Page 67 of 158 FirstFirst ... 17 57 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 77 117 ... LastLast
Results 991 to 1,005 of 2361
  1. #991
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Syris Schmidt. (Revised) He is a local young five eight originally from the Ormeau Shearers club on the Gold Coast who after attending Keebra Park High School for a number of years took up a rugby scholarship with TSS last year playing in their U15A side and this year will play for the Gold Coast based School in their First XV in the GPS school boy rugby competition with a team mate being Titans contracted centre Kaleb Ngamanu.

    After starting the majority of TSS’s First XV 2019 GPS trials at fly half (No. 10), Syris Schmidt started there in Round One against Nudgee College and had a solid game in their heart stopping after the final siren one point win.

    Syris Schmidt also started at five half in Round Two against Churchie producing an assured performance highlighted by some deft short passing and some raking left foot tactical kicking. For his performance, Syris Schmidt was awarded one point in the 2019 TSS First XV Rounds Two points award by the First XV coach.

    Syris Schmidt continued his solid form in Round Three once against starting at No. 10 against Brisbane State High and was very effective defensively and also started at No. 10 in Round Four against Toowoomba Grammar School, producing an assured display.

    Round Five against Brisbane Grammar School also saw Syris Schmidt in the No. 10 jersey for the TSS First XV scoring his career first GPS First XV try in the match.

    In the critical Round Six match against BBC Syris Schmidt had limited ball playing time due to the rushing defence but more than held his own as TSS remained undefeated on the back of a 23 – 20 away win.

    Syris Schmidt added a try assist in Round Seven in a big 54 – 24 win against Gregory Terrace when he put up a pin point left foot kick which literally went the entire width of the field and was perfectly weighted.

    Syris Schmidt started the critical Round Eight match against Ipswich Grammar School once again at fly half as TSS won the GPS First XV Premiership after drawing 29 all.

    Syris Schmidt will be part of the TSS squad that tours Japan shortly.

    In 2018, in relation to club rugby league on the Gold Coast, Syris Schmidt played for Ormeau in the U15 Division One competition, playing ten matches and finishing with a strike rate of 90%.

    Syris Schmidt scored a hat trick in Round Five of 2018 against Coomera and added a Round Four double against Mudgeeraba. Syris Schmidt, in 2018, also scored in Rounds Six, Seven, Nine and Eleven against Runaway Bay, Robina and Runaway Bay twice more.

    Syris Schmidt represented South Coast in the 2018 QSSRL U15 Championships and has been named in the U15 Queensland White side for next week’s ASSRL U16 Championships where team mates were Titans contracted Ezra Ubaldino and Brody Smitka.

    Syris Schmidt played the GPS 2018 season with the TSS U15A side spending time at inside centre, outside centre and fly half playing in all of TSS’s matches.

    In the 2017 GPS rugby season for the TSS U14A side, Syris Schmidt played in seven matches. Syris Schmidt started the season on the bench for the TSS U14A side making his TSS Rugby debut in Round One against Brisbane Stet High School.

    Syris Schmidt broke into the TSS U14A starting line-up in Round Eight against St Joseph’s Nudgee College starting the match at No. 10 (fly half) and was named Best Back in his starting debut. Syris Schmidt also started in Round Nine this time at inside centre against Churchie.

    In 2017 for the Ormeau Shearers, Syris Schmidt played eight matches in the U14 Division One competition, scoring seven tries and kicking a conversion to finish with 26 points. Syris Schmidt scored four tries in a match against Runaway Bay and a double against Nerang.

    Syris Schmidt represented Keebra Park in the Renouf Cup competition in 2016. Syris Schmidt also represented the U13 Vikings side that went through the Hill Stumer Championships undefeated and also represented South East Queensland Green at the U13 level in the Queensland Age Championships which were held in Toowoomba.

    In 2015 Syris Schmidt represented Queensland at the U12 level. For the Queensland U12 side, he scored two tries across the competition that Queensland won, including scoring a try against Western Australia in their round 3 victory and another against Victoria in their 52 – 0 semi-final victory.

    For Ormeau in the U13 GCJRL competition in 2016, Syris Schmidt finished as the leading try scorer with 22 tries from ten matches, two in front of Keebra Park team mate Tuvallo-Afoa Khan Pereira. Syris Schmidt scored six tries in a match against Currumbin and also scored two hat tricks which came against Jimboomba and Runaway Bay.

    For South East Queensland Green in the Queensland Age Championships in 2016, Syris Schmidt scored four tries, including a hat trick on Day Two in a big 44 – 4 win over the Northern Marlins and he also scored on Day Three in a 40 – 10 victory over SEQ White.

    For the U13 Vikings, he played an under stated role leading his team around the field but on Day Two against Ipswich, after mainly setting up his support runners, he started to run more in the second half including a superb play late in the match where he drifted across the field and threw a great dummy before accelerating through the Ipswich defensive line to score under the posts.

    In relation to Schoolboy rugby league, Syris Schmidt also had a great year in 2015 for Keebra Park culminating in him being selected at five eight in the Keebra Park team of the year. Playing for the U13 Renouf Cup side, Syris Schmidt scored five tries across the Rounds, including against Ipswich SHS in Round Two, two tries against Marsden in Round Five, a try against local rivals PBC in Round Six and in the Round of 16 had a great game against Ipswich once again when he split the line to score from 40 metres out with his first touch and also late in the match popped a great ball to Tuvallo-Afoa Khan-Pereira to score.

    In attack, he is a five eight who is a dynamic runner of the football who excels in taking on the defensive line with deft footwork around the ruck, looking to seek out bigger slower forwards when they are caught on the edge of the ruck.

    Syris Schmidt also has a very good dummy which continues to be effective regardless of the frequency of its use as it is indistinguishable in process from when he is going to actually pass the ball.

    Syris Schmidt does not however have blinkers on, and when his backline is set deep, he can see an overlap or a another play developing he will get the ball out quickly and effectively, using his solid passing skills from both sides of his body, where he will put the football out in front of his runners. Syris Schmidt is able to impart a good spin on the ball, thus can get good distance on his passes whilst maintaining accuracy from both sides of his body.

    Assisting his play is the fact that Syris Schmidt makes the decision what to do with the ball quickly thus enabling the ball to get out wide quickly. One aspect that is notable when you see him play is how he directs the team around the field, he is in charge of when and where the forwards run and also when he wants the ball to spread it out wide to his backline.

    For his age group, he has a prodigious kick on him and seemingly also has good accuracy and presents as a future 40/20 threat. Also his prodigious boot generates significant height on his bombs, and I mean they are huge bombs and again are seemingly quite accurate, his ceiling is that of his team’s primary tactical kicker moving forward, both from a field position and attacking perspective.

    It also helps that Syris Schmidt is a left foot kicker and his time at No. 10 in rugby has developed his kicking skills to the plus category quickly and he also has a quick release mitigating the possibility of a charge down.

    Defensively he has decent size for a five eight, a facet which assists in him being a very effective defender for his position, in fact he is an asset to his team’s defensive pattern to the extent that he has the strength and technique to more than hold his own one on one against wide running forwards.

    Playing no. 10 or at inside centre in school boy rugby has also assisted his defensive development. Loose forwards come off the back of the ruck or maul and traditionally target the channel defended by either the inside centre or fly half, where obviously Syris Schmidt is stationed the majority of the time.

    Moving to the 2020 season, Syris Schmidt will barring injury be the No. 10 once again for the TSS First XV side.

    It is great to see him continue to play both codes as the skills he is developing in both codes is no doubt immensely assisting in his development in both codes as the skills are complementary in nature, especially around tactical kicking and game management. Playing a high level of school boy rugby at either No. 10 or inside centre can only enhance and accelerate his rugby league developmental curve (if he chooses rugby league of course).

    Syris Schmidt plays his football currently at the five eight position both in terms of club and representative football and certainly has the skills to stay there long term. He has all of the skills that you would want from your five eight, he can run the ball very well, he is a very good distributor and game manager and is also a very good general play kicker.

    From a player comparison perspective, I am going to make a big call but he really does play the game like Darren Lockyer with more speed than when Darren Lockyer moved to five eight. Syris Schmidt really does present on the field as a natural gifted young player who does not take his natural ability for granted.

  2. #992
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Ioane Seuili. (Revised) The former South’s Logan Magpies centre is a Titans contracted player who spent the off-season training with the Titans NRL squad after a 2018 season which by any measure was simply outstanding.

    Ioane Seuili’s 2019 season was if I am being honest was even better than 2018 and that was not an easy feat to pull off considering how good he was in 2018.

    To add to his 2019 season Recently Ioane Seuili has been named in the New Zealand U19 side to play the Australian School boys on the Queensland Cup Grand Final day at Redcliffe Oval, hopefully his shoulder injury he sustained in Week One of the Queensland Cup Finals heals quickly so that Ioane Seuili can represent New Zealand.

    Ioane Seuili started from the interchange bench in the Titans first NRL trial this season against the North Queensland Cowboys on the Sunshine Coast after playing for the Burleigh Bears Queensland Cup side in their Queensland Cup trial the week prior against the Souths Logan Magpies.

    In the 2019 Queensland Cup season proper Ioane Seuili started the season with the Tweed Heads Seagulls, starting on the right wing in Round One against the PNG Hunters at Tweed Heads even though he had two years of Colts eligibility remaining.

    In his 80 minutes on the field in Round One Ioane Seuili for 105 metres from nine runs, 46 of those metres post contact (43.81%), had an offload, broke two tackles and had an impressive play the ball average of 3.26 seconds as well as one off-load. Defensively Ioane Seuili made two tackles as well.

    Ioane Seuili also started on the wing in Round two of the Queensland Cup against the Townsville Blackhawks playing all 80 minutes once again on the right wing. In those 80 minutes, he ran for 110 metres, 25 post contact, had two tackle breaks and played the ball at an average of 4.05 seconds.

    In the Round Two match Ioane Seuili made two long runs, both coming in the first half. On the first occasion he took a long high kick in wet conditions, split the defence and ran thirty metres down the left touchline before being dragged down.

    On the second occasion Ioane Seuili stayed outside of his man and after taking a cut out pass from Tweed five eight Lindon McGrady burst thirty metres down the left touch line once again before being caught by the cover defence. Highlighting his maturity was that Ioane Seuili came in field prior to being tackled to ensure that even in the wet conditions he would not be taken into touch.

    Ioane Seuili also produced a heads up play in the second half. Instead of trying to pick up a dropped ball in the wet conditions on the fly, Ioane Seuili instead stopped to ensure that he took possession of the ball rather than give Townsville field position if he made an error at a critical juncture in the match.

    In Round Three against Burleigh, Ioane Seuili started on the right wing again, playing the entire 80 minutes, running for 87 metres (30 post contact) with 31 of those metres in relation to kick returns. Ioane Seuili also broke a team leading five tackles, played the ball in an average time of 3.7 seconds and made three tackles at a 75% tackling efficiency.

    One of Ioane Seuili’s tackles was on Burleigh Troy Leo when he dragged him down from behind, if Ioane Seuili did not make the tackle Troy Leo would have had a 70 metre run to the try line.

