Junior Development

[Mr Bods]

Badel sure smashes us in the face with a sledgehammer over Payne Haas today. But nonetheless the issues with Keebra Park that I have been going apoplectic for years about needs fixing.

MDREW-has the pathway from Keebra Park to Titans shown any signs of improvement under Brennan and the new owners????

[mdrew]

Great win by South Coast U15'ss in the QSSRL Championships today 58-0 against Wide Bay

[Mr Bods]

Come on mdrew!! Please answer my Keebra Park thing or anyone else out there in the know...

[mdrew]

No real improvement mate, but Titans have a few boys at the school

Come on mdrew!! Please answer my Keebra Park thing or anyone else out there in the know...

[ja4220]

Come on mdrew!! Please answer my Keebra Park thing or anyone else out there in the know...

To be honest, I think the “pathway” from schools to the club is overstated. For all the years Keebra was with Tigers and now Bulldogs, there is still a fair few boys through that program going elsewhere. Payne is a perfect example, was with Titans then went to Broncos.
Silmilarly at PBC, who are aligned with the Titans, but of the kids I know, some are with Broncos, some with Roosters, and a couple with the Titans in various capacities.
From what I have seen, the clubs provide the school with support but is in no way a “direct path” for either the club to the kid or the kid to the club...
That’s my take on it anyway

[Mr Bods]

I listen carefully to what new bosses or coach etc say when they get a job because I expect they are echoing what they said to their interview panel...
Anyway Brennan said he’d future proof the Coast and make sure the pathways to being Titans would be made direct.
I want to see it followed through on because it’s tragic what we lose from our community.

[ja4220]

Don’t get me wrong, from what I hear the Titans put a lot of work in to the kids at PBC, and I am sure that they are watching a lot of the Keebra kids as well.
But as it stands, Keebra has a contract with the Bulldogs. When that expires we’ll hopefully the Titans get a look in.
My point is that just because the school is aligned with a club that club doesn’t instantly get a monopoly over the students.
Our issue, as a club, is always going to be funding. We all know that clubs like the Broncos and Roosters have much bigger budgets for juniors and will always throw a wider net.
The other issue as I see it is our relationship with the various player managers. When 14 and 15 year old kids are signing with agents, those agents are going to shop them to the clubs they have better relationships with , or have deeper pockets.

[Hail Sezer]

Don’t get me wrong, from what I hear the Titans put a lot of work in to the kids at PBC, and I am sure that they are watching a lot of the Keebra kids as well.
But as it stands, Keebra has a contract with the Bulldogs. When that expires we’ll hopefully the Titans get a look in.
My point is that just because the school is aligned with a club that club doesn’t instantly get a monopoly over the students.
Our issue, as a club, is always going to be funding. We all know that clubs like the Broncos and Roosters have much bigger budgets for juniors and will always throw a wider net.
The other issue as I see it is our relationship with the various player managers. When 14 and 15 year old kids are signing with agents, those agents are going to shop them to the clubs they have better relationships with , or have deeper pockets.

This is a very good post. At the end of the day, the kids are going to go wherever they can get the best opportunity or deal. The whole "school to club pathway" is overhyped and means very little in the long run. The Bulldogs didn't even get Keebra's best players from their 2017 GIO cup winning side - the Broncos did.

Bods - it is not as simple as us deciding that we will now try harder to make sure the Keebra students are in some way associated with the Titans. There are many factors at play and in some sense the school needs to make an effort to co-operate with the Titans junior pathway system as well as they currently do clash at certain points. Let's not also forget that these students are not really "gold coast juniors"..yes they go to school here, but lets remember that the school recruits heavily from elsewhere and often brings in players for their final years of tuition. If you are expecting that we retain these kids because they are "our juniors" then you're gonna be disappointed.

I'm all for an opportunity to work with the school to give us a better opportunity to get boys involved with the club but until these boys want to pay for the titans, we will be competing with the same currency as always.

Brennan is working hard on our junior systems Bodsy i'll tell you that. But it's never going to be a case of the Titans being able to cherry pick Keebra and PBC.

[mdrew]

Thanks to both ja4220 and HS, great replies much appreciated

This is a very good post. At the end of the day, the kids are going to go wherever they can get the best opportunity or deal. The whole "school to club pathway" is overhyped and means very little in the long run. The Bulldogs didn't even get Keebra's best players from their 2017 GIO cup winning side - the Broncos did.

Bods - it is not as simple as us deciding that we will now try harder to make sure the Keebra students are in some way associated with the Titans. There are many factors at play and in some sense the school needs to make an effort to co-operate with the Titans junior pathway system as well as they currently do clash at certain points. Let's not also forget that these students are not really "gold coast juniors"..yes they go to school here, but lets remember that the school recruits heavily from elsewhere and often brings in players for their final years of tuition. If you are expecting that we retain these kids because they are "our juniors" then you're gonna be disappointed.

I'm all for an opportunity to work with the school to give us a better opportunity to get boys involved with the club but until these boys want to pay for the titans, we will be competing with the same currency as always.

Brennan is working hard on our junior systems Bodsy i'll tell you that. But it's never going to be a case of the Titans being able to cherry pick Keebra and PBC.

[Mr Bods]

^^^ thanks gentlemen for the replies...very interesting and makes sense. I reckon some casual readers of the Forum will get a lot from reading those posts too.
I grew up in Cronulla and way back then it was obviously a lot different.
You played Mathews Cup, then SG Ball, Jersey Flegg and then hopefully if you were any good you were graded as a Cronulla player.
More complex now.

[mdrew]

South Coast U15'ss in the QSSRL Championships lost 16-14 against Met North

[mdrew]

It is great to see the ability of 18 year old Tweed Coast Raiders half Tahne Robinson recognised with his selection in the Northern Rivers U23 side for their match this weekend In Lismore against the Greater Northern Tigers. Captaining the Northern Rivers side is former Titans NYC player Anthony Coleman. Other talented players in the Northern Rivers U23 side include Cudgen front rower Caleb Ziebell and centre/second row Kalani Hensby, another Tweed Coast Raider. Former South Sydney NYC player Eden Syme is also part of the side.

To date in the NRRRL First Grade competition Tahne Robinson has scored three tries in four matches including scoring last weekend as his Tweed Coast Raiders side defeated Casino RSM 14-0.

[mdrew]

Since his elevation to the NRRRL First Grade side for Cudgen midway through last season, young 18 year old winger Connah Mills cannot stop scoring. After a double last weekend in a 34-4 win over Murwillumbah, he has a 100% strike rate through the opening four rounds.

In the Murwillumbah First Grade side was former Keebra Park forward Wade Riley who was backing up after playing in the U18 fixture earlier in the day. Wade Riley was a key member of Keebra Park’s GIO Cup success last season and started the National Cup Final from the interchange bench.

[RenegadeGC]

Does anyone know if the Burleigh vs Townsville ISC or 20s games will be live streamed (in-conjunction with the QSSRL U15s tournment). Both games are mouth watering top of the table clashes?

Interesting to see that Burleigh have promoted a number of 20s in to Agrade already, and I noticed Cam Brown has been named on the bench for them. From what Ive seen from both Burleighs ISC and 20s games so far has been very impressive, unfortunately the same cant be said of their MM side (who were very disappointing this year). Im equally intrigued to see if Tweed push any players up to 20s from MM (id assume Bronco contracted players cant play for Tweed??)

Mdrew, any real standouts this year so far from Burleigh and Tweed who arent contracted titans?

[mdrew]

Tomorrow will be the third match in a row that Tians Rookie Squad member Allan Lockwood will be lining up for Burleigh in the GCRL First grade side. Great experience for him