2015 Trials and Nines thread

[Hail Sezer]

What aren't you at school Anthony?

[Geeman]

Read an article today saying the Warriors will be sending a very 2nd string squad over for the trial, saving the big guns for the second trial.
http://www.warriors.co.nz/news/2015/...rl_player.html

[Titanic]

Interesting to see what sort of team we dish up.

[DavidBouveng]

Read an article today saying the Warriors will be sending a very 2nd string squad over for the trial, saving the big guns for the second trial.
http://www.warriors.co.nz/news/2015/...rl_player.html

we also will be sending a very second string side to this trial,holding our big guns back until.. um, like....sheesh, maybe 2016?

thats a bit harsh, and im just playing. i think there are some signs of life in us for this year. not top 4, but competitive and should develop some genuinely interesting young players.

[mdrew]

Good story about out trialists

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/...-1227206952116

[Hail Sezer]

Four Gold Coast Titans trialists will battle for a roster spot at this weekend’s trial clash with New Zealand

MICHAEL SAUNDERS
GOLD COAST BULLETIN
FEBRUARY 04, 2015 12:00AM



JUST 80 minutes of rugby league will decide the future of these four budding Titans players.

Youngsters Damian Sironen, Jai Ingram, Agnatius Paasi and Leva Li will use this weekend’s final trial game against New Zealand to prove themselves as worthy members of a packed Titans squad.

The Gold Coast NRL club has all but finished it’s off season signings, however are expected to add two more full time contracts to their current roster of 32.

Titans coach Neil Henry said all four players have spent the pre-season battling it out for the spot, with the race still too close to call.

“It’s tight. They are all fighting for an opportunity to secure a contract and it is good they are enthusiastic,” Henry said.

“We’ve got 32 contracted players at the moment and we will probably be looking at two more contracts.”

All four players received three month paid contracts with the Titans order to take part in pre-season training with the club’s NRL squad.

Sironen, nephew of Balmain Tigers legend Paul Sironen, received the call-up on the back of an impressive season with the Tweed Heads Seagulls.

The 22-year-old front rower joined the Seagulls in 2014 after playing in the Melbourne Storm under 20s side as well as a stint at fellow Intrust Super Cup side Eastern Suburbs.

At 190cm and 112kg the former Lennox Head local said he is ready to step up to the sport’s top division.

“I think I am ready (for NRL),” Sironen said.

“I put a lot of work in with the other blokes at training and I know I can handle it.

“Having said that I know there are other areas I want to improve in.”

Meanwhile second rower and fellow former Storm under 20s player Jai Ingram believes this Saturday’s trial clash will be his final chance to impress coach Henry.

The 23-year-old said he almost walked away from the game completely when back to back injuries resulted in two and a half years spent off the field.

But after a standout year with Intrust Super Cup team Norths Devils in 2014 Ingram said he has a renewed passion to return to the NRL.

“The biggest struggle is the mental side of training,” Ingram said.

“I had two and a half years where I didn’t run, only some time at the gym.

“Having to come back and the mental toughness of running and tough sessions has been challenging. Everything else I find I can learn.”

Ingram made his debut for the Titans at the Auckland Nines last weekend, where he admitted nerves played a large role in his opening match against Wests Tigers.

“It was different my first game. I probably did my own head in,” he said.

“I got really nervous and I threw up beforehand which is something I have never done.

“But once I got the first game out of the way I played the next game and won (against Canberra) which was a great feeling.

“Getting the win in Titans colours was one of the best moments of my life.”

Regardless of who earns the final two spots Henry said he hopes to see those left out receive a spot at Titans feeder clubs Tweed Heads and Burleigh Bears.

“If they were to miss out on a full time contract then we hope to see them play in the second tier this year,” Henry said.

The full squad for this Saturday night’s game will be announced today.

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/...-1227206952116

- - - Updated - - -

I'd personally back Paasi for a contract - unsure of who will get the second one though.

Looking forward to this weekend's trial. Who's going along?

[TITAN PETE]

The team to play the Warriors is:

1 Anthony Don

2 Kalifa Faifai Loa

3 Jamie Dowling

4 Davin Crampton

5 Leva Li

6 Jamal Fogarty

7 Kane Elgey

8 David Hala

9 Christian Hazard

10 Matt White

11 Jai Ingram

12 Matt Robinson

13 Ben Ridge

14 Mark Ioane

15 Damien Sironen

16 Ryan James

17 Kierran Moseley

18 James Roberts

19 Ryan Simpkins

20 Brad Tighe

21 Matt Srama

22 Agantius Passi

24 Lachlan Burr

[Hail Sezer]

Strong squad. Looking forward to seeing how Critt, LG and Fogs go in key positions. Crampton will hopefully have a big game too.