    In Round Four for the third time in four Queensland Cup appearances Ioane Seuili ran for in excess of100 metres from his right wing position for Tweed Heads in their 26 – 12 win over the Capra’s. In his 80 minutes on the field Ioane Seuili ran for 105 metres (33 post contact), 50 metres of which were from kick returns. Ioane Seuili also had a line break assist, a try assist, a team leading four tackle breaks, played the ball in an average time of 4.16 seconds and made a tackle.

    In Round Five against Wynnum Manly Ioane Seuili once again played the entire 80 minutes, running for 94 metres (35 post contact), broke two tackles, played the ball at an average speed of 3.79 seconds and made a career high (to date) fifteen tackles at a tackling efficiency of 93.75%.

    In Round Six of the Queensland Cup on Saturday night for the Tweed Heads Seagulls Titan Ioane Seuili moved from the right wing to play at left centre and had a very good match, playing the entire 80 minutes, running for 130 metres (47 post contact), broke a tackle, played the ball at an average speed of 3.7 seconds, and made fourteen tackles at a 100% tackling efficiency.

    Ioane Seuili played Round Seven against Redcliffe at left centre for the second week in a row, playing the entire 80 minutes. Ioane Seuili led the Seagulls in both run metres (143) and post contact metres (57). He also broke two tackles, played the ball at an average speed for 3.42 seconds and made twelve tackles at a tackling efficiency of 92.3%.

    In Round Eight of the Queensland Cup Ioane Seuili played left centre for the third match in a row for Tweed Heads against the Ipswich Jets and as usual played the entire 80 minutes. In that time he ran for 78 metres (35 post contact), made a line break, played the ball at an average of 3.42 seconds and made three tackles at a 75% tackling efficiency.

    In Round Nine of the Queensland Cup, Ioane Seuili started his third match in a row at left centre once again playing the entire 80 minutes against Norths. He ran for 112 metres (an impressive 58 post contact), broke three tackles, played the ball at an average speed of 4.3 seconds and made ten tackles.

    Round Ten also saw Ioane Seuili play all 80 minutes at left centre against the Easts Tigers, running for 103 metres (37 post contact), played the ball at an average speed of 4.29 seconds and made five tackles.

    Round Eleven also saw Ioane Seuili play all 80 minutes at left centre against the Northern Pride, running for 62 metres (22 post contact), broke a tackle, played the ball at an average speed of 3.52 seconds and made six tackles.

    Ioane Seuili scored his career first Queensland Cup try in Round Twelve against Souths Logan from the left centre position. Playing the entire 80 minutes, Ioane Seuili ran for 130 metres (46 post contact), made a line break, had a line break assist, a try assist, broke three tackles, played the ball at an average speed of 4.87 seconds, had two offloads and made nine tackles at a tackling efficiency of 81.82%.

    In relation to his try Ioane Seuili received the ball around five metres out from the Souths Logan line and got on his opposing defenders outside and was able to crash over in the left corner under pressure from two defenders.

    In relation to his try assist, Ioane Seuili used his quick hands to catch and pass to his winger as the Souths Logan right winger was coming up to him to look to shut down the movement.

    In a tough Round Thirteen loss against the Sunshine Coast Falcons, Ioane Seuili playing left centre in his 80 minutes, ran for 71 metres (sixteen post contact), broke two tackles, played the ball at an average speed of 3.01 seconds and made ten tackles.

    Ioane Seuili played on the left wing in Round Fourteen against the PNG Hunters once again playing the entire 80 minutes. In that time Ioane Seuili ran for 144 metres (46 post contact), played the ball at an average speed of 3.63 seconds and had a 100% tackling efficiency.

    Ioane Seuili moved to the right wing for Round Fifteen against Ipswich, scoring his second career Queensland Cup try when he jumped high to take a bomb keeping his feet before spinning counter clock wise to put the ball down in the right corner mid-way through the first half.

    Playing all 80 minutes, Ioane Seuili ran for 77 metres (thirty post contact), played the ball at an average speed of 3.72 seconds and made five tackles.

    Ioane Seuili was back in the centres for Round Sixteen against Wynnum Manly playing all 80 minutes, running for seventy metres (twenty six post contact), playing the ball at an average speed of 3.69 seconds and making twelve tackles at a tackling efficiency of 85.71%.

    After missing Round Seventeen Ioane Seuili started from the bench in Round Eighteen of the Queensland Cup against Central Queensland and in his forty nine minutes on the field recorded his first career double with both tries coming in the second half.

    Ioane Seuili’s first try was a five metre effort when he crossed out wide on the right (he came on to play right wing), with the second try coming when he backed up through the centre of the field to run thirty five metres untouched in Tweed’s big win.

    In addition to his double, Ioane Seuili ran for 108 metres (31 post contact), had a team leading two line breaks, broke three tackles, played the ball at an average speed of 3.07 seconds and made twelve tackles at a tackling efficiency of 92.31%.

    Round Nineteen against the Mackay Cutters saw Ioane Seuili start from the bench playing 59 minutes, running for 58 metres (11 post contact), broke four tackles, played the ball at an average speed of 4.44 seconds and made nineteen tackles at a 86.38% tackling efficiency.

    Round Twenty saw a positional switch with Ioane Seuili starting in the second row against Ipswich, his first match in that position for at least a number of seasons, if not longer. Ioane Sueili also scored his fifth try of the season in the match when he charged onto a short pass close to the lien from dummy half Brent Woolf to crash over try mid-way through the second half that put Tweed Heads ahead permanently.

    In his first Queensland Cup match starting in the second row Ioane Seuili played 60 minutes, ran for 60 metres (19 post contact), broke two tackles, played the ball at an average speed of 3.27 seconds and made seventeen tackles at a tackling efficiency of 85%.

    Ioane Seuili maintained his starting place in the second row for Tweed Heads pivotal Round Twenty One match against the Easts Tigers having a huge game including scoring his 6th try of the season.

    In addition Ioane Seuili played the entire 80 minutes, ran for 129 metres (27 post contact) had a team leading five tackle breaks and a team leading three line breaks, played the ball at an average speed of 3.32 seconds and made nineteen tackles at a 91.48% tackling efficiency.

    Ioane Seuili’s try came as a result of him running a great line from his right second row position straight into a gap around forty metres out from the Easts line. Ioane Seuili then swerved around the fullback (I would not call it a step) to score an impressive try under the posts.

    Ioane Seuili started his third match in the second row in Round Twenty Two against Souths Logan scoring his 7th try of the season in a great display spanning the entire 80 minutes. Ioane Seuili ran for 110 metres (33 post contact), had a line break, broke three tackles, played the ball at an average speed of 3.3 seconds, pulled off a one on one steal and made twenty three tackles at a tackling efficiency of 92% as he continued his impressive transition to the second row.

    Ioane Seuili’s try came in the second half of the match, he received the ball on the right of the play the ball from the dummy half and was immediately confronted with a defender rushing up, Ioane Seuili stepped off his left foot and then stepped off his left foot again back behind the play the ball before charging over after the defence moved across the field.

    Ioane Seuili started Round Twenty Three in the second row against the Northern Pride but due to an injury spent a significant portion of his 80 minutes on the field on the right wing.

    In his time on the field, Ioane Seuili ran for 164 metres (48 post contact), broke four tackles, played the ball at an average speed of 4.04 seconds and made eleven tackles.

    In his first Queensland Cup Final being the Week One Elimination Final against Redcliffe, Ioane Seuili had a huge match before dislocating his shoulder in the 65th minute of the match.

    In addition to scoring Tweed Heads first two tries Ioane Seuili ran for 66 metres from the right second row position (27 post contact), made two line breaks and four tackles breaks, played the ball at an average speed of 3.46 seconds and made twelve tackles.

    Ioane Seuili’s first try of the Elimination Final came when he ran onto a pass from the first receiver rambling over from three metres out. In relation to his second try, Ioane Seuili ran to the right of the play the ball, receiving the ball from the dummy half, whilst running an inside shoulder line to score about ten metres from the right upright.

    In total in the Queensland Cup in 2019, Ioane Seuili played in twenty Three matches playing 1 753 minutes. Ioane Seuili played the entire eighty minutes on nineteen occasions. In his twenty three matches, Ioane Seuili scored nine tries, had five try assists, broke fifty four tackles, broke the line on twelve occasions, made 221 tackles at a tackling efficiency of 74.9% and ran for 2 329 metres.

    Ioane Seuili’s 2019 Queensland Cup per game averages included playing 76.22 minutes, running for 101.3 metres and making 9.61 tackles.

    The table below compares Ioane Seuili’s 2018 and 2019 Queensland Cup per game averages:

    2018 Q Cup 2019 Q Cup

    Games played 1 23

    Minutes per game 80 76.22

    Runs per game 15 13

    Metres made per game 86.5 101.3

    Tackles per game 7 9.61

    The former Keebra Park student started the 2018 season in the South’s Logan MM Cup side that won the Queensland Grand Final, started in the centres for the Queensland U18 side (They went down 16 – 10 to NSW), progressed to the South’s Logan Hastings Deering’s Colts side and then made a deserved Queensland Cup debut, and of course signing with the Titans through to spending the off season training with the Titans NRL squad and subsequently becoming a Titans Development player.

    In the 2018 MM Cup competition, Ioane Seuili started all ten of South’s Logan’s matches in the centres, including the Queensland Finals and the National final against Penrith. In total Ioane Seuili scored four tries with those tries coming in rounds Two, Three, Five and Six against the Northern Pride, Norths, Wynnum Manly and Central Queensland respectively.

    Ioane Seuili made his Queensland Cup debut in Round 15 of 2018 against Redcliffe, starting on the wing and playing the entire 80 minutes for the Souths Logan Magpies. In the match he made an impressive five tackle breaks to pace the Magpies in that category in the match, ran for 86.5 metres from fifteen runs, with 18 of those metres post contact (20.81%). Ioane Seuili also made seven tackles at a tackling efficiency of 70%.

    Post his Queensland Cup debut, Ioane Seuili moved to the Souths Logan Hasting’s Deering’s U20 Colts side coming into the side in Round Seventeen against Central Queensland. In total he played in seven U20 Colts matches including the Magpies Final’s loss to the Northern Pride, starting all in the centres and scoring in Round Twenty Four being the final regular season round against Ipswich.

    Ioane Seuili played for Souths Logan in the MM Cup competition in 2017 before turning out form the Ormeau Shearers in the Gold Coast Rugby League competition.

    For the Ormeau Shearers in 2017 Ioane Seuili has played in three first grade matches and elven at in the Doug Lipp competition including scoring a try against the Bilambil Jets in early July. Ioane Seuili made his first grade debut in June against Runaway Bay and has also turned out against Bilambil and Burleigh.

    For South’s Logan in the 2017 MM Cup competition Ioane Seuili played in three matches being Round two where he started in the centres, Round Three also starting in the centres and Round Four when Ioane Seuili started at fullback. Ioane Seuili scored in Round Two against the Sunshine Coast Falcons and also in Round Three the following week against the Central Crows.

