, Souths and Gatton.
From a goal kicking perspective, Patrick McGinn kicked six goals against Wattles and five in his first TRL U18 match of the 2019 season against Oakey.
Patrick McGinn finished the Toowoomba Rugby League U18 competition with some big individual points tallies in games including scoring twenty four points late in the season against Wattles (three tries and six goals), twenty against Brothers mid-season (three tries and four goals) and early in the season he scored eighteen points against Oakey (two tries and five goals).
In the Toowoomba Rugby League U16 competition in 2018 Patrick McGinn played in fifteen matches for Pittsworth scoring seventy points from twelve tries and eleven goals including a hat trick against Oakey and doubles against Highfields and Souths.
It is scary to think that Patrick McGinn is MM Cup eligible once again in 2020.
Burleigh Bears centre/second rower Boaz Kapua was another member of the Titans outstanding U14 side that accounted for the Western Mustangs 32 – 8 in Mudgeeraba in very hot conditions earlier this year.
Boaz Kapua started Round One of the U14 Division One for Burleigh from the interchange but moved into the starting side on the wing for Round Two against Currumbin before moving into the second row in Round Three.
Boaz Kapua played in ten regular season U14 Division One matches in 2019, scoring three tries and kicked one conversion.
In Week two of the U14 Division One Finals series, Boaz Kapua started in the second row against Runaway Bay kicking a conversion in their 40 – 6 win and Boaz Kapua also started in the second row for Burleigh as they defeated Runaway Bay 38 – 10 in the U14 Division One Grand Final.
In 2018 Boaz Kapua played for Burleigh in the GCRL U13 Division One competition, playing in six matches and scoring a try and kicking two conversions to finish the season with eight points. Boaz Kapua’s try came mid-season against Runaway Bay and he also converted his own try to account for six of his eight points.
Boaz Kapua’s other conversion was in the 2018 U13 Division One Grand Final in a Burleigh 42 – 22 win over Southport. Boaz Kapua started the match from the interchange bench and also came off the bench in Week Two in the Finals in a 22 - 18 Burleigh win once again against the Southport Tigers.
2018 also saw the PBC student named in the South East Queensland U13 Merit side. In 2017 Boaz Kapua represented South Coast at the U12 level playing a number of matches at fullback.
Young Titans Chinchilla Five eight Bryton Nimo has had a horror run of injuries in recent seasons including two dislocated hips but has continued forward and been rewarded with a deal with the Titans and in 2020 will part of the Tweed Heads Seagulls MM Cup squad.
Early this month Bryton Nimo started from the bench for the Titans U16 side that defeated PNG U16’s 44 – 12 at Burleigh’s Pizzey Park.
In 2019 Bryton Nimo played for Chinchilla in the Roma and Districts Junior Rugby League competition, starting the U16 Grand Final at five eight and scoring a double as Chinchilla defeated Red Bulls 30 – 28 in an exciting Grand Final with Chinchilla coming back from a 20 – 6 deficit to ultimately win the Grand Final.
In addition to his Grand Final double, Bryton Nimo also scored a double against Mitchell in Round One of the Roma and Districts U16 competition. Bryton Nimo also played in the U16 Roma and Districts Junior Rugby League competition in 2018.
In 2019 Bryton Nimo represented South West at the 2019 QSSRL U18 Championships in Roma.
Are there any from 2020 Western Mustangs MM side linked with the Titans?
Over the course of the 2019 Gold Coast Rugby League season one player who impressed me when I saw him play was Ormeau Shearers left second rower LT Anae including a great performance in Ormeau’s 22-20 U16 Division One Grand Final victory over Coomera in golden point.
The young man who started the 2019 season in the Gold Coast Vikings U16 set up played in fifteen GCRL U16 Division One matches this season scoring six tries with those tries coming individually in matches against Southport, Mudgeeraba, Helensvale (two matches), Burleigh and Coomera.
In 2018 LT Anae also played for Ormeau playing in the GCRL U15 Division One competition and finishing his eleven matches with four tries including a mid-season double against Southport and also tries against Runaway Bay and the Robina Raptors.
A young player who I knew nothing about prior to the commencement of the 2019 Gold Coast Rugby League season was Coomera U16 Division One left second rower Christian Kiri.
In 2019 Christian Kiri played sixteen matches for Coomera scoring just the one try which came against Burleigh in May but his contribution and skill set on display, including an outstanding U16 Division One Grand Final display far exceeded his try scoring tally. Unfortunately Coomera went down in the Grand Final 22 – 20 as a result of an Ormeau penalty goal kicked in golden point after the scores were locked 20 all at the conclusion of the match in regular time.
In addition to playing rugby league in 2019, Christian Kiri played for the Helensvale Hogs in the 2019 Gold Coast Rugby U16 competition and also represented the Gold Coast Cyclones U16 representative rugby side.
Prior to playing for Coomera in the GCRL U16 Division One competition Christian Kiri played in the 2018 Ipswich Rugby League U15 competition for the Springfield Panthers scoring six tries and kicking one conversion in ten matches