The outstanding Geordie Brand has been named to start from the bench for the Tweed Heads Seagulls U20 Hastings Deering’s Colts for their 2020 Round One match against the Northern Pride.
The former Titans contracted youngster and Keebra Park student is back on the Gold Coast after spending two seasons in Sydney playing for the Sydney Roosters in the U18 SG Ball and U20 Jersey Flegg competitions and is part of the 2020 Queensland U20 Emerging Origin Squad.
Geordie Brand has already represented Queensland on two occasions starting both matches in the front row being in 2018 for the Queensland U18 side and 2016 as part of the Queensland U16 side.
As noted above in 2019 Geordie Brand was part of the Sydney Roosters U20 Jersey Flegg squad, playing in fourteen matches with his first appearance being from the bench in Round two against Manly after the Roosters had a Round One bye with his final match of the season being off the bench in Round Nineteen.
Geordie Brand made his first start in Round Four in the front row against Canberra, going on to start five matches, all in the front row with the remainder of his 2019 appearance from the bench.
In his fourteen matches, Geordie Brand scored in Round Six against the Melbourne Thunderbolt sand Round Twelve against the Norths Sydney Bears.
In 2018 Geordie Brand started in the front row in ten of the Sydney Roosters eleven U18 SG Ball matches in the front row, missing only Round Five, with his first appearance coming in Round One against the Canterbury Bulldogs. Geordie Brand had a big Round Seven match against the Parramatta Eels, scoring a try in each half for his only tries of the competition.
In 2017 Geordie Brand was a stand out for the Keebra park Open Rugby League side in their great GIO Cup run. That same season Geordie Brand represented South Coast at the QSSRL Championships and subsequently represented the Queensland U18 school boy’s side at the 2017 U18 ASSRL Championships. To cap off 2017 and his Keebra Park school boy career, Geordie Brand was named in the front row in the Keebra Park Team of the Year alongside Tannah Boyd who was named at half.
In addition to playing for Keebra Park, in 2017 Geordie Brand played four matches for the Tweed Heads Seagulls Mm Cup side, starting Round One from the interchange bench against the Ipswich Jets. Geordie Brand’s sole start came in Round Five when he started in the front row against Souths Logan. Geordie Brand rounded off the 2017 MM Cup season with a try in Round Seven against the Norths Devils.
In 2017 Geordie Brand was part of the South Logan Magpies U16 Cyril Connell Cup side that went all of the way to the Grand Final unfortunately going down 20 – 16 to the Townsville Blackhawks.
Over the course of the 2016 Cyril Connell Cup season Geordie Brand started in the front row in eight of Souths Logan’s nine matches, missing only Round Seven. Geordie Brand finished the season with a try scoring strike rate of 62.5%. Geordie Brand scored a Round One double against Gold Coast White and also scored in Round Five against the Easts Tigers, in the Quarter Final against Ipswich and the Grand Final against the Blackhawks.
In 2015 Geordie Brand captained his Logan Brothers GBJRL U15 Premier Division side all of the way to the Grand Final against Souths Acacia Ridge at Bishop Park and was one of the best players on the field, eclipsed probably only by David Fifita who played lock for Souths Acacia Ridge that day.
One Geordie Brand play in the Grand Final still resonates with me to this day. From a drop out by Souths, Geordie Brand took the ball on about the half way mark and produced an incredible charge that was only stopped a metre out on the left side of the field. A typically quick play the ball by Geordie Brand led to a try for Logan Brothers on the opposite side of the field.