JTS to NRL; the Titans juniors transition lounge

[Cowabunga]

Titans

Keano Kini
Club: Titans

Position: Fullback

Hails from New Zealand but an Australian Schoolboys fullback who plays a mix of styles that reminds you of both Ben Barba and a young Anthony Milford. Just a great mover with deceiving speed. Would need a bit of luck to get a crack with Jayden Campbell and AJ Brimson in the squad, but this bloke is too talented to ignore.

Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui
Club: Titans

Position: Middle forward

We’re all aware of big Tino, now here comes his kid brother. Perhaps not as athletic but super fit, a huge engine and high work rate, as well as an attention to detail that is going to demand he gets a crack sooner rather than later.

Alofiana Khan-Pereira
Club: Titans

Position: Winger

There’s fast, and then there’s what rugby league types now refer to as “Addo-Carr quick”. And this young Titan falls into that category. Has already clocked 36.5km/h on the GPS, which puts him among the absolute top echelon of NRL speedsters. When he gets in space you just shut the gate.

[Hail Sezer]

Honestly he's not that far off when explaining the players, albeit a short summary. I expected worse from Paul Crawley haha

[Cowabunga]

I'm betting some young intern or someone else did it haha. Crawley makes Buzz look like Einstein.

[lonegull]

Thanks for posting as I dont read anything that Crawley writes

[The Birdman]

Would have thought Josiah Pahulu would be in our top 3 most promising

[Hail Sezer]

Would have thought Josiah Pahulu would be in our top 3 most promising

He is

[The Birdman]

He is

Not according to Paul Crawley haha

[toddythetitan]

Not according to Paul Crawley haha

I watched him at training the other week and I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t debut this year he’s a freak of a talent. I said to my mate watching with me who the hell is that guy because he was showing up majority of the first grade side in the fitness and game drills unreal.

[Hail Sezer]

Not according to Paul Crawley haha

Haha, yeah...the low hanging fruit of well-known surname and comparison to fastest guy in NRL made for a better read

Good insight on Josiah at training @toddy, thanks for sharing. I kind of hope they take it slow with Josiah. Middles can get burnt out early in their career and seem to get busted/prone to finding injury if they're playing excessive minutes at NRL level and while they're young and still developing, it's a tough position physically. Moe and Payne Haas for example.

[Cowabunga]

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2022/...anuary-return/

Josiah Pahulu and Oskar Bryant
Both players are currently completing off-feet conditioning but are fine.

They are both young guys that are adapting to the loads that the high performance team is throwing at them at the moment and because of that, a cautious approach is being taken.

Sounds like they're pretty aware of not over cooking them, AJ focusing on strength is interesting, To me that sounds like 5/8th talk for defence.

What time do the fellas train? Would love to go watch a session.

[Bayside Titan]

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2022/...anuary-return/

Josiah Pahulu and Oskar Bryant
Both players are currently completing off-feet conditioning but are fine.

They are both young guys that are adapting to the loads that the high performance team is throwing at them at the moment and because of that, a cautious approach is being taken.

Sounds like they're pretty aware of not over cooking them, AJ focusing on strength is interesting, To me that sounds like 5/8th talk for defence.

What time do the fellas train? Would love to go watch a session.

If you get to Parkwood about 9am you should be fine.

[Hail Sezer]

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2022/...o-bounce-back/

Some comments from Moe about young Seth Nikotemo impressing him. Interestingly, it sounds like Seth has been training as a lock (he's always been an edge backrower). Moe also mentions that Pahulu has impressed.

I'd heard a few weeks ago that Seth had his pre-season train and trial deal extended beyond Christmas due to how good he's been going training with the NRL boys.

This is from a few pages back and is what I wrote about Seth before pre-season started:

Seth Nikotemo
18, Edge Backrower, Burleigh
NRL pre-season 2023
What to expect for 2023: Keebra park and QLD Schools Backrower, Nikotemo is your prototype backrow athlete...big, strong, physical and athletic. Seth has some wonderful attributes to his game but IMO needs to sharpen up a few defensive habits and bring a bit more with the ball in hand. I expect him to play the season in the HDC U21's comp.

It's always interesting when the young guys leave the schools/junior rep and Junior Titans systems to enter NRL pre-season because the step up in training/workload/intensity is huge. Well done to Seth and Josiah for making a good impression so far. Both been signed with the Titans since they were 15, fwiw

[mdrew]

Great Official Site article about Josiah Pahulu:

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2022/...d-2022-season/

[Hail Sezer]

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2022/...hways-success/

New recruits testament to Future Titans pathways success

It was only 12 months ago that players like Keano Kini and Josiah Pahulu were part of the Future Titans program, looking up to the NRL squad.

Now their roles have completely reversed, with the duo progressing to the club's first grade squad and being players the next generation coming through now admire.

The pair are just two of the many success stories coming from the Gold Coast's pathways program, which has excelled in recent years to link the immense talent in junior systems fro Logan to Lismore, to the NRL for them to debut and achieve their potential.

Led by elite player development manager Jamie McCormack, he is proud of the amount of players who have got the opportunity to shine in an NRL pre-season from the pathways program.

"Our transition rate from the Future Titans into the NRL pre-season has been exceptional," he said.

"On average, we're transferring around 11 or 12 players per pre-season. Out of those, obviously Josiah Pahulu represented Australian Schoolboys and then has come into the big time now and is training exceptionally well, just like Keano Kini who did exactly the same, and a number of other boys as well."

"Our pathways program is a massive investment by our club. Our owners and our board... they want to see results and thankfully, we're really starting that transition over the last two or three years.

"We're producing more Australian Schoolboys than any other NRL club, and then obviously moving those up into the NRL pre-season squad.

"Thankfully, some of them will debut over the next coming years."

Both squads joined forced last week for their annual training session together, with the Future Titans getting the chance to test themselves and mix it with some of the Gold Coast's top stars such as David Fifita and AJ Brimson.

It was also a chance to reunite with former pathways players such as Jojo Fifita, Tom Weaver and Klese Haas, just to name a few.

"Every year, we have this opportunity to train with the NRL squad and our junior players are always super excited," McCormack said.

"It's a great way to connect the club together with our Future Titans pathways and our NRL players coming together for this training session."

Playing a big part in their preparations for two big days of footy early next year, the Future Titans will first travel to Coffs Harbour on January 21 to face the Newcastle Knights, before hosting the Brisbane Broncos the following week back on the Coast.

"No matter whether you're 15 all the way through to 19 years of age, if you're contracted, you're doing some form of pre-season with us here at Parkwood at the moment," McCormack said.

"We're going to reward some of the boys with trials in January so we'll play the Newcastle Knights in Under 17s and Under 19s. The following week, our Under 17s will backup and play the Brisbane Broncos.

"It's exciting times and a reward off the back of a lot of hard work over the hot summer months."




More Australian Schoolboys than any other NRL club (he means in the last 2 years I believe). I've said it before but to reiterate...that's a really big deal.

[GCTTSD]

Who's gonna be the next player from the JTS to debut?