    In 2017 Ioane Seuili was selected in the South Coast Open Rugby League squad and was also been a key member of Keebra Park’s push in the GIO Cup competition culminating in their Queensland GIO Cup final victory against Marsden.

    Ioane Seuili started in the centres for Keebra Park in the National GIO Cup Final against Westfield Sports High and scored as Keebra Park won 25 – 12.

    Ioane Seuili also had a great 2016 season which culminating in his selection in the Queensland U16 side where he started in the centres against New South Wales.

    In the 2016 CC Cup Ioane Seuili played the season for the Souths Logan Magpies and had an outstanding campaign including starting at fullback in the CC Grand Final held at Langland’s Park Stones Corner where he in addition to kicking the first two conversions for the Magpies, scored a good try when he barged through the Townsville Stingers defence.

    In addition to the 2016 CC Cup Grand Final Ioane Seuili had some outstanding matches in the CC competition including scoring a hat track against the Easts Tigers and also scoring in South Logan’s semi-final victory over the North’s Devils.

    During the 2016 season Ioane Seuili played six Gold Coast Senior Rugby League matches for Ormeau which is an outstanding achievement. In 2015 Ioane Seuili was part of the Queensland U15 side that performed so well in the ASSRL Championships including scoring a hat trick on Day One against New South Wales Combined Catholic Colleges and also scored on Day Four against New South Wales Combined Independent Schools. Ioane Seuili has also represented Samoa at junior levels.

    For a centre, Ioane Seuili is a big strong young man who does not rely just on his size and speed and using his natural running balance to either engage the opposing defenders and off load, run either an inside or outside shoulder route or an in and away to slow the forward momentum of the defender and accelerate on the outside.

    For a player of his size, Ioane Seuili also has a very good passing game especially to his right side. When the ball is passed out to the back line, Ioane Seuili is very good at straitening up the attacking vector of his team and pass to his outside supports if they have room to move further out wide.

    From a speed perspective has above average speed for both his size and position and when he breaks into open space, he will not be caught from behind other than from only the fastest of opponents and he is also very good at positioning his support players when he gets to the fullback. The only possible question about Ioane Seuili’s speed is whether it will stay at or near the plus category as he matures and inevitably fills out.
    Defensively Ioane Seuili uses his size to good effect, he drives with his shoulder into his opponent and has very good timing in terms of when to come out of the line and certainly has the speed to readjust and chase if his timing is slightly off and his opposing centre gets on his outside.

    For me when I have seen him play for Souths Logan Ioane Seuili was the defensive leader of the three quarter line and other defenders keyed off him in terms of whether to use an up and in methodology and slide to the outside.

    Ioane Seuili on an individual level has the body control and anticipation to redirect quickly and mirror the movement of the opposing attackers and anticipate what vector the attack comes from and innately understands when to allow the attacking play to develop in from of him and when to come out of the line to disrupt the attacking play prior to its formation.

    Ioane Seuili spent the 2018 offseason training with the Titans NRL side and played in the first NRL trial against North Queensland and he should also train this coming off season with the Titans on an NRL Development contract.

    I fully expect that even though Ioane Seuili will still be U20 eligible in 2020, he will at some point make his NRL regular season debut next season for the Titans and also continue to play for the Tweed Heads Seagulls Queensland Cup side.

    Ioane Seuili played primarily in the centres throughout his junior rugby league career but after spending time at both centre and wing for Tweed Heads in the Queensland Cup competition moved to the second row and made an immediate impact there.

    To be honest Ioane Seuili’s impact in the second row has revised my thoughts that Ioane Seuili is a pure centre and acknowledge that Ioane Seuili’s likely future is in the second row and a very talented one at that.

    In short Ioane Seuili since last season has gained a fair bit of size but importantly that size has not impacted his speed or mobility but definitely has improved his strength and power which is now translating nicely to his new role at right second row for Tweed Heads in the Queensland Cup.

    A player with a similar playing style for me for Ioane Seuili would be Brisbane Broncos and Queensland State of Origin star David Fifita, they are both around the same size now and look to use that size and speed to their advantage to dominate the opponent directly in front of them both in attack and defence.

    The Titans have a very very good player on their hands with Ioane Seuili, of that there is absolutely no doubt and one that has a very real chance of getting to the NRL level sooner rather than later and staying there when he arrives.

  3. #993
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Repoama Morris-Ponga. The young Auckland New Zealand born hooker has moved over to the Gold Coast to continue his rugby league career in 2018 playing the season with Burleigh in the Gold Coast U19 competition.

    In early 2019 Repoama Morris-Ponga moved from Burleigh in Runaway Bay.

    With his new club Repoama Morris-Ponga had a huge match in Round Ten when he scored four tries as the Seagulls defeated Mudgeeraba.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga’s first try came about when he ran out of dummy half from close range to the right of the play the ball to crash over. His second and third tries came from Repoama Morris-Ponga backing up to score.

    In relation to his second try the ball was spun out to the right where centre Char Peters broke the line before cutting back inside to find Repoama Morris-Ponga who ran fifteen metres to score. Repoama Morris-Ponga backed up one of his forwards who got an offload away close to the line in the second half to cross.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga’s fourth and final try was a bit different. Runaway Bay took a quick tap from a penalty around twelve metres out from the Mudgeeraba line, Repoama Morris-Ponga received the ball and looked to pass to his left but no-one was in the correct position, instead he took the line on, stepping off his left foot and breaking three tackles to score close to the left upright.

    In Round Eleven against Currumbin Repoama Morris-Ponga added a double to his try scoring tally against Currumbin. His first try came after a quick play the ball on the last tackle, Repoama Morris-Ponga burst out of dummy half to his left to scramble over from about ten metres out.

    For his second try of the match Repoama Morris-Ponga scored from a lot closer. From a play the ball less than a metre short of the Currumbin line, Repoama Morris-Ponga shaped to pass to his right but instead dived over to his left to score in a huge gap.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga continued his try scoring exploits in Round Twelve against Burleigh when after a quick play the ball, he darted out of dummy half to his right to score.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga added another try in Round Sixteen against Burleigh and also scored in Round Nineteen against Southport.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga’s try in Round Nineteen came when he took advantage of a Southport player caught on the ground at the play the ball, Repoama Morris-Ponga went to his left where the Southport player was caught on the ground and used the confusion in the defensive line that caused to dive over from short range.

    In total in the 2019 GCRL U20 competition Repoama Morris-Ponga played in fourteen regular season matches, including the opening three rounds for Burleigh before his transfer to Runaway Bay scoring eleven tries. In addition to the tries noted above Repoama Morris-Ponga also scored against Helensvale and Southport.

    In the opening two weeks of the GCRL U20 Finals series, Repoama Morris-Ponga started at hooker in Runaway Bay’s two wins against Helensvale 27 – 20 in Week One and 19 – 18 in Week Two against Mudgeeraba.

    In the GCRL U20 Preliminary Final against Currumbin Repoama Morris-Ponga also started at hooker as Runaway Bay were eliminated from the competition going down 20 – 16 to Currumbin.

    For Burleigh, Repoama Morris-Ponga scored in Round Three against Currumbin.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga made his Doug Lipp Cup debut when he came off the bench against Bilambil in Round Thirteen.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga is a former student of powerhouse Auckland Rugby league school, Mount Albert Grammar School (MAGS) and played for the New Lynn Rugby League in Auckland in his junior rugby league days.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga has also represented the Cook Islands on a number of occasions including in late November 2017 in the Pasifika Youth Cup at the U18 level and in fact scored on Day One against New Zealand Maori. Repoama Morris-Ponga has also represented the Cook Islands in rugby, being part of the Cook Islands U18 World Sevens Tournament in 2017.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga is by no means a big rugby league player and relies on his speed and mobility to create opportunities on the field. His speed off the mark, acceleration and top end speed are all in the plus category. If Repoama Morris-Ponga sees a gap he is through it before the defensive line can react.

    His plus speed manifests itself in two distinct ways, first when returning kicks, Repoama Morris-Ponga regularly gets the ball on the full and then explodes through the smallest of gaps in the defensive teams kick chase and secondly when a forward takes the ball up through the centre of the ruck, Repoama Morris-Ponga is always in support and if he gets an off load he can accelerate through the resultant gap.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga does not necessarily have a big step but has an outstanding swerve which he uses when confronted with the fullback. He will run directly at the fullback to slow his lateral momentum and then swerve around him the second the fullback’s momentum stops or slows.

    As a defender, like his attack due to his smaller size, Repoama Morris-Ponga relies on his speed, timing and technique. Repoama Morris-Ponga has an outstanding low tackling technique which he uses against all players running at him and he will move forward from the fullback to cut down the time that the opposition has to make a decision with the ball.

    Repoama Morris-Ponga will play the 2020 season with Runaway Bay in the Gold Coast Rugby League First Grade competition.

    With his speed and elusiveness out of dummy half Repoama Morris-Ponga shapes as the ideal hooker in rugby league.

    From a player comparison perspective think someone along the lines of North Queensland Cowboys hooker Jake Granville as a player with speed out of dummy half especially when he takes off down the blind side.

  4. #994
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Luke Jurd. He joined the Tweed Heads Seagulls Queensland Cup squad for the 2019 season after spending a number of seasons with the Cronulla Sharks in their lower grades including the now defunct NYC competition.

    Luke Jurd came into the Tweed Heads side in Round Nine starting at five eight against Norths after being named on extended benches in previous rounds.

    In total in the Queensland Cup for Tweed Heads, Luke Jurd played in twelve matches, including starting six matches at five eight, four at half and the remainder from the interchange bench scoring a single try in the process which came against Wynnum Manly in Round Sixteen.

    Luke Jurd played 751 minutes, running for 687 metres (57.3 metres per game), made 163 tackles (12.6 tackles per game), forced six line drops outs, had four try assists, broke the line on three occasions, had twenty tackle breaks and kicked for 1 426 metres (118.83 metres per game) including kicking for 412 metres in Tweeds Elimination Final loss to Redcliffe.

    Luke Jurd started the 2019 season playing for Currumbin in the Gold Coast Rugby League First Grade competition, and in Round One against Southport, started at half and scored a try and kicked three from three.

    Luke Jurd operated primarily on the right side for Currumbin and his try came from a dummy and run from around ten metres out from the Southport line as he dragged two defenders over the line with him.

    In total for Currumbin in the 2019 GCRL First Grade competition Luke Jurd played in five matches starting the vast majority of those at half or five eight and scoring eighteen points from three tries and three goals.

    Luke Jurd’s tries came against Southport, Burleigh and Tugun and all three of his goals coming in an early season match against Southport.

    In 2018, Luke Jurd played for the Cronulla Sharks U20 Jersey Flegg side, playing in every match that Cronulla were involved in being twenty matches including four finals matches, including starting the Grand Final that Cronulla won 22 – 12 against Penrith from the interchange bench.

