Junior Development

[mdrew]

Titans Rookie Squad member Curtis Dansey-Smaller will start on the wing for Tweed Heads in the GCRL First Grade Preliminary Final against Runaway Bay with the winner to take on Runaway Bay in the Grand Final the following weekend.

[mdrew]

Ultra-talented young Tweed Coast Raiders forward Oscar Clarke has been outstanding over recent seasons including in 2016 season when he was named as the Group 18 Junior Representative Player of the year after he starred for the Group 18 U16 side, he was also named as the U16 Group 18 most consistent player.

Oscar Clarke was named in the Tweed Heads Seagulls 2018 MM Cup side but did not play any matches in that competition this season.

For the Tweed Coast Raiders in the NRRRL competition, Oscar Clarke was involved in all three senior grades over the course of the 2018 season.

In the U18 NRRRL competition’s regular season, Oscar Clarke played in eleven matches finishing the season with twelve tries which placed him equal second with centre Ballina James Torrens on the try scoring tally, five behind Cudgen centre Liam Cusack.

Oscar Clarke scored an early season hat trick against Lismore Marist Brothers and mid-season scored doubles in consecutive rounds against Lower Clarence and Ballina.

Oscar Clarke’s U18 NRRRL season came to an end in week two of the finals a fortnight ago when Tweed Coast went down 22 – 14 to the Lower Clarence Magpies.

This season Oscar Clarke also played in one Reserve Grade match which was against Murwillumbah in July.

After playing three NRRRL First Grade games in 2017, Oscar Clarke added three more to that number in 2018 and also scored his first career NRRRL First Grade try when he scored against Northern United in his second NRRRL First Grade match this year after playing his first against Murwillumbah. Oscar Clarke’s third NRRRL First Grade match this season was played against Casino RSM.

[mdrew]

Big strong young Titans contracted Runaway Bay Seagull second rower or lock Carsil Vaikai continues to develop his game at an exceptional rate. From a trivia perspective Carsil Vaikai was earlier this year selected in the Australian Mixed Netball side highlighting his stamina and athleticism.

Carsil Vaikai played for the Tweed Heads Seagulls MM Cup side this season playing in six of their matches, including their semi-final loss to eventual champions South’s Logan. Carsil Vaikai started at lock in the Seagulls first four matches, before missing Round Six. Carsil Vaikai came back into the side in Round Seven off the bench and also came off the bench against Souths Logan in Tweed Heads semi-final loss.

Carsil Vaikai scored one try in the MM Cup competition which came in Round Three against the Burleigh Bears. On that occasion, he received the ball from the dummy half to the left of the play and crashed over from around ten metres out carrying two Burleigh defenders across the line.

Post the MM Cup competition, Carsil Vaikai played for Runaway Bay in the Gold Coast Rugby League U17 Division One completion.

In total in the U17 Division One competition this season including finals Carsil Vaikai played in ten matches four of which were finals matches. Carsil Vaikai started all ten of his U17 Division One matches at lock.

In Week One of the Finals series Runaway Bay defeated Tweed Heads 42 -14 and won again in Week Two 24 – 18 against Ormeau.

Carsil Vaikai picked a great time to scored his first and only try of the U17 Division One season when he scored in Runaway Bay’s 34 – 22 Preliminary Final victory over Burleigh.

Unfortunately for Carsil Vaikai and Runaway Bay they ran into a red hot Currumbin side in the Grand Final going down 30 – 10 to an Eagles side that contained amongst others fellow Titans contracted 17 year old Noah Gafa.

Carsil Vaikai was also part of the Coombabah State High School Opens side that made the Queensland Cup Quarter Finals after a one point win over fellow Gold Coast School Marymount College 17 - 16.

[mdrew]

Tough young centre James Torrens was impressive throughout the 2018 season for Northern Rivers in the U18 Laurie Daley Cup competition as well as in the NRRRL competition for Ballina for whom he played across all three grades of the NRRRL competition including an outstanding NRRRL First Grade debut.

