Junior Development

[mdrew]

HS is spot on Jojo Fifita is an elite athlete and it comes as no surprise that he was a Qld age Champion in the 100m and finished in the Top Three Nationally.

Yeah I think based on yesterdays game he's certainly a cut above, and that includes compared to players a few years older than him that have been in our system for a while. It would not surprise me if he played ISC this year and I'm sure that is the intention within the club as well. Very impressive athlete.

[mdrew]

Tannah Boyd to start at half this afternoon for Burleigh in Round Three of the Qld Cup against Easts.

[mdrew]

When the Gold Coast Rugby League competition commenced on Sunday, Noah Gafa started at left second row for the Burleigh Bears U20 GCRL side as they played a Pre-season Round One round robin against Helensvale and Runaway Bay.

Across all matches of the round robin and all teams, Noah Gafa was easily the best player on display and dominated in his second match against Helensvale scoring a hat trick which showcased his size, strength, speed and power.

Noah Gafa’s first try came in the 6th minute of the match when he showcased impressive footwork to beat one Hornets defender before crashing over adjacent to the posts.

Noah Gafa scored his second with the 23rd minute when he surged onto an offload from teammate and lock Max Brady to crash over.

Noah Gafa’s hat trick was completed in the 29th minute when he was just too big and strong close to the try line, crashing over two passes off the ruck to score in what was the final play of the match.

[mdrew]

Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition on Saturday saw Jed Edwards start from the bench for the Tweed Heads Seagulls when they took on the Souths Logan Magpies.

Jed Edwards come on towards the end of the first half, moving into the dummy half role and in the 34th minute produced a trademark dart to his left out of dummy half taking the ball nine metres to near the halfway before offloading to his left to enable the Seagulls to get into Magpies territory.

Jed Edwards recorded a line break assist in the 54th minute when he ran out of dummy half to his left and was able to draw in the defence before sending a cut-out pass to his left to put Brenton Daley-Holten down the left touchline.

Jed Edwards made multiple contributions over the course of the match including a great front on low tackle in the 64th minute on a charging Souths Logan front rower after coming out of the marker position.

[mdrew]

Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition on Saturday saw Brenton Daley-Holten start on the left wing and score for the Tweed Heads Seagulls when they took on the Souths Logan Magpies.

Brenton Daley-Holten scored in the 34th minute when he received a long cut-out pass from Jaylan To’O to dive over in the left corner.

Brenton Daley-Holten also made a line break in the second half when he received a pass from Jed Edwards. Brenton Daley-Holten was able to make twenty five metres down the left touchline. As the cover defence was closing in, Brenton Daley-Holten looked to kick back inside but the ball came off a Souths Logan player but the touch judge deemed that the ball was not played at by the Souths Logan defender.

Brenton Daley-Holten in addition to being dangerous when running the ball, had some good moments defensively against Souths Logan including in the 10th minute when he showed his opposing winger the sideline and then taking him into touch from a Magpies scrum move.

Brenton Daley-Holten then saved a try in the 31st minute after he chased back to cover a long Souths Logan break, with the ball runner moving directly towards him to two support runners on the outise, Brenton Daley-Holten was able to anticipate the pass and get his arm in the way to knock down the pass, which if it had found the mark would have resulted in a certain Magpies try.

[mdrew]

Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition on Saturday afternoon saw Charlie Murray start at lock for the Tweed Heads Seagulls when they took on the Souths Logan Magpies amd took the fourth hit-up of the match, getting the ball to the halfway.

One of Charlie Murray’s best (and most productive) runs of the match came in the 26th minute when he was able to make twenty three metres to the forty metre mark, breaking three tackles in the impressive effort.

Charlie Murray produced a great try saving effort in the 24th minute when he got low to confront and hold up the Souths Logan hooker who had darted out of dummy half from close range trying to burrow under Charlie Murray.

Late in the match with Tweed Heads chasing the match, Charlie Murray almost produced a try out of nothing. Souths Logan were bringing the ball out of their own territory when he produced a one on on steal and was able to find space to throw a long pass to his right that found Jojo Fifita is space and but for a diving tackle that halted Jojo Fifita by just one leg, he would have dived over in the corner.

[mdrew]

Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition on Saturday saw Glenn McGradey start at fullback for the Tweed Heads Seagulls when they took on the Souths Logan Magpies. Glenn McGradey was the Seagulls primary goal kicker in the match, kicking four from four including an outstanding conversion from the left touchline to convert Brenton Daley Holten’s try in the left corner.

Glenn McGradey almost got his name on the try scoring list in the 62nd minute when he dummied then went himself from dummy half close to the line, but ultimately was held up after fighting hard to get the ball down.