    Luke Jurd started Cronulla’s first twelve matches at five eight before moving to the interchange bench for Cronulla’s remaining twelve 2018 matches including their four finals matches.

    Coming off the interchange bench, Luke Jurd played a variety of positions including in the halves, hooker and even spent some time in the backrow for the Cronulla Sharks.

    Luke Jurd scored two 2018 U20 Jersey Flegg tries, the first coming in Round Thirteen against the Canterbury Bulldogs and the second in Round Twenty Four against the Wests Tigers.

    Late in 2018 Luke Jurd toured South Africa with the Australian Universities Rugby League side and scored in their first tour match against a West Province XIII side in Cape Town in a big 72 – 6 Australian Universities victory.

    Luke Jurd was part of the New South Wales University side that were beaten by Queensland Universities 52 – 12 earlier in 2018 but played well enough to be selected in the Australian side alongside his brother as one of only a handful of New South Welshmen in the Australian side.

    In 2017 Luke Hurd was in fact named to make his New South Wales Intrust Super Cup debut with the Newtown Jets but unfortunately had to withdraw from the match late in the week due to injury.

    In attack Luke Jurd has a touch above average speed off the mark but does not necessary have an extra gear in open space, but he is able to sustain his top speed over considerable distance. In confined space, he has very good footwork, including a good step off both feet.

    Luke Jurd can beat defenders in the inside with a step and if the defensive line is staggered a dummy and go, presents multiple headaches for the opposition’s defensive strategies.

    As games progress Luke Jurd is very good at identifying tired forwards in the defensive line, and he will target them accordingly. A great trait that Luke Jurd already displays is that he will play what is in front of him rather than just play to a set game plan, which is a sign of a young player with a good understanding of the game.

    When confronted with forwards running directly at him on the edge of the ruck, Luke Jurd will get in front of them and use his shoulder in an effort to contain them until defensive help arrives. Due to his speed off the mark Luke Jurd is also a very good cover defender as he tracks the ball across the field and has a solid low tackling technique from the side

    Luke Jurd will play the 2020 season with the Tweed Heads Seagulls Queensland Cup side as he looks to impress new Titans coach Justin Holbrook.

    Luke Jurd has played in the halves the majority of his career in the New South Wales Junior Representative competitions and it appears likely that that is where he will play in 2020 for Tweed Heads, but it would also not surprise if Luke Jurd spends sometime in the dummy half role over the course of the 2020 season.

    Gold Coast Titans Ryley Jacks for me is a similar type of player to Luke Hurd, both are solid players who can play either of the halves positions and both have the where with all and confidence to also be an effective dummy half should the need arise.

  5. #995
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Juwann-Claude Wetere. The powerhouse young Runaway Bay Seagulls centre had a great match for the Titans U13 Invitational side in their 40 – 12 win over the Western Mustangs at Mudgeeraba with Juwann-Claude Wetere starting the match at left centre.

    Juwann-Claude Wetere contributed a double (it could have been a hat trick, sorry I lost count and from my angle it was difficult to see across to het opposite corner) including a long range effort when he ran off a great ball from Titans five eight Coby Black who had pocked his nose through the defensive line before offloading to his left to Juwann-Claude Wetere.

    Early in the 2019 season Juwann-Claude Wetere was named in the Gold Coast Vikings U13 squad for the Hill Stumer Championships where he played right centre.

    Juwann-Claude Wetere started at five eight in Round One of the GCRL U13 Division One competition for Runaway Bay against Currumbin and made an impressive start to the season scoring four tries as his Seagulls side defeated Currumbin 52 - 0.

    Juwann-Claude Wetere also scored early season tries against Southport in Round Two and Helensvale in Round Four. In Round Six Juwann-Claude Wetere was outstanding on his way to scoring a hat trick and in Round Thirteen added a double against Ormeau and added a further double in Round Fourteen against Coomera.

    In total in the GCRL U13 Division One competition Juwann-Claude Wetere scored fifteen tries from just eleven matches to finish the regular season with a 136% try scoring strike rate.

    Juwann-Claude Wetere played just the six matches for Runaway Bay in the 2018 GCRL U12 Division One competition but in those matches finished with a strike rate of 117%, scoring in all bar one match which was against Helensvale in June.

    Juwann-Claude Wetere scored doubles against Ormeau and Southport and also scored Currumbin, Coomera and Burleigh Maroon. Juwann-Claude Wetere also kicked one goal over the course of the season, with that goal coming against Currumbin in June.

    Even though Juwann-Claude Wetere has played a fair bit of five eight this season in club rugby league for Runaway Bay, I do prefer when he runs the ball rather than necessarily focussing on play making. Juwann-Claude Wetere has good size and on his day is a powerful and determined runner who will crash through tackles with sheer force of will.

    Juwann-Claude Wetere runs with power and even though he does run straight on he will drop his body into the first defender and will bump off the first tackler regularly with limited loss of momentum.

    In terms of speed, Juwann-Claude Wetere has what I would consider above average speed for a five eight or centre and whilst he does not have an extra gear when he breaks into open space, he has the ability to sustain his top speed for the duration of his runs.

    In terms of beating a defender other than with power, Juwann-Claude Wetere has a good in and away and can hold defenders off his body with a strong fend with either hand and is also able to drift across the field looking to set up his support runners if/when a hole develops in the defensive line.

    For a centre Juwann-Claude Wetere is a big strong young man who does not rely just on his size and speed and using his natural running balance to either engage the opposing defenders and off load, run either an inside or outside shoulder route or an in and away to slow the forward momentum of the defender and accelerate on the outside.

    For a player of his size, Juwann-Claude Wetere also has a very good passing game especially to his left side. When the ball is passed out to the back line, Juwann-Claude Wetere is very good at straitening up the attacking vector of his team and pass to his outside supports if they have room to move further out wide, thus I can understand why his club coach is playing him at five eight this season.

    Defensively Juwann-Claude Wetere uses his size to good effect, he drives with his shoulder into his opponent and has very good timing in terms of when to come out of the line and certainly has the speed to readjust and chase if his timing is slightly off and his opposing centre gets on his outside.

    For me when I saw him play Juwann-Claude Wetere is the defensive leader of his teams three quarter line and other defenders keyed off him in terms of whether to use an up and in methodology and slide to the outside.

    Juwann-Claude Wetere on an individual level has the body control to redirect quickly and mirror the movement of the opposing attackers and anticipate what vector the attack comes from and innately understands when to allow the attacking play to develop in from of him and when to come out of the line to disrupt the attacking play prior to its formation.

    Juwann-Claude Wetere will play the 2019 season with Runaway Bay in the Gold Coast Rugby League U13 Division One competition.

    Even though Juwann-Claude Wetere has the size to play in the backrow, when you have someone with his size and speed attributes, you give them every opportunity to stay in the centres and there is no doubt that he will likely play there for his entire rugby league career.

    Certainly this season for Runaway Bay in the GCRL U13 Division One competition Juwann-Claude Wetere played five eight but if anything that will only improve his skill set to stay in the centres long term.

    From an NRL player comparison perspective, Juwann-Claude Wetere has similar traits to Sydney Roosters and New South Wales star centre Latrell Mitchell. Like Mitchell, Juwann-Claude Wetere is a big strong powerful centre who will not be beaten in a one on one contest in attack or defence.

    Juwann-Claude Wetere is just a powerful young man now only just learning how to translate and direct that natural strength and power consistently on a rugby league field.

  6. #996
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Jahvis Kendall. The young Tugun Seahawks and PBC centre started the 2019 season of starting on the left wing in Round One for the Northern Rivers Titans in the U18 Laurie Daley Cup competition against the Newcastle Knights Development Squad.

    In the match Jahvis Kendall did not get a lot of ball coming his way but did well with what he got and was on hand to score the Northern Rivers Titans only try in the match late in the second half. Jahvis Kendall stayed on his left wing and received a good cut out pass from Titans five eight Thomas Vickery and crossed untouched and was even able to take the ball closer to the posts for the conversion which was subsequently kicked by Thomas Vickery.

    Round Two of the 2019 Laurie Daley Cup competition saw Jahvis Kendall once again line up on the wing in their match against Parramatta in Sydney, but unfortunately he had limited opportunities in the match.

    Round Four saw Jahvis Kendall back in the side for the match against the Central Coast Roosters starting on the right wing which is also where he started in Round Five against the Greater Northern Tigers scoring out wide after a great cut out pass from Jonah Whitlam-Rose.

    Post the U18 Laurie Daley Cup competition, Jahvis Kendall played for Tugun in the GCRL U18 Division One and Two competitions playing the majority of his matches in the centres although I note that he did start one match in the second row.

    In total in the GCRL U18 Division Two competition Jahvis Kendall played two matches scored fourteen points from three tries and a conversion all of which came in an early May match against Burleigh.

    After the the GCRL U18 competition was restructured during the season Jahvis Kendall played six matches for Tugun in the U18 Division One competition.

    Jahvis Kendall represented Group 18 on a regular basis in his junior rugby league career, including playing on the wing for the Group 18 U15 side in 2017 in the New South Wales Country U15 Championships in matches against Maitland, Group 19 and Group 2 and kicked a conversion against Group 19.

    2017 also saw Jahvis Kendall represent Group 18 in an U16 match against Group One in a curtain raiser to a New South Wales Country U23 V Scotland match with Jahvis Kendall starting the match on the wing.

    In 2016 Jahvis Kendall represented Group 18 at the New South Wales Country U14 Championships scoring a try and kicking two goals in a match against Group 21 and also playing in the centres against Newcastle.

    Even though he does not have great top end speed Jahvis Kendall is quick enough to take advantage of any space that he is given down the touchline by opposing wingers. One good thing about his play in attack is that he stays on his wing and is regularly outside his opposite number allowing his inside players to be able to find him in attack and in the games that I have seen he stays back and does not over run the players that are inside of him.

    Jahvis Kendall seems to be aware of his skill set as he does not take chances with the sideline and does his utmost to ensure that he is not taken over the sideline and knows when to cut back inside rather than taking his opposite number on along the touchline.

    In terms of defence, Jahvis Kendall is solid and seemingly understands the attributes of his opposite number to the extent that he alters his defensive positioning if he is against speedy, elusive wingers and against larger wingers.

    In 2020 Jahvis Kendall will look to push for a spot in the Tweed Heads Seagulls U20 Hastings Deering’s Colts squad.

    Over the course of his junior rugby league career, Jahvis Kendall has split his playing time between the wing and in the centres. Ultimately however I anticipate that Jahvis Kendall will ultimately play the majority of his rugby league career on the wing.

    Interestingly in 2019 Jahvis Kendall also spent some time playing in the second row in the GCRL U18 competition.

    I am reminded of the Titans own Anthony Don when I watch Jahvis Kendall play, he may not be as good in the air as Don (not sure anyone in the NRL is) but like Don he is not the fastest winger running around but invariably is in the right position at the right time to take advantage of any opportunities that present and like Don, Jahvis Kendall typically plays on the right side of the field.

  7. #997
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Thomas Vickery. The young utility started the 2019 season of starting at five eight in Round One for the Northern Rivers Titans in the U18 Laurie Daley Cup competition against the Newcastle Knights Development Squad.