James Torrens started off the season, performing solidly for Northern Rivers in the inaugural U18 Laurie Daley Cup competition starting in the centres in four matches against the Newcastle Knights Development Squad, North Coast, Central Coast Roosters and the Greater Northern Tigers.

For the Ballina Seagulls in the NRRRL U18 competition, James Torrens finished the regular season playing in eleven matches and scoring twelve tries. Of those twelve tries, James Torrens scored ten of those in a six game period from late May to late July.

In that span James Torrens scored a hat trick against Murwillumbah, doubles against Casino RSM and Cudgen and tries against Tweed Coast, Kyogle and Lower Clarence.

With his twelve try tally James Torrens finished equal second on the U18 NRRRL try scoring list equal with Tweed Coast forward Oscar Clarke and five behind Cudgen centre Liam Cusack.

James Torrens made his NRRRL Reserve Grade debut in June 2018, against Casino RSM and in 2018 went on to play in six Reserve Grade matches in total scoring three tries, including a double against Lower Clarence and also scoring in his second Reserve Grade game against Mullumbimby.

James Torrens made his NRRRL First Grade debut in late July against Lower Clarence and what a debut he had, scoring a double on a memorable afternoon. James Torrens had scored a double in the earlier Reserve Grade match as well as scoring in the U18 match that same day.

[mdrew]

Titans contracted Kaleb Ngamanu will start at inside centre tomorrow for the TSS U15A side as they head to Toowoomba to play Downlands College.

Already this season he has played outside centre and last week started at No. 7.

[mdrew]

Young Lismore Marist Brothers second rower’s Brody Jones’s 2017 rugby league season finished with him attending the Titans U16 High Performance Academy camp in Lennox Heads in late 2017 where he played for the Titans in their match against a Western Mustangs U16 side that was also attending the high performance camp.

This season in the NRRRL U18 competition Brody Jones played in thirteen regular season matches for Lismore Marist Brothers scoring an impressive nine tries along the way for a strike rate of 69.23%.

Brody Jones scored a hat trick against Kyogle mid-season and the week prior scored a double against Murwillumbah. Brody Jones also had a good try scoring run late in the season when he scored in consecutive rounds against Casino RSM, Lower Clarence and Tweed Coast. Brody Jones’s remaining try came in Round Three against Tweed Coast.

[mdrew]

After being involved in both the Titans and Bronco’s Development Squads in recent years it is great to see Rowan Mansfield sign with the Titans earlier this season and to see him play for the Titans U15 side when they defeated the Western Mustangs six tries to three at Nerang in March of this year.

In that match Rowan Mansfield lined up at right centre where he opposed the talented Blake Cesseri from the Western Mustangs and more than held his own over the course of the match.

Rowan Mansfield is just one of a number of talented Northern Rivers juniors that have recently (the last year or so) linked with the Titans, a list also including second rower Ben Liyou and centre/second rower Ethan Foster amongst others.

Rowan Mansfield is a young fullback or centre from the Ballina Seagulls junior rugby league club who play in the Group One junior rugby league competition in Northern NSW, which is the same club that former Titans centre Brian Kelly played his junior rugby league for.

This season in the Group One U15 competition, Rowan Mansfield played in eleven matches, including the finals scoring five tries. Each of Rowans Mansfield regular season’s tries came from individual matches and were scored against, South Grafton, Clarence Coast on two occasions and against Casino RSM.

On the first Saturday of the Group One finals, Rowan Mansfield scored for Ballina in their 26 - 4 Group One U15 semi-final victory over South Grafton.

In the Grand Final Rowan Mansfield and his Ballina team mates went down to a committed South Grafton Rebels side 16 – 0.

Rowan Mansfield also played in three Group One U16.5 matches, making his debut against Clarence Coast in early August scoring on debut.

Earlier in 2018 Rowan Mansfield was part of the New South Wales Combined High Schools (NSW CHS) U15 side that participated in the ASSRL U15 national Championships, being one of ten Titans involved in the Championships. NSW CHS Titans team mates were second rower Ryan Foran and fullback/centre Riley Lack.

Rowan Mansfield played four matches at the U15 ASSRL Championships primarily at fullback and scored against New South Wales Combined Catholic Colleges.