In just the 2nd minute of the match, Glenn McGradey produced a great play to prevent a Souths Logan 40/20 when jumped from the field of play to bat the ball back into play with his right hand and then he was able to get back to retrieve the ball on front of the oncoming Magpies chasers.

[mdrew]

Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition on Saturday saw Jaylan To’O start at five eight for the Tweed Heads Seagulls when they took on the Souths Logan Magpies scoring two first half tries.

Jaylan To’O’s first try came in just the 6th minute of the match. Jaylan To’O was lining up to the left of a Seagulls scrum that was packed ten metres out from the line in centre field. After receiving the ball Jaylan To’O ran to his left and then stepped off his left to breach the defensive line and score twelve metres in from the left corner post.

Jaylan To’O completed his double in the 27th minute when he moved into dummy half a metre out from the try line. When he picked the ball up, Jaylan To’O dummied to his left and pushed towards the line. Initially Jaylan To’O was held up but he spun counter clockwise to twist over midway between the corner post and goal post on the left side of the field.

Jaylan To’O also recorded a try assist in the match when he threw a long cut-out pass to his left to find his winger Brenton Daley-Holten in space to dive over in the left corner.

Jaylan To’O’s first contribution in the match came in the opening minutes when he stepped off his left foot to beat two defenders, making ten metres before he was brought down twenty metres out from the line.

[mdrew]

Burleigh Bears U16 Cyril Connell Cup left centre Jayviah Nomotu had a big match on Saturday in a curtain raiser to the Titans v Knights NRL match scoring a double as the Bears accounted for the Ipswich Jets.

Jayviah Nomotu scored his first try in the 7th minute when he received the ball in space twenty metres out and ten metres in from the left touchline. Jayviah Nomotu stepped off his left foot to beat his immediate opponent before stepping off his right to beat the Jets fullback and score twelve metres in from the left corner post.

Jayviah Nomotu completed his double in just the 15th minute with a long range 70 metre try. The ball found Jayviah Nomotu in acres of space and ran untouched to the Jets fullback. As he approached the fullback Jayviah Nomotu moved the ball into both running with the ball out in front of his body with support both on the inside and out.

When the Ipswich fullback cheated to cover the support on the inside, Jayviah Nomotu ran past him to score.

[mdrew]

Titans contracted Larry Siala started in the front row in Round Five of the Cyril Connell Cup for Ipswich against the Burleigh Bears at Cbus Stadium on Saturday and scored two powerhouse second half tries that few players would have any hope of replicating.

Larry Siala’s first try of the match came in the 41st and his second in the 48th minute.

In the 41st Larry Siala scored an outstanding solo try when he charged onto the ball from a penalty restart from twenty seven metres out and just charged straight through the Seagulls line and then outpaced the fullback to score ten metres in from the right corner post.

Just seven minutes later in the 48th minute Larry Siala once again charged onto the ball, this time from ten metres out being the second hit-up from an Ipswich penalty restart, breaking one tackle before dragging the fullback across the line with him to score under the posts.

Larry Siala’s initial contribution came from the kick off when he ran the ball back from the kick off making ten post contact metres to get the ball out to the twenty metre mark. Then in the 6th minute Larry Siala made eleven more metres to get Ipswich over the attacking forty metre mark from a penalty restart.

Larry Siala made more metres in the 21st minute when from another penalty restart ten metres out, he contacted the first defender four metres from the line but his continual leg pumping got Larry Siala over the line but four Seagulls defenders held him up.

To round out a spectacular match, Larry Siala once again charged onto the ball from a kick off return to get the ball all of the way back to his own thirty metre mark.

[mdrew]

In Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition on Saturday , Titans contracted Caleb Hodges started at left centre for the Tweed Heads Seagulls as they took on the Souths Logan Magpies.

In the 3rd minute of the match Caleb Hodges made his first Colts hit-up of 2021 when he received the ball to the right of the dummy half making twelve metres to get the ball out to forty metres away from his own line.

Caleb Hodges continued his efforts running with the ball in the 6th minute when he ran the ball from a Seagulls scrum win to the left, beating two defenders on their outside making twelve metres and doing a good job staying away from the left touch line.

Caleb Hodges showed his speed in the 33rd minute of the match when he chased through a short Seagulls kick-off getting to the ball first on the twenty metre mark to surprise Souths Logan with Caleb Hodges making it to twelve metres out before he was stopped by the defence.

Defence has always been one of Caleb Hodges strong suits and that was highlighted in the 48th minute when he produced a strong tackle close to his own line. Caleb Hodges engaged the Souths Logan right centre initially holding him up before driving him into touch.