    Thomas Vickery tried his guts out the entire match and setup the Northern Rivers Titans sole try of the match late in the second half. Thomas Vickery was operating on the left side of the field and threw a great cut-out pass to left winger Jahvis Kendall who went over untouched and was even able to bring the ball around by about ten metres or so to make the conversion easier for Thomas Vickery.

    Round Two saw Thomas Vickery move to right centre for the Northern Rivers Titans match against the Parramatta Eels.

    Round Three saw another position change for Thomas Vickery when he started at fullback against the North Coast Bulldogs in Grafton and converted Cooper Many’s second half try near the left upright.

    Round Four against the Central Coast Roosters saw Thomas Vickery on the move again, moving back to right centre where he played in Round Two and converted two of the Northern Rivers Titans three tries.

    In Round five against the Greater Northern Tigers Thomas Vickery stayed at centre and added four goals to his points tally in the competition.

    Post the 2019 Laurie Daley Cup competition Thomas Vickery started in the U18 NRRRL competition for Murwillumbah kicking four goals as the Colts started their season off with a 36 – 4 victory over the Evans Head Bombers.

    In Round Two Thomas Vickery added a try and two goals as Murwillumbah went down 18 – 16 to the Lower Clarence Magpies a side which contained Titans contract stand out Ethan Foster.

    In the 2019 NRRRL U18 competition, Thomas Vickery played in fifteen matches scoring ninety six points from four tries and forty goals. In only one U18 NRRRL match in 2019 did Thomas Vickery not get his name on the scoreboard with Cudgen being the side that held Thomas Vickery scoreless.

    In addition to his Round Two try against Lower Clarence, Thomas Vickery has also scored against Tweed Coast in two separate matches and also against Ballina in early July.

    With the boot, Thomas Vickery kicked five goals in a late July match against Cudgen, kicked four twice, being against Evans Head and Byron Bay and kicked three goals in a match on six occasions.

    Thomas Vickery’s forty goals was enough to see him finish as the NRRRL U18 competitions third leading goal kicker and his ninety six points meant that he finished 4th in the total points scored category.

    Thomas Vickery played his first NRRRL First Grade match of the 2019 in Round Eight against Mullumbimby scoring in a Mustangs 28 – 10 victory.

    Thomas Vickery has also played in three NRRRL regular season Reserve Grade matches in 2019 with his debut coming early in August against Tweed Coast, scoring in that match.

    Thomas Vickery also started on the wing for Murwillumbah in the Week Two Reserve Grade Final’s and scored as Murwillumbah went down 14 – 6 to the Tweed Coast Raiders. Thomas Vickery also scored in his third NRRRL Reserve Grade match which was against Byron Bay in early August.

    Thomas Vickery also started on the wing in the NRRRL Reserve Grade Preliminary and was one of Murwillumbah’s try scorers as they bowed out after going down 26 – 24 to Casino RSM.

    Thomas Vickery was also part of the Keebra Park Langer Cup squad in 2019 including starting on the left wing in the Gold Coast derby against PBC and scoring a first half hat trick. For all intents and purposes all three tries were similar with Thomas Vickery staying on his touch line and showing impressive speed down the touch line to score, including on one occasion when he got a clip across the ear for his troubles after he had put the ball down.

    Thomas Vickery also started on the left wing for Keebra Park in their Queensland GIO Cup quarter final win over Coombabah State High School 42 – 12 as well as their GIO Cup Queensland semi-final loss to Wavell State High School.

    In 2018 Thomas Vickery played two matches for the Northern Rivers Titans Laurie Daley Cup squad, being Round One against the Newcastle Knights when he started on the wing and in Round Four when he started in the centres against the Central Coast Roosters.

    Thomas Vickery had a big game against the Central Coast Roosters scoring a double and also kicking a conversion for a ten point match haul.

    In Round Five against the Greater Northern Tigers Thomas Vickery added a try and four goals to his season points tally in a tough four point loss.

    Post the 2018 Laurie Daley Cup competition, Thomas Vickery played for Murwillumbah in the NRRRL competition, playing in the U18, reserve grade and first grade competitions over the course of the 2018 season.

    Thomas Vickery played his first NRRRL First Grade match of the 2019 season in Round Eight scoring against Mullumbimby.

    In the U18 competition, Thomas Vickery played in eight matches in 2018 scoring twenty points which was made up of two tries and six goals. Both of his tries came against Evans Head in August, a match which also saw him kick four goals to finish with a match total of sixteen points, which accounted for 80% of his season total.

    Thomas Vickery played three NRRRL Reserve Grade matches in 2018 as well and in his reserve grade debut for Murwillumbah scored a double against Cudgen.

    Thomas Vickery made his deserved NRRRL First Debut as a 17 year old Casino RSM in April and went on to play in eleven First Grade matches, scoring his first try in his third match against Mullumbimby. Thomas Vickery followed that up with a double later in the season against Evans Head, a match which also saw him kick a conversion.

    Thomas Vickery is not the biggest rugby league player running around but do not take his lack of size in any way as a lack of ability or courage, he has a lot of both, which is on display each time he runs onto the field. With the ball he is a very good distributor and will take the ball to the line in an effort to set up his supports.

    Thomas Vickery is adept at drawing an opposing defender out of the defensive line and then putting his support runner through the resulting gap. In terms of his speed, I would suggest that an appropriate definition of his speed would be that he is quick off the mark but does not have an extra gear when he breaks into open space.

    In previous seasons when I have seen him play he sometimes took the line on himself too much, but the times that I have seen him play more recently Thomas Vickery has become more selective about when to pass and when to run. Thomas Vickery’s passing game is solid but seems to be slightly better when he is passing to the right side of the field.

    Thomas Vickery is also very vocal on the field always talking and encouraging his side both in attack and defence. Thomas Vickery also has a touch of aggressiveness about his play on occasion which showed in the Northern Rivers Titans U18 Round two match against the Parramatta Eels early in 2019.

    Thomas Vickery is not the biggest player but even when defending in the front line will tackle using his shoulder which assists when defending against larger forwards operating on the fringes of the ruck.

    Whilst not the biggest Thomas Vickery is strong and tough enough to effectively tackle one on one against opposing halves and with his solid speed and foot work he can cover a lot of ground as he tracks the ball across the field. Thomas Vickery is certainly not going to be a liability in defence for his team and is more than willing to take on bigger forwards.

    When defending at fullback Thomas Vickery forces the opposition to make a decision with the football rather than letting the attackers come to him with time on their side and at fullback has very safe hands and will get to a lot of kicks on the full thus enabling his team to start their set of six with good field position, courage is also not an issues for the young Gold Coast junior.

    Thomas Vickery played multiple positions for the Northern Rivers Titans U18 side this season including five eight, centre and fullback but ultimately I believe that he ends up as a winger in the senior rugby league ranks.

    It will be interesting to see where Thomas Vickery plays in 2020, he may stay on the Gold Coast and push for a Hastings Deering’s Colts spot with either Tweed Heads (most likely) or Burleigh or may head back to the NRRRL competition where he should be a First Grade mainstay for Murwillumbah.

    From a player comparison perspective in relation to Thomas Vickery, think of someone along the lines of current Newcastle Knights and former St George Dragons fullback Kurt Mann as just a solid, safe and dependable player across the board who can play a variety of positions in the backline from fullback all the way through to the halves.

  8. #998
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Nelson Grove. The aggressive young hooker was a more than solid contributor for the outstanding PBC Open School boy rugby league that won the National GIO Cup competition in 2018 by defeating Patrician Brothers College Blacktown. Nelson Grove came off the bench in all of PBC’s GIO Cup matches, providing a spark and aggression in the dummy half role when he came on to spell regular starting hooker Jed Edwards.

    Nelson Grove played the 2019 season with Tugun playing in both the U18 Division On and Two and Doug Lipp Cup competitions for the Seahawks.

    Nelson Grove started off the 2019 season in the U18 Division Two competition for Tugun playing in two matches prior to a reshuffle in the competition saw Tugun move up to the U18 Division One ranks. In that competition Nelson Grove played in six matches including scoring against Runaway Bay in May.

    Nelson Grove made his Doug Lipp Cup debut in early May against Burleigh going into play an additional three Doug Lipp Cup matches which were against Bilambil, Southport and Mudgeeraba.

    Nelson Grove only played in one GCRL match in 2018 with that match being for Burleigh against Helensvale in the U17 Division One competition. Nelson Grove is also a former member of the Brisbane Broncos Junior Development system and was so for a number of years.

    Nelson Grove had an outstanding 2017 season which included being selected in the Queensland U16 side where he was one of six Burleigh youngsters in the Queensland Side for the State of Origin curtain raiser. 2017 also saw Nelson Grove selected in the Queensland Academy of Sport U16 squad. Previously Nelson Grove has been part of the Brisbane Broncos Junior Development Program.

    For the Burleigh Bears in the U16 Division One competition in 2017 Nelson Grove started at lock in their tough 34 – 4 Grand Final loss to the Currumbin Eagles. Over the course of the 2017 GCJRL U16 Division One competition, Nelson Grove played in thirteen matches and scored twenty points which came from four tries and two conversions. Nelson Grove’s tries came against Ormeau, Runaway Bay and Helensvale in two separate late season matches. His conversions came in consecutive mid-season matches against Runaway Bay (when he converted his own try) and against Ormeau.

    Nelson Grove also played one match for the Burleigh Bears in the GCJRL U17 Division One competition with that match being against the Ormeau Shearers backing up from the U16 match earlier in the night.

    In 2017 Nelson Grove also represented South East Queensland Green at the U16 level in the 2017 Queensland Rugby League U16 Boys Junior Championships. In those Championships, Nelson Grove played in four matches which were against Central, Northern and South East Queensland White, including the final. Nelson Grove’s sole U16 Championship try came on Day Two against Northern.

    In 2016 Nelson Grove also started in Burleigh’s Grand Final winning side in the U15 Division One competition and across the 2016 season he scored five tries and kicked 13 goals and a field goal to finish with a total points tally of 47. Nelson Grove had a great start to the 2016 season scoring a hat trick and kicking eight goals in the first round of the season proper against the Ormeau Shearers for a 30 point haul in the match.

    Nelson Grove’s other tries in 2016 came against Southport and Helensvale later in the season and in a match in July against Runaway Bay Nelson Grove kicked four goals. Nelson Grove over the course of the 2016 season also played two matches up in the U16 Division One competition and in his debut in that grade scored a try against Helensvale after backing up from the U15 match earlier in the night.

    Nelson Grove represented South Coast in the U15 QSSRL Championships in 2016 and from there went on to represent Queensland Maroon at the U15 ASSRL Championships where a team mate was Brent Barnes against other Gold Coast based players in that team.

    Where Nelson Grove really stands out in terms of attacking play, is his speed out of dummy half, he is extremely quick and has very good footwork to take advantage of tiring forwards, using a step off both feet. Around the try line he is also very good at making the right decision whether the go himself or pass, where he gets down low and drives with his legs.