[mdrew]

Ethan Foster who signed a Titans development contract last year made his 2018 playing debut starting in the centres for the Northern Rivers U16 Andrew Johns Cup side who went on to defeat Newcastle 22 – 12 on a wet and cold morning in Northern New South Wales in Round One of that competition.

Prior to his signing with the Titans, Ethan Foster had also been invited to be part of the Newcastle Knights Junior Development program.

In the 2018 Andrew Johns Cup competition for Northern Rivers Ethan Foster played in all four of Northern Rivers matches, starting two in the centres and two in the second row. In those four matches, Ethan Foster scored three tries, scoring a double in Round Three against the Central Coast Roosters and in Round Four against the Greater Northern Tigers.

The two tries in Round Three against the Central Coast were simply outstanding including his second try when he took the ball from around 40 metres out and just smashed his way through the defensive, stepped past the fullback and outpaced the cover defence.

In the Group One U16.5 competition this season Ethan Foster played thirteen matches for Clarence Coast including the finals series finishing as the competitions leading point’s scorer with 139 points from sixteen tries, thirty seven goals and a field goal. Ethan Fosters sixteen tries also meant that he finished as the competitions leading try scorer.

On five occasions Ethan Foster scored two tries in a match, with those matches being against Kyogle, Casino RSM (on two occasions), Lismore Marist Brothers and Ballina. Only once was Ethan Foster kept scoreless in the Group One U16.5 competition in 2019 which was in an early season match against Ballina.

With the boot Ethan Foster kicked eight on a match against Lismore Marist Brothers in late May, finishing the match with twenty four points when you add in his two tries and on three occasions, against Kyogle, Ballina and Casino RSM he kicked four goals in a match.

On the first weekend of the Group One U16.5 final series this season, Ethan Foster scored a double and kicked four from four in a 24 – 16 win for Clarence Coast over Casino RSM.

Unfortunately for Ethan Foster and his Group One U16.5 Clarence Coast team mates they were defeated by Casino RSM in the Grand Final.

Ethan Foster also played four U18 NRRRL regular season matches for Lower Clarence making his debut against Lismore Marist Brothers in late April. Ethan Fosters first U18 NRRRL points came in his fourth match win he kicked a conversion against the Ballina Seagulls.

[mdrew]

The TSS U15A side drew 24 all with Downlands this afternoon.

Titans contracted Kaleb Ngamanu will start at inside centre tomorrow for the TSS U15A side as they head to Toowoomba to play Downlands College.

Already this season he has played outside centre and last week started at No. 7.

[lonegull]

Mdrew funny you should mention that I was thinking the same all the commentators seemed to worry about is how many the broncos had and talked them up as they were already playing nrl

[mdrew]

Recent Titans signing Orlando Swain started on the wing for Norths in the Ipswich Rugby League U15 Grand Final this morning going down 28 - 22 to West End.

[mdrew]

Group 18 Junior Rugby League grand Final results today:

U13: South Tweed 36 defeated Tweed Heads 6

U14: Bilambil 16 defeated Murwillumbah 12

U15: South Tweed 22 defeated Byron Bay/Lennox Heads 16

U16: Bilambil 24 defeated Cudgen 8

[mdrew]

Titans Jai Whitbread started in the front row and Kai O'Donnell from the bench tonight for Burleigh in their tough 13-6 semi-final loss to Redcliffe.

[mdrew]

Gold Coast Titans contracted youngster Kel Sheather will start at five eight today for the Ballina Seagulls in the NRRRL First Grade Grand Final against the Tweed Coast Raiders.

17 year old Kuyan Roberts-Laurie will start from the bench for the Seagulls as well.

For Tweed Coast talented youngster Tahne Robinson will start at five eight.

[mdrew]

A key player in the NRRRL U18 Grand Final today is Ballina Seagulls five eight Jordan Sly. His move from the backrow to five eight tis season has been a master stoke as the Seagulls have only lost two games this season, one being against Grand Final opponents Cudgen.

Jordan Sly finished the regular season as the NRRRL U18 competitions leading points scorer with 142 points from eight tries and 55 goals through 13 games.