Junior Development

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Titans contracted Juwan Compain, Tristian Powell, Carsil Vaikai and Alofiana Khan-Pereira named in the Qld U18 side.

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Well done to Bilambil Jets U15 fullback Blake Forder for his selection in the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges rugby league on the weekend for the ASSRL Championships commencing 30 June at Redcliffe.

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Things certainly are professional even at the junior rugby league level these days, for example Titans contracted Ryan Foran, who has been named in the NSW U16 squad recently attended a position specific (second row) session at the NSW Centre of Excellence.

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In his first career NRL start (he started at lock) on Friday night against Manly, Jai Whitbread had a very solid outing playing 35 minutes. In that time he ran for 106 metres (41 post contact), broke a tackle, played the ball at an exceptional average of 2.96 seconds and made twenty two tackles at a 100% tackling efficiency.

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Front rower Faaleo Aholahi recorded his first Toowoomba Rugby League U18 try yesterday in Round Eight as his Gattong side defeated Wattles 76-0. He then backed up to come off the bench for his Toowoomba Rugby League First Grade debut in a 51-28 win.

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In Round Four of the Group One Junior Rugby League competition on Saturday, Clarence Coast’s David Torrens had a great match scoring a hat trick and kicking two goals as Clarence Coast defeated South Grafton 40-0.

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In Saturday’s Group One U14 Round Four match, Reece Warburton continued his impressive start to the 2019 season scoring a try and kicking two goals but was unable to prevent his Clarence Coast side from going down 28-20 to South Grafton.

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Stanley Jackson recorded a first half double yesterday in Round Eight of the Toowoomba Rugby League U18 competition for Gatton as they defeated Wattles 76 – 0. He now has scored six tries from just four TRL U18 matches.

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Outstanding rugby league or rugby prospect Isaac Barker had a huge match in Round Four of the Group One U14 competition on Saturday scoring four tries for South Grafton as they defeated Clarence Coast 28-20.

He scored the week prior in Round Three against Casino RSM and already this season has made a number of NSW Country representative rugby sides.

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Titans linked Xavier Atoa was a stand out in Round Five of the GBJRL U14 Division One competition as Souths Acacia Ridge accounted for North Lakes 44 – 10. In the contest, Xavier Atoa who started at fullback scored a try (had a second disallowed for a forward pass right on full time), had three try assists and a great cover defending try saving tackle.

Xavier Atoa’s try was a great individual effort, in the opening three minutes, Souths swung the ball out to their left to Xavier Atoa who ran with the ball in both hands, at the last moment he threw the dummy, splitting the North lakes defence before rounding the fullback to score under the posts.

Two of Xavier Atoa’s try assists were essentially identical, like his try he received the ball on the left of the field, running with the ball out in front in both hands, but unlike his try, Xavier Atoa threw perfectly timed passes to his support runners putting them into gaps resulting in tries.

Xavier Atoa’s other try assist was as a result of a great read. There was less than 10 seconds left in the first half and Souths had a backline set to their left. Instead Xavier Atoa called the ball down a VERY short blind, drew the defenders to send his left winger on a 50 metre run to the try line.

As noted Xavier Atoa produced an outstanding try saving tackle as well, late in the first half, North Lakes made a break down the left touch line, but Xavier Atoa moved across to take the winger into touch with a great one on one low tackle. Xavier Atoa was also on hand early in the second half to prevent a Norths Lakes try when he got his body under one of the Norths Lakes front rowers who looked destined to score but ultimately held up.

I have noted a couple of outstanding skill based attributes above, but a piece of play early in the second half for me optimises the type of player that Xavier Atoa is. With his side under immense pressure early in the second half after conceding two early tries, Xavier Atoa jumped into dummy half with Souths trying to bring the ball off their own try line, he exploded out of dummy half to his left and then fought hard and won a penalty for Souths when he was interfered with when trying for a quick play the ball to relieve the pressure.

From the penalty Souths marched down the field ultimately scoring to wrestle the momentum back for good.

Next week Xavier Atoa and his competition leading Souths Acacia Ridge team mates take on Logan Brothers who are led by outstanding Titans linked hooker Jacob Tinsley.

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Great article now up on Titans Official Site in relation to the TEDS program progress. Well worth a read.

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2019/...ositive-state/

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In Round Five of the GCRL U16 Division One competition last weekend Coomera centre Wehi-Te Clarke scored as the Cutters defeated Southport 38 – 4.

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Titans linked Front rower Irvine Tiomai scored last weekend in the GCRL U16 Division One competition as his Coomera side defeated Southport 38 – 4.