    Nelson Grove is solid all round hooker who distributes effectively to both sides of the ruck. He is efficient in his passing and there is little wasted movement as he passes in one motion off the ground rather than two distinct movements like many hookers where they first stand then pass. He passes well from both sides of his body. One thing that he does well in dummy half is not taking his eye off ball until it is in his hands, read that he does not make many handling errors.

    Nelson Grove defends in the middle of the ruck and is an effective low tackler and for his size quite an aggressive defender. He is also very good at getting out of marker quickly to harass the opposition kickers. Nelson Grove is not going to wow you with his defence because you will not see big hits, but you will see an efficient and effective defender and a talker.

    Nelson Grove will likely look to break into either the Burleigh or Tweed Heads Seagulls Hastings Deering’s Colts squad in 2020 and if not will play for Bilambil in the GCRL U20 or First Grade competitions.

    Hopefully Nelson Grove is not lost to rugby league as he may not be the biggest, strongest or most skilful player running around but he is one of the toughest and hardest working.

    Nelson Grove has spent a fair bit of his junior rugby league career in the backrow but as a result of how he has handled the dummy half role for PBC this season I would think that hooker has become the ideal position for Nelson Grove not withstanding that he could potentially handle playing some minutes in the second row if necessary.

    From a player comparison perspective for Nelson Grove, due to tenacity, a playing style and comparison akin to current Titans and former New South Wales State of Origin hooker Nathan Peats would be appropriate from a aggression, courage and determination perspective.

  9. #999
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Lachlan Watt. Making his Hastings Deering’s Colts debut off the bench for Tweed Heads in Round Seventeen against Burleigh was the former Ipswich Jets winger Lachlan Watt. Lachlan Watt also came off the bench in Round Twenty against the Ipswich Jets.

    In Round Twenty One in his third match in the Colts competition and also his third off the bench Lachlan Watt scored his first try of the season.

    Lachlan Watt started off the 2019 season playing two matches for Ipswich in the MM Cup competition, with his first match coming in Round Two when he started from the bench and scoring against Burleigh, Lachlan Watt started on the wing in Round Three against Easts in his other MM Cup match this season.

    Lachlan Watt moved down to play for the Tugun Seahawks, making his first appearance in the GCRL U18 Division Two competition in late April against Southport, playing two games.

    Tugun were promoted to the U18 Division One competition and Lachlan Watt scored his first try in that competition in Round Eleven when he started at five eight and scored against Helensvale.

    Lachlan Watt progressed to the Doug Lipp Cup competition the following week against Burleigh scoring his first try in that competition the week after against Ormeau.

    Lachlan Watt made GCRL First Grade debut the same day he scored his first Doug Lipp try when he came off the bench against Ormeau.

    In his five GCRL First Grade matches in 2019 for Tugun, Lachlan Watt either started off the bench or started on the wing and in a number of those matches played in the Reserve Grade fixture and then backed up to play First Grade directly after.

    Over the course of the last few years Lachlan Watt has also been an outstanding touch player including representing Australia in that sport on a number of occasions in the Toowoomba region.

    Lachlan Watt’s speed off the mark is the first attribute that you will notice when you see him play live. Lachlan Watt does not seem to have an extra gear once he is through the defensive line, but has the ability to maintain his speed over a long distance, thus the apparent lack of an extra gear in speed has no discernible impact that I have identified.

    To compliment an outstanding left foot step, Lachlan Watt’s speed enables him to make numerous line breaks. He can and will beat defenders in the inside with a step and if the defensive line is staggered a dummy and go, presents multiple headaches for the opposition’s defensive strategies.

    The continued key development area for Lachlan Watt is in relation to his play making skills, including putting his runners, whether they are backrowers or centres into holes. His enhanced plays making skills has made his speed with his show and go more effective as defensive lines start to focus in his runners and thus leave more space for him.

    Lachlan Watt has a good short kicking game but he does not have the strongest leg in terms of kicking deep.

    In defence, Lachlan Watt reads the play well enough to hold his own when defending much bigger players. Lachlan Watt will also track across field well looking when the ball is turned back inside. When confronted with forwards running directly at him on the edge of the ruck, he will get in front of them and use his shoulder in an effort to contain them until defensive help arrives from the inside forwards.

    Lachlan Watt has two years of Colts eligibility remaining come the start of the 2020 rugby league season and next season should once again be part of the Tweed Heads Seagulls Hastings Deering’s Colts squad.

    I am a bit conflicted as to his best position but ultimately his speed and footwork may just play best at fullback even though making a career at five eight is certainly not off the table by any means for Lachlan Watt.

    With his outstanding speed and elusiveness Lachlan Watt has a number of similarities with the Titans very own AJ Brimson.

  10. #1000
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Chad Peters. The young centre is a lesson in perseverance, he has been working hard in the local U20 Gold Coast rugby league competition this season for Runaway Bay and as a result of his performances deservedly made his Hastings Deering’s Colts debut off the bench for Tweed Heads in Round Seventeen against Burleigh and also came off the bench in Round Eighteen against the Mackay Cutters.

    For Runaway Bay in the 2019 GCRL U20 regular season competition prior to his Hastings Deering’s Colts call up, Chad Peters, played in ten matches scoring five tries including doubles against Currumbin and Burleigh and also scoring against Southport.

    Chad Peters try in Round Seven against Southport came as a result of a smart play. Chad Peters moved into dummy half with the play the ball about ten metres out from the Southport line. Chad Peters ran to his right out of dummy half down a short blind side to catch the Southport defence napping to score.

    In Round Eight against Currumbin, Chad Peters showed his determination when he received the ball to the right and dived over between two defenders. In relation to his second try of the match which came in the second half, Chad Peters received the ball in space down the right of the field after an off load and took off with the ball out in front in both hands, this allowed him to dummy to his right with the Currumbin defence back peddling scoring in the right corner.

    In Round Twelve, Chad Peter’s first try against Burleigh was an easy one when he was on hand to dive over after an offload but his second was a great display of speed, operating on the left side of the field, Chad Peters received the ball in space and sprinted sixty metres down the touch line to score a great try.

    On the wing Chad Peters has the innate ability to know when to stay on the wing or to cut back inside, his side step is late and quick with little loss of forward momentum and his swerve is big and fast with no loss of forward momentum. Throw into this exciting mix of attacking moves, above average to plus top end speed and speed off the mark you have a talented attacking weapon.

    Defensively Chad Peters is not going to stand out, he does not have the size or strength to be a big hitter but certainly has the catch up speed balance and body control to be a good cover defender and is able to hold his own in the front line when called upon.

    Chad Peters is Hastings Deering’s Colts eligible once again in 2020 and I would think that he will most likely alternate between the Tweed Heads Seagulls Hastings Deering’s Colts side and the GCRL U20 Runaway Bay side next season.

    Chad Peters has played a large portion of this season in the centres, playing both on the right and left for Runaway Bay but for me with his straight line speed and spacial awareness, wing would appear the most appropriate position for Chad Peters moving forward.

    Brisbane Broncos 2019 NRL debutant Herbie Farnsworth with his speed and smaller frame would seem to be the ideal NRL player comparison for Chad Peters.

  11. #1001
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Jackson North. Giant young front rower Jackson North was in late 2018 named in the 2019 Tweed Heads Seagulls MM Cup Squad after a consistent 2018 campaign with Burleigh in the GCRL U17 Division One competition. Jackson North however did not play in any MM Cup matches in 2019.

    Jackson North played the 2019 season with Burleigh in the GCRL U18 Division One competition, playing in a total of eleven matches including starting in the front row in the Grand Final that Burleigh won against Southport after a physical forward battle.

    Jackson North’s sole 2019 try came in Round Two against Helensvale.

    Jackson North started the 2018 season as part of the Northern Rivers U18 Laurie Daley Cup squad, starting from the bench in all four of their matches which were against the Newcastle Knights Development Squad, Norther Coast, the Central Coast Roosters and the Greater Northern Tigers.

    For Burleigh in the 2018 GCRL U17 Division One competition, Jackson North played in twelve matches starting all in the front row.

    In Round Two of the U17 Division One Finals series, Jackson North started in the front row and scored as Burleigh went down to Currumbin 32 – 22.

    In the U17 Division One Preliminary Final Jackson North started in the front row as Burleigh were knocked out of the competition as a consequence of a 34 – 22 loss to Runaway Bay.

    In addition to the try that Jackson North scored in Round Two of the finals Jackson North scored three regular season tries with those tries coming against Helensvale in Round One, Mudgeeraba in Round Three and Ormeau in Round Ten.

    Jackson North is a big powerful young man who whilst using his size to his advantage by running hard and straight, he does have quite decent footwork prior to the defensive line, which he uses to cut back behind the ball to take advantage of defenders who are slow to get back into the defensive line.

    Whilst he does not seem to offload the ball too often, when he does get his arms free Jackson North only passes when his support is in a better position, which is a sign of maturity for such a young player. He continually put his hand up all day to take the ball up and due to his agility for a big young man is able to generate quick play the balls so that his team can maintain or generate momentum.

    From a speed perspective for such a big strong young man, Jackson North actually has a more than decent first step to generate speed to impact the defensive line and also quick foot work that may come as a surprise to some for a young man his size.

    In defence Jackson North uses his size and strength to make very solid initial contact and certainly can take on all opposing forwards one on one. Jackson North is not averse to looking for the big hit but does have a good front on defensive technique, maintaining decent leverage and reasonable agility and lateral movement when looking to tackle smaller opponents on the edge of the ruck.

    Jackson North played the 2019 season with Burleigh in the U18 Division One competition and next season will progress to the U20’s.

    With his size strength and power Jackson North is certainly going to stay in the front row for the duration of his rugby league career, even though he did spend some time in the centres a few years ago.

    The way that Jackson North handles himself on the football field reminds me of Sydney Roosters and New Zealand International enforcer Jarrod Warera-Hargraves as a big strong forward with a skill set that on occasion belies the intimidating presence that he projects on the field in the most demanding position on a football field.

  12. #1002
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    James Pere. The powerhouse young forward was outstanding this season both in club rugby league and school boy rugby, playing for the TSS U16A side in the GPS rugby competition.

    In late 2018 James Pere was named in the Burleigh Bears 2019 MM Cup squad however he did not play in any matches for Burleigh in the 2019 MM Cup.

    James Pere started the 2019 schoolboy rugby season off as part of the TSS First XV side that played Toowoomba Grammar School in a trial as a curtain raiser to a Classic Wallabies match at Moree in Northern New South Wales in March.

    In late April when James Pere was part of the TSS Second XV side that defeated touring New Zealand School New Plymouth Boys High 36 – 0, starting the match at No. 8. James Pere was then on the bench for the TSS First XV side that drew 29 all.

    In TSS’s second last trial before the GPS school boy rugby season starts, James Pere started at No. 8 for the TSS Second XV as they defeated Ipswich Grammar School 47 – 0 and then backed up to come off the Bench in the First XV match which also ended in a big TSS victory.