My tip is that Leva Li will be first try scorer, off a wide ball from Elgey

[Titanic]

Good squad for the first hit out. Some interesting placements ... Don becomes Mr Fixit and Crampton trialling on the right. Let's hope there is some video [fingers doubly crossed].

[lonegull]

good looking squad, hopefully we get some footage of the trial as their will be plenty looking to shine.

[Bayside Titan]

Agree with most. Good looking squad. Hope that there is some video of it.

[Titan Crius]

Hi All, yes looks a good squad and interesting combinations and to me shows some depth, with many of our top squad not playing, but this is what trials are for. Can anyone tell me why Caleb Binge is not playing?

[Titan4Life]

Good looking squad which will showcase some of our younger guys as well. Looking forward to seeing how Elgey, Hazard etc go in a 13 v 13 game. Up the Titans

[DavidBouveng]

is Dowling still hanging around? is he genuinely in contention for first grade?

[Titan4Life]

Ingram fights to keep NRL dream alive
By Tony Webeck, Chief Queensland Correspondent
NRL.com
7:00am Thu 05th February, 2015



He has fought back from two knee reconstructions, bouts of depression and two years out of the game altogether but Jai Ingram insists his NRL dream won't live or die by what happens in Saturday's trial with the Titans.

Ingram is one of four players named in the Titans team to play the Warriors who have spent the pre-season doing all the torturous work with no guarantees of anything beyond the end of February.

Over the summer months Ingram, Agnatius Paasi, Damian Sironen and Leva Li have been earning the minimum wage of $850 a week in the hope that they might show Gold Coast coach Neil Henry enough for him to offer one of two vacant spots on the roster for 2015.

With most teams expected to field near full-strength line-ups for their final trial matches on the weekend of February 21-22, whatever game time these players get in Toowoomba on Saturday could define the immediate path that their careers take.

While attending the famed rugby league school St Brendan's in Yeppoon, Ingram was signed to a contract by the Cowboys on more money than any 16-year-old knows what to do with and by the time he was 20 had spent time at both the Storm and the Bulldogs.

He underwent a full reconstruction on his right knee in Melbourne before going off the rails and when handed a lifeline by Canterbury had his world come crashing down when his left knee suffered a similar fate in a trial game early in 2012.

"Because of the injuries I got at Melbourne, I was so young and I was so close, and for me when my right knee blew out my dream was over," Ingram told NRL.com.

"I didn't have the support around me to realise that I could rehabilitate it and get back on my feet. My career was over.

"Back then I didn't see it but it was a bit of depression. I was sad... and I got stuck in that hole.

"When I was [at the Bulldogs] I was by myself and I actually had to catch a bus to get my knee reconstructed. After surgery I had no way of getting home so I caught the bus again and actually had to crutch a kilometre just after having my left knee reconstructed and in a brace.

"It was just tough times for me, and I chose to quit.

"For me it was a breakdown part of my life. I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. I can understand now how some boys could struggle because when you're so young and you're offered the world, you get it all taken away from you by injuries and there's nothing you can do about it.

"I didn't want to go back home, I didn't want to go back to a small place in Hervey Bay but I honestly had no other option."

It's a sobering tale of a young career once hanging by a thread but which may still have a happy ending, largely due to the influence of the woman who would become Ingram's wife last October and the mother of their seven-week old baby boy.

Ingram met Tess when he returned home to Hervey Bay in 2012 and was working as a personal trainer. It was the influence of Tess and his mother that inspired him to see whether the football career he appeared destined to fulfil could still become a reality, leaving Hervey Bay behind so he could return to the Intrust Super Cup in 2014 first with Easts and then Norths Devils following a mid-season switch.

"My wife pulled me out of a hole. When I met her my life turned around. She was the turning point in my life," the 23-year-old said.

"If I didn't meet my wife, I don't know where I'd be right now. I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for meeting my wife.

"She's given me hope when I thought I'd lost everything and if footy doesn't work out, considering a couple of years ago I thought my life was pretty much over, if footy doesn't work out now I've got them.

"I hope it works out because it sure is fun training and hanging out with these boys every day."

Ingram got his first real taste of the big time when playing in two of three games for the Titans at last week's Auckland Nines and while he may have missed out on scoring a try in front of 40,000 fans, believes the experience will hold him in good stead against the Warriors.

"I'll tell you this much, I've never been more nervous for anything in my life," Ingram said.

"With my past and injuries and everything, I sort of did my own head in before I even went out there.

"I was thinking, I've come so far, what if I run out here and something goes on me? It actually made me that nervous that I threw up, and I've never thrown up before.

"I've put the jersey on twice now and it does take a lot of the nerves away for this weekend. I'm not going to go out there and try to be a superstar or do anything fancy; I just want to have good carries.

"My job is to run a line on the half and I'm going to do that all day and try not to make any errors in defence."

The Titans play the Warriors this weekend before facing the Cowboys in another trial match in Cairns on February 21.