In addition to playing multiple matches for the Coomera Cutters in both the U14 and U15 Division One competitions in 2018, Irvine Tiomai represented the Gold Coast Vikings U14 side and from there was part of the South East Queensland White U14 side that participated in the 2018 Queensland Age Championships.

In those Championships, Irvine Tiomai started all four of SEQ White’s matches in the second row, including the final against SEQ Green which ended in a 16 all draw.

To cap off a great year, in late 2018 Irvine Tiomai was named in the Queensland 2019 U15 Emerging Origin squad.

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Titans linked Lochlyn Sheldon made his 2019 GCRL First Grade debut on Sunday for Burleigh in Round Nine against Currumbin starting from the bench as the Bears prevailed 22-20.

The talented front rower or lock missed the opening rounds of the 2019 season with injury but came back into the Burleigh Hastings Deering’s Colts side for their Round Eight ANZAC Day match against the Western Mustangs starting at lock for the Bears. Lochlyn Sheldon also started at lock in Rounds Nine and Ten against Redcliffe and the Northern Pride respectively.

The Titans Rookie Squad member was an ever present in the front row for the Burleigh Bears early in the Hastings Deering’s U20 Colts side in 2018, starting in the front row in their first nine of their matches before being promoted to the Gold Coast Rugby League Burleigh First Grade side.

Lochlyn Sheldon is not going to score many tries but did score in Round Three in 2018 in the local derby against the Tweed Heads Seagulls.

In 2018 Lochlyn Sheldon made his Gold Coast Rugby League First Grade debut for Burleigh starting from the bench in Round Six when the Bears defeated Bilambil 40 – 10. Lochlyn Sheldon played eight matches for Burleigh in the Gold Coast Rugby League First Grade competition in 2018.

Lochlyn Sheldon had a very good 2017 season on the field for Burleigh in the MM Cup competition and for Runaway Bay across multiple grades in the Gold Coast Rugby League competition. In addition, Lochlyn Sheldon played one match for the Burleigh Bears U20 Colts Challenge side which was in Round Fourteen against the Ipswich Jets, that afternoon Lochlyn Sheldon made his debut from the interchange bench and scored a second half try in a positive debut Colts match.

For Burleigh in the 2017 MM competition, Lochlyn Sheldon captained the side and started in five of their six matches in the front row and came off the interchange bench in Round Three. Lochlyn Sheldon crossed for three tries over the six matches, scoring in Round One against Redcliffe, in Round Three against North’s and also in Round Six in the local derby against Tweed Heads Seagulls a match in which Burleigh won and a match that also included a number of Tians linked players on both sides.

For Runaway Bay in the Gold Coast Rugby League Competition, Lochlyn Sheldon played twelve matches in the U19 competition, eleven in the Doug Lipp Cup including starting the Grand Final at lock (Unfortunately Runaway Bay were defeated 13 – 6 by Beaudesert) and one match in the A grade making his A Grade debut in August against Ormeau.

Across his twelve matches in the U19 competition, Lochlyn Sheldon scored five tries all coming in a stellar four game period mid-season where he scored double against Mudgeeraba and also tries in that period against Beaudesert, Burleigh and Bilambil. Lochlyn Sheldon made his Doug Lipp Cup debut in June against Bilambil and went on to make eleven appearances for Runaway Bay in that competition scoring three tries which came against Ormeau, Tugun and Bilambil. In five of his eleven Doug Lipp Cup matches, Lochlyn Sheldon played in the U19 contest and then backed up to play the Doug Lipp Cup fixture immediately after the conclusion of the previous match.

Lochlyn Sheldon was named player of the carnival for the 2016 Confraternity Shield as well as being named in the second row for the Queensland Independent Colleges (QIC) Secondary Schools rugby league side after playing for Gold Coast based Aquinas College in the carnival which was held in September 2016.

Fellow Aquinas College student Lachlan Douglas was also named in the all carnival side in the front row. Lachlan Douglas is currently part of the 2018 Burleigh U20 Hastings Deering’s squad.

Previously Lochlyn Sheldon has made multiple representative sides, including the Queensland U13 side, South Coast U15’s where he was named player of the match on Day Two against Darling Downs, Qld Marron U15’s from which he made the U15 Australian Merit Team with Titans linked Konrad Edwards and also the Queensland U16 side in 2015, which also contained Titans Ben Thomas and Darius Farmer.

Lochlyn Sheldon was part of the Brisbane Broncos elite development squad for a number of years, but unfortunately for him he was not able to gain a contract with the Broncos, which was good news for the Titans.

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Titans linked Zac Toole scores his first try of the 2019 Group One U15 season in Round Four last weekend for Ballina as they defeated Clarence Coast 26-8.