    James Pere also started from the bench for the TSS First XV’s final trial against Sunshine Coast Grammar School which TSS won 10 – 5.

    James Pere started Round One of the GPS School Boy rugby competition at No.8 in the TSS Second XV against Nudgee College. He also started at No. 8 against Churchie in Round Two, Brisbane State High School in Round Three,

    In Round Three against Brisbane State High School, James Pere came on in the second half for the TSS First XV and was an effective ball runner from No. 8 as the TSS forwards dominated.

    In Round Four James Pere started at No. 8 for the TSS Second XV against Toowoomba Grammar School and was then on the bench for the First XV as he was in Round Five against Brisbane Grammar School.

    James Pere had a big game in Round Six against BBC in a tough Second XV loss and was an unused First XV substitute in the First XV match. James Pere was once again in the thick of the action in Round Seven for the TSS second XV against Gregory Terrace.

    James Pere also started from the bench for the Second XV when TSS had a Round Nine bye, but in essentially a trial match played against Toowoomba’s Downlands College First XV.

    Even though he was U16 eligible in 2018 James Pere played the 2018 GCRL season in the U17 Division Two competition with Coomera playing in nine matches including the U17 Division Two Finals series.

    In Week Two of the U17 Division Two finals James Pere started in the centres and scored for Coomera as they went down 28 – 16 to Currumbin.

    In the Preliminary Final James Pere scored a try after starting in the centres as Coomera qualified for the Grand Final on the back of a 62 – 4 victory over Jimboomba.

    In the U17 Division Two Grand Final James Pere started in the centres as Coomera went down 24 – 18 to Currumbin.

    In addition to his two finals tries, James Pere scored ten in the U17 Division Two regular season competition. James Pere scored a hat trick against Jimboomba, doubles against Currumbin in two separate matches and Jimboomba and also scored against Beaudesert.

    Early in the 2018 season James Pere represented Gold Coast Vikings Yellow in the South East Queensland U16 Challenge.

    For the TSS U16A side this season James Pere played in seven matches missing only Round Two as a result of an injury suffered in Round One against Churchie. James Pere started all seven matches at No. 8.

    James Pere scored three GPS U16A tries in 2018, scoring in Round Four against Brisbane Grammar School, Round Seven as a result of a pick and drive against Ipswich Grammar School and Round Nine against Churchie.

    Prior to the GPS U16A season proper James Pere started in six of the U16A TSS trial matches starting at No. 8 in five and on the bench in the other which was against Ipswich Grammar School. Trial matches that James Pere played in included matches against Riverview College (Sydney), Somerset College and Ambrose Treacy College.

    Prior to heading to TSS James Pere attended Keebra Park and 2016 represented the Gold Coast Vikings at the U14 level and was also selected in one of the South East Queensland U14 representative sides.

    In 2016 James Pere was a dominant player for Keebra in the U14 Hancock Cup school boy competition, including scoring a hat trick in a match against Marsden State High School where in the first half he was almost unstoppable running off 2018 Queensland U16 representative Reece Walsh.

    James Pere also scored a hat trick the week prior as well against Wavell. After being down 12 – 0 early to Wavell James Pere crashed over to score Keebra’s first try and then produced two more barnstorming runs in the second half to help Keebra Park close out the game 30 – 18. James Pere understandably was also awarded the man of the match honours in that game.

    James Pere also represented the Vikings and South East Queensland at the U13 level in 2015.

    James Pere is a big powerful young man who whilst using his size to his advantage by running hard and straight, he does have quite decent footwork prior to the defensive line, which he uses to cut back behind the play the ball to take advantage of defenders who are slow to get back into the defensive line.

    Where James Pere’s game has really developed over the last couple of seasons his ability to play wider of the ruck, which is where he is primarily playing for the Northern Pride this season. With his size and strength wider of the ruck James Pere attracts defenders and thus is in a position to use his ball skills to set up his outside supports early in a match.

    When defences start to try to anticipate that James Pere is going to pass then he can use his size and power to cash through the defensive lien as no defender is going to be able to handle him one on one by themselves.

    In defence James Pere uses his size and strength to make very solid initial contact and certainly can take on all opposing forwards one on one. James Pere is not adverse to looking for the big hit but does have a good front on defensive technique, maintaining decent leverage and reasonable agility and lateral movement when looking to tackle smaller opponents on the edge of the ruck, although clearly he is more effective in the centre of the ruck, as most front rowers are.

    James Pere will be part of the Burleigh Bears MM Cup side in 2020 and post that competition will line up for Coomera in the GCRL U18 Division One competition as well as pushing for the No. 8 position in the TSS First XV side for the 2020 GPS Rugby School Boy competition.

    If everything comes together for James Pere is potential is almost limitless and he can dominate games both from an attacking perspective and a defensive one.

    At an imposing 188cm and 102kg James Pere is the ideal size for a rugby league second rower, but it is his above average speed for his size, and undoubted strength and physical nature that screams that he can be a dominant player at the NRL level and maybe even above that into the representative arena.

    James Pere reminds me of St George Dragon’s aggressive second rower Tariq Sims. Like Sims, James Pere is a giant of a man and plays with more than a touch of aggression and makes sure everyone on the opposition knows that he is on the field especially defensively.

  13. #1003
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Lachlan West. The talented young Casino RSM fullback was for me the clear best player in the NRRRL U18 competition this season and also progressed to make his NRRRL First Grade debut Mullumbimby in June and followed that up in early August against Evans Head. What a second NRRRL First Grade match Lachlan West had scoring a hat trick and kicking a conversion for a fourteen point haul.

    Lachlan West was also in action in Week Two of the NRRRL First Grade Finals series starting on the right win scoring a double for Casino RSM as they eliminated the 2018 Premiers being the Tweed Coast Raiders 18 -14.

    Lachlan West’s first try was relatively straight forward, if such a thing is possible, when he dived on a kick into the in-goal in the first half with plenty of time to spare. In saying that though Lachlan West still had to ensure that he stayed onside and not press the issue and ground the ball correctly.

    If his first try was routine, Lachlan West’s second try in the second half was the absolute opposite. Inside of him the Casino RSM five eight put in two kicks, the second a long kick towards the corner post on Lachlan West’s wing, for all money it looked like it was going to go touch in goal, but Lachlan West dived full length to somehow get the ball down with his right hand just as the ball was about to go into touch. It was simply a stunning piece of skill, anticipation and athleticism by Lachlan West after turned the game in Casino RSM’s favour.

    Lachlan West also started in the right wing for Casino RSM in their NRRRL First Grade Preliminary Final loss 26 – 10 to Murwillumbah and whilst he did not get too many opportunities with the ball defused a bomb with a great over hear take in the first half and produced two try saving tackles in the second. The first of those was on a big forward running directly at him, the second on his opposite winger, on each occasion Lachlan West as able to get the opponent into touch to prevent a try being scored displaying resilience and determination on both occasions.

    In the 2019 NRRRL U18 competition, Lachlan West finished as the regular season’s leading point’s scorer with 138, the equal leading try scorer with sixteen and the fourth leading goal kicker with thirty seven goals. In fact Lachlan West scored in each of his fifteen 2019 NRRRL U18 matches.

    Lachlan West scored a hat trick against Evans Head and doubles against Evans Head, Tweed Coast, Cudgen and Lower Clarence and also scored in matches against Tweed heads Seagulls, Lower Clarence, Murwillumbah and Kyogle twice.

    With the boot Lachlan West kicked six in a mid-May match against Evans Head and kicked four goals on three other occasions being against Tweed Heads, Lismore Marist Brothers and Tweed Coast.

    As you would anticipate Lachlan West had some big matches from an individual point’s scoring perspective including 20 points against Evans Head (two tries and four goals), eighteen against Evans Head (three tries and three goals) and sixteen against Tweed Coast (two tries and four goals).

    In early 2019 Lachlan West played the opening three rounds of the U18 Laurie Daley Cup for the Northern Rivers Titans starting Rounds One and Two against the Newcastle Knights Development Squad and Parramatta Eels at fullback and Round Three against the North Coast Bulldogs on the wing.

    In 2018 Lachlan West started the season playing for Casino RSM in the Group One U16.5 competition playing in eleven matches and scoring ten tries including consecutive hat tricks in early season rounds against Clarence Coast and Ballina.

    Lachlan West then as a 16 year old moved up to play in three NRRRL U18 matches for Casino RSM making his debut in July 2018 against Lismore Marist Brothers and scoring his first try in the NRRRL U18 competition in just his second match which was against Tweed Coast.

    Lachlan West started at Keebra Park this season and in addition to rugby league performed well in the triple jump and javelin athletic disciplines.

    Lachlan West is exceptionally quick off the mark and when the ball is being brought out of his teams half he is always around the forwards looking for off loads, or taking the ball up himself, as evidenced in the U18 NRRRL competition this season where on multiple occasions he took advantage of tiring forwards to make ground in the centre of the ruck. For Casino RSM Vikings he also came in regularly to take a run out of dummy half to give his forwards a rest.

    It is not just his speed off the mark that is so impressive, it is the extended distance that he can maintain his top speed. I would not say that Lachlan West’s speed would be in the plus category but certainly could be considered above average. Once Lachlan West is through the initial defensive line, he has an extra gear as well to outpace any cover defence.

    Making his speed even more difficult to deal with for defences is his foot work, Lachlan West is able to change direction very quickly which enables him to take advantage of a staggered defensive line when returning kicks. In the instances when he runs, Lachlan West will dummy, step and accelerate quickly. I can see no discernible difference in relation to the quality of his step regardless of what foot he steps off.

    Defensively Lachlan West is an aggressive defender who will look to come forward when a break has been made to cut down the decision making time of the attacking team he will hit hard in the tackle. He also will not take a dummy either.

    Lachlan West uses the sideline very well from a defensive stand point. Lachlan West will always stay inside the attacker presenting him with the sideline and then once the attacker has committed to the side line, he will use his speed and momentum to force the attacker into touch.

    Lachlan West is also an outstanding goal kicker and certainly has the skill and temperament to be his side’s primary goal kicker regardless of the level of competition.

    It is scary to think that Lachlan West is still U18 eligible in 2020 and it will be interesting to see whether Lachlan West plays for the Northern Rivers Titans U18 Laurie Daley Cup side for the second year in a row or looks to be involved in the MM Cup with either Tweed Heads or Burleigh.

    Post either the U18 Laurie Daley Cup or the MM Cup Lachlan West, if he continues to play in the NRRRL competition, even though he will be still U18 eligible should easily be in a position to expand on his NRRRL First Grade matches that he played this year.

    Lachlan West is also likely to be a standout member of Keebra Park’s Super Six and GIO Cup school boy rugby league sides in 2020 and now with the increased association between the Titans and Keebra Park Lachlan West will have more opportunities to showcase his skill set.

    Lachlan West spent time in the halves early in his career but at fullback where he can see the entire field and be able to pick and choose where he can inject himself appears from my perspective to be his best position going forward.

    In saying that however, his late season play on the right wing for Casino RSM in the NRRRL First Grade competition proved without a doubt that Lachlan West is also an outstanding prospect in the centres or on the wing.

