Izayah Petricevich. One player in the Titans U13 side that defeated the Western Mustangs 40 – 12 in February was Nerang Rooster Izayah Petrichvich when he played left centre and scored two tries. In the match Izayah Petricevich also spent some time in the second half on the left wing.

Early in the 2019 season Izayah Petricevich was named in the Gold Coast Vikings U13 squad and played left centre in the Championships including scoring in the Vikings first match on Day one diving over in the left corner against Brisbane Red.

Izayah Petricevich started the 2019 GCRL club season for Nerang in their Round One match against Ormeau.

Izayah Petricevich moved to five eight for Round Four scoring as Nerang went down 68 – 10 to Burleigh.

In total for Nerang, Izayah Petricevich played in three GCRL U13 Division One matches scoring against Burleigh as noted above.

With the movement in the U13 competition, Izayah Petricevich also played in five U13 Division Two matches scoring seven tries (140% strike rate) including a hat trick against Mudgeeraba in Round Eleven and a Round Twelve double against Helensvale. Izayah Petricevich’s other 2019 U13 Division two regular season tries came against Burleigh White and Jimboomba.

In 2018 Izayah Petricevich finished the Gold Coast Rugby League U12 Division One competition as the second leading try scorer with nine tries from ten matches, playing primarily in the second row.

Izayah Petricevich scored hat tricks against Currumbin and Coomera, a double against Burleigh Marron, with his other try coming in Round Two against Mudgeeraba.

In 2019 Izayah Petricevich was also a key member of the Coombabah State High School Year 8 Renouf Cup school boy side including scoring a 90 metre long range half try as Coombabah overcame a six point half time deficit to defeat Forest Lake State School 36 – 16 in the Renouf Cup Grand Final.

Izayah Petricevich started the match at left centre and scored when in the second half. Forest Lake State High School spun the ball to the left but the ball was dropped out wide when they were on the attack.

From a standing start Izayah Petricevich retrieved the ball and took off down the left touch line, at one point it appeared that the Forest Lake fullback would get to him but Izayah Petricevich was able to put on an extra burst of speed to break the jumper grab to score.

Even though he does not necessarily plus top end speed (It is certainly in the above average category though but probably just falls a touch below the plus category) Izayah Petrichvich is quick enough to take advantage of any space that he is given down the touchline by opposing outside backs.

Izayah Petrichvich’s bread and butter play in the centres is a good in an away to hold the defender and beat him on the outside, Izayah Petrichvich then has the ability to draw and pass to his winger if the opposing winger looks to come in, thus creating an overlap on the outside.

When playing on the wing Izayah Petrichvich always seems to stick to the sideline which means his inside attackers will know where he is at all times, thus allowing them to confidently off load the ball if an overlap is created.

When defending in the centres, Izayah Petrichvich really does look to come out of the line and hit his opposing centre as hard as possible to cut off the attacking play before it has time to fully develop, his timing in those situations is quite good to the extent that he does not often over comment thus allowing his opponent to get on his outside.

Izayah Petrichvich does not let the play unfold in front of him, he looks to disrupt as early as possible and usually does so effectively.

With his size and defensive tendencies when defending in the centres, Izayah Petrichvich is more suited to an up and in defensive methodology compared to a sliding system, where quicker opposing centres look to get on his outside and try to use their pace against him although he is not necessarily a slouch in that department.

Izayah Petricevich will play the 2020 season with Nerang in the U14 age group on the Gold Coast and I would anticipate continue to make junior representative sides on the Gold Coast for years to come starting with the Gold Coast Vikings side in 2020.

Izayah Petricevich will also play for Coombabah State High School in their U14 school boy rugby league side.

Izayah Petricevich is a tall young who played very well at left centre for both the Titans and Vikings U13 sides this season, a position that I would anticipate that he will continue to play for the foreseeable future.

I appreciate that Izayah Petricevich this season played a number of other positions for Nerang in 2019 including at five eight but I personally believe that his skill set plays perfectly at left centre.

A current NRL player with a similar playing style to Izayah Petricevich is for me Parramatta Eels and New South Wales State of Origin Blake Ferguson, like Izayah Petricevich is a very good kick returner and has the size, strength and speed to be a real handful for an opponent’s three quarter line, especially when he looks to run straight at the defensive line.