[mdrew]

In Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition Titans contracted Ediq Ambrosyev start at hooker for the Tweed Heads Seagulls when they took on the Souths Logan Magpies and scored in the second half of Saturday afternoon’s match.

Whilst he may have started the match at hooker, Ediq Ambrosyev spent the last portion of the first half and the majority of the second half at half back with Jed Edwards taking over the dummy half role. Regardless of position Ediq Ambrosyev was his busy self over the course of the match.

Ediq Ambrosyev scored in the 44th minute of the match, whilst he was operating in the halves. Ediq Ambrosyev received the ball to the right of the play the ball, ten metres out from the line. Ediq Ambrosyev produced a stutter step, then stepped off his left, darting towards the line and whilst in contact with two defenders was able to reach out and plant the ball down with his right arm five metres from the left upright.

[mdrew]

Titans contracted Jojo Fifita made his rugby league debut in Round One of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition on Saturday afternoon when he started on the right wing for the Tweed Heads Seagulls against the Souths Logan Magpies.

Jojo Fifita’s first hit-up in rugby league came in just the 2nd minute of the match when he took the ball one metre out of his own line to the right of the dummy half, making thirteen metres up field.

Jojo Fifita made his first rugby league line break in the 12th minute when he flew onto a cut-out pass to his wing, with Jojo Fifita taking the ball on the halfway mark and literally flying down the right wing, running over one defender and easily outpacing the cover defence. When he got to the fullback, Jojo Fifita was able to position is inside support well to get the ball away to Klese Hass on around the twenty metre mark.

In the 25th minute, Jojo Fifita showed that he is willing to do the hard work of bringing the ball out of his own territory when he made twelve metres from a hit-up off to the left of the dummy half to get the ball out to the thirty metre mark.

When the second half started Jojo Fifita was back in the action almost immediately with a bullocking run of twenty metres out of dummy half, with at least 60% of those metres post contact with Jojo Fifita not stopped until he got fifteen metres inside Magpies territory.

In the 45th minute, Jojo Fifita took the second hit-up off the kick-off to Ediq Ambrosyev’s try and was even under heavy pressure able to get the ball out to the twenty metre mark, breaking three tackles and making nine metres.

Late in the match with Tweed Heads chasing the match, Jojo Fifita almost scored a late try. Souths Logan were bringing the ball out of their own territory when Charlie Murray produced a one on one steal and was able to find space to throw a long pass to his right that found Jojo Fifita is space and but for a diving tackle that halted Jojo Fifita by just one leg, he would have dived over in the corner.

[Bayside Titan]

Hey mdrew. Thanks for all your updates on the next gen players in the Titan system. I enjoy reading them. Thank you.

[mdrew]

One player I will be keeping an eye on in the GCRL U20 competition is Helensvale front rower Kayah Riggs-Noble with the powerful young man starting in the front row for the Hornets against Runaway Bay in Round One of the pre-season over the weekend.

Kayah Riggs-Noble started in the second row for the Souths Logan Magpies Hasting’s Deering’s Colts side in their second 2020 trial against Ipswich at Greenbank.

In 2019 Kayah Riggs-Noble played in three matches for Souths Logan in the Hastings Deering’s Colts competition, all off the bench with those matches being Rounds Nine, Fifteen and Twenty One against Sunshine Coast, the Mackay Cutters and Ipswich respectively.

In 2019 Kayah Riggs-Noble also played two matches for Mudgeeraba in the GCRL U18 Division One competition with those matches coming in consecutive mid-season rounds against Runaway Bay and Ormeau.

Kayah Riggs-Noble came from the clouds a touch in 2018 not just breaking into the Coombabah State High Side but by seasons end being one of their better performers alongside Titan Carsil Vaikai. Kayah Riggs-Noble started for Coombabah in their 17 – 16 win over Marymount College to qualify for the 2018 Queensland GIO Cup quarter finals.

Kayah Riggs-Noble played the 2018 season with the Mudgeeraba Redbacks in the Gold Coast Rugby League U17 Division One competition, playing in five matches in that grade with those matches coming against Currumbin, Tweed Heads, Burleigh, Ormeau and Runaway Bay.

Kayah Riggs-Noble also played in one U19 GCRL match in 2018 that match occurring in Week Two of the Finals. Kayah Riggs-Noble started from the bench as Mudgeeraba were knocked as a result of a 54 – 26 loss to Bilambil.

Kayah Riggs-Noble also played one MM Cup match and one Hastings Deering’s Colts match in 2018. He made his MM Cup debit in Round Seven against Victoria from the bench and in an impressive feat for a 17 year old made his U20 Hastings Deering’s Colts debit in Round Twenty Four from the bench against the Easts Tigers in a big 52 – 12 win for Burleigh in the competitions final round.