    Lachlan West is a natural on a rugby league field with his ability to size up a situation and invariably take the correct option. To that extent for me he has a playing style similar to that of Cronulla Sharks and former New South Wales State of Origin representative Matt Moylan, (although Lachlan West is taller), is an appropriate comparison as a silky smooth player who has all of the skills and temperament to be able to turn a game on its head with a scintillating piece of play and make difficult tasks look deceptively easy.

  14. #1004
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Kurtis Dark. A very interesting recruit for the Tweed Heads Seagulls Queensland Cup side in 2019 was former Newcastle Knights U20 goal kicking second rower Kurtis Dark.

    Kurtis Dark started the 2019 season off in the Tweed Heads Seagulls Queensland Cup side coming off the bench in Round One against the PNG Hunters.

    Interestingly Kurtis Dark spend time at hooker in the match and in his 47 minutes on the field, Kurtis Dark ran for 109 metres from nine runs, 33 of those metres post contact with an average play the ball speed of 3.42 seconds.

    Kurtis Dark also had a line break and his one kick made 49 metres for the Seagulls. Defensively Kurtis Dark had a tackling efficiency of 95.24% making 20 effective tackles, missing only one.

    Round Three saw Kurtis Dark continue to play different positions for Tweed Heads when he started at half back against Burleigh, playing the entire 80 minutes there. In that time Kurtis Dark ran for 61 metres (11 post contact), had a line break and try assist, played the ball at an average of 4.54 seconds and made sixteen tackles.

    In total in the 2019 Queensland Cup competition for Tweed Heads Kurtis Dark played in five matches starting Round Three at half against Burleigh and Round Five against Wynnum Manly at hooker. Kurtis Dark came off the bench in his other three matches.

    In 2019 Kurtis Dark played a total of 236 minutes, playing all 80 minutes in Round Three against Burleigh. In that time Kurtis Dark broke eight tackles, had a line break assist, offloaded the ball six times, forced one drop out, made 100 tackles (20 per match) at a tackling efficiency of 87.5% and ran for 290 metres (59.6 metres per game).

    Also in 2019 Kurtis Dark played for Currumbin in the Gold Coast Rugby League First Grade competition playing in regular season eight matches splitting time between hooker and second row, scoring two tries coming from a Round Fourteen double against Bilambil and Kurtis Dark also kicked a field goal in April against Runaway Bay.

    In the GCRL First Grade Finals series Kurtis Dark started Currumbin’s Preliminary Final match in the second row against Southport with Eagles falling one match short of a Grand Final appearance.

    Kurtis Dark was with Newcastle from the age of 15 and played his last two seasons there in their U20 side, but in 2018 did make his NSW Intrust Super Cup debut when he started in the second row in Round 17 against Newtown in.

    In the match, Kurtis Dark played his usual left second row position, playing the entire 80 minutes, running for a touch over 120 metres and made an impressive 38 tackles at a tackling efficiency of 82.6%, not a bad debut at all for an at the time 20 year old against some NRL veterans.

    Kurtis Dark kicked one goal from two attempts with the goal being an outstanding goal from right on the left touch line, with the kick being even more impressive in that he is a left foot kicker and thus it was from his non-preferred side. He also had one general play kick which went for in excess of fifty six metres.

    Kurtis Dark played all bar one of Newcastle’s U20 Jersey Flegg matches in 2018 (the only match he missed was when he was promoted to the NSW Intrust Super Cup), playing in a total of twenty two matches including three finals, starting all in the second row.

    Kurtis Dark scored four tries which came against the Wests Tigers in Round Two, the Cronulla Sharks in Round Six, the Parramatta Eels in Round 20 and the Warriors in Round 22.

    With the boot, Kurtis Dark was outstanding in 2018 kicking 87 goals from 105 attempts for a 2018 conversion percentage of 82.86%.

    On three occasions in 2018 Kurtis Dark kicked nine goals in a match, being against Manly in Round One (9 from 10), the Warriors in Round Fifteen (9 from 9) and the Warriors again in Round Twenty Two (9 from 10).

    Kurtis Dark is a second rower who whilst has played primarily on the left also has the ability to play on the right as well as he did on a number of occasions for the Newcastle Knights U20 Jersey Flagg side last season.

    Kurtis Dark runs a good outside shoulder line and his excellent footwork enables him to step off either foot to enable him to cut back against the movement of the defensive line to take advantage of gaps back on the inside of his direct opponent.

    For a big strong young man, Kurtis Dark also has above average speed, not just off the mark but also when he is in clear space, when he makes a break Kurtis Dark is more than capable of going the distance and normally easily out paces the cover defence.

    Kurtis Dark is not just a strong runner of the ball he as noted above has excellent footwork prior to the line and also some very good short passing both before the line and when in contact with a defender. Kurtis Dark in schoolboy rugby league and junior age groups was a magnet for defenders and is adept at identifying when multiple defenders are vectoring towards him and identifying the appropriate force to be applied to his passing.

    Kurtis Dark also waits until the last possible second to off load the ball and most of the time he does not telegraph his pass to enable defences the readjust before the ball is passed.

    On a lot of his runs Kurtis Dark rather than trying to step his opposite number will really look to initiate the contact and then use his strength to hold the defender off his body to either push through the tackle or draw in the next defender to create space for his outside support.

    Defensively Kurtis Dark has a hard edge to his play and his initial contact is more than sufficient to redirect the momentum of the ball carrier. Kurtis Dark sets a very good base which he uses to explode into the ball carrier looking to use their own momentum against them.

    His good situation awareness also enables him to be well positioned when he is defending against smaller quicker opponents and he endeavours to minimise the time available for the opposing attacker to generate speed and to utilise their footwork.

    Kurtis Dark is also able to change direction quickly to adjust to the directional changes of the attacker especially when he is marking up against multiple attackers running in his direction where he will hold his ground to let the play to develop in front of him before committing to a specific defensive course of action.

    Kurtis Dark will play the 2020 season with the Tweed Heads Seagulls in the Queensland Cup as he looks to push for an NRL opportunity.

    With his size, speed and impressive left hand off load, Kurtis Dark looms as an intriguing second row/hooker prospect and it is great to see that he has chosen to move to the Gold Coast in an effort to continue his rugby league career.

  15. #1005
    Immortal
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    17,224

    Default

    Taanei Heu. (Revised) After starting Round One of the 2019 GCRL U18 Division One competition with Nerang Taanei Heu moved to the Currumbin Eagles with his first match for his new club coming in Round Three against Bilambil when he started from the bench.

    In total for Currumbin in the GCRL U18 Division One regular season competition, Taanei Heu played in eight matches starting the vast majority in the front row and scoring his first and only try of the season in Round Thirteen against Tugun.

    In early June of this year Taanei Heu went over to New Zealand to play in the New Zealand Maori Rangatahi Tournament for Te Arawa and in fact was named in the All Tournament U17 team in the second row.

    In late 2018 Taanei Heu was named in the initial Burleigh MM Cup squad but did not make the final squad.

    The tall strong young front rower played the 2018 season for Nerang in the U16 Division One competition playing in nine matches including the finals series.

    In Week Two of the U16 Division One Finals, Taanei Heu started in the front row and scored as Nerang progressed with a 32 – 22 win over Currumbin.

    Taanei Heu also started in the front row in the U16 Division One 2018 Grand Final once again against Currumbin and once again Nerang prevailed winning 24 – 8.

    In the 2018 U16 Division One regular season, Taanei Heu scored an additional two tries the first of which came in Round One against Runaway Bay and Taanei Heu scored again against Runaway Bay late in the regular season.

    Taanei Heu was also part of the Gold Coast Vikings White side that took part in the South East Queensland U16 Challenge and from there was selected in the South East Queensland White side for the Queensland Age Championships, playing all four of those matches including the Championship Final against South East Queensland Green.

    Taanei Heu’s other matches for South East Queensland Green at the Queensland Age Championships were against SEQ White in the qualifying rounds, Central and Northern.

    For the Nerang Roosters U15 Division One side in 2017 Taanei Heu played in eleven matches including their Grand Final victory over Helensvale and scored against Southport early in the season for his sole try of the season. Taanei Heu also played one match up in the U16 Division Two competition which came against the Ormeau Shearers in early July.

    The PBC student was part of the South Coast Maori representative side as well in 2017.

    Taanei Heu is quite a tall front rower with plus speed for a front rower, in fact his speed would be above average for a forward of any position. Taanei Heu uses this speed to impact the defensive at top speed. He does not necessarily get back deep, but his plus speed off the mark as well as plus top speed enables him to still fit the line hard.

    Taanei Heu runs very front on but will lower his body into the defenders as the commit to the tackle, and through a combination of size, speed and determination regularly bumps the first defender off when they try to tackle Taanei Heu around the chest area.

    Once he impacts the defensive line Taanei Heu also is adept at redirecting his momentum to address the next defender who is coming in the defend him. Taanei Heu’s core body strength also enables him to make significant ground after contact dragging defenders with him.

    In defence Taanei Heu regularly is the first player up to target the ball carriers, even though he is one of the bigger forwards in his team and will make solid initial contact as well as having the ability of defending one on one.

    Taanei Heu is not averse to looking for the big hit but does have a good front on defensive technique and decent agility and lateral movement when looking to tackle smaller opponents, his technique is also quite decent for a taller player and he gets low in defence to look to mitigate the possibility of his tackles slipping up around the hard and neck area of shorter opponents.

    His calling card though is the strength and power to effectively engage the opposing forward early in their run and use his natural strength to win the forward battle in the centre of the ruck. Taanei Heu can defensively handle any one on one battle that presents itself. At times in games he really does prevent opposing gaining any ground at all through the centre of the ruck.

    Taanei Heu is MM Cup eligible again in 2020 and will be part of the Burleigh side come the start of the competition in 2020. Post the MM Cup competition in 2020 Taanei Heu will play for Currumbin in the GCRL U18 Division One competition and may also get some time for the Eagles in their GCRL U20 side.

    I must admit that I am not wedded to the idea of Taanei Heu being strictly a front rower. With his elite size, strength, speed and power operating wider of the ruck would seem to be the ideal use is his immense skill set. Whilst he may well end up in the front row in the long term it is equally possible for Taanei Heu to make a career in the second row as he moves towards the senior rugby league ranks.

    For me a current NRL player who has an eerily similar playing style to Taanei Heu is is soon to be Parramatta Eel and former New South Wales State of Origin player Reagan Campbell-Gillard as a young front rower who does not just hit the defensive line hard but makes a lot of ground post contact because of his strength and determination to make as much ground as possible on each and every carry of the ball. Also like Campbell-Gillard Taanei Heu just exudes strength and power.


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

ABOUT US

    Established in 2005 as the Gold Coast Titans official Chat Forum, we are now known as the League of Titans Independent Website. A place for fans of the Gold Coast Titans to come and touch base with other diehard fans.

QUICK LINKS

FOLLOW US ON

League of Titans designed and cutomised by Matt Glew