Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[supercoach]

Tito, not sure if Geoff Starling was close to that age, went to school with him, he was a year above me, had remained family friends until we moved out of Sydney, and then lost touch.
If memory serves me right, he would have been about 17 or 18 at the time.

Saw him play a preseason game at the old sports ground, Starling was 17 and his centre partner I think was Trevor Ryan who was 18. All the headlines were about the youngest centre partnership ever. I was about the same age at the time

 

[tigerballs]

So a NSW Cup player who has never played backrow at any level in his juniors or seniors is suppose to turn into an NRL backrower in the space of a singular off season...

Almost as ridiculous as a 19 year old without even NSW cup experience playing Prime Ministers 13 in his rookie year.

 

[bptiger 0]

Tito, not sure if Geoff Starling was close to that age, went to school with him, he was a year above me, had remained family friends until we moved out of Sydney, and then lost touch.
If memory serves me right, he would have been about 17 or 18 at the time.

 

[bptiger 0]

Starling was one of my fav players when I was a kid , great player , we could do with one like him new ,

 

[gregjm87]

Really the debut of the one Brad Fittler changed the course of history .
Until then debuting at 21 or 22 was the norm .
From memory , and I could be wrong , but I think there was a massive increase in teenagers debuting way too early in the 90s really culminating in Jordan Rankin debuting at 16 in the mid 2000s ( thanks Greg for the inevitable correction in advance , it’s really appreciated , and not self serving at all ) .
Thankfully only the absolute unicorns debut that early nowadays . Everyone seems to have seen reason .
Still won’t stop Makasini and Large debuting this year for us and manly though .

Sorry mate, I just like statements presented as facts to be, you know, factual.

I agree that it felt like there was a dramatic increase in teenage debutants in the 90s but also don't know if this is statistically correct. At a guess though I would suggest it would be related to the rapid expansion of the competition more so than clubs thinking they've got the next Fittler. Perhaps a little of both?

 

[clontarfkid]

Saw him play a preseason game at the old sports ground, Starling was 17 and his centre partner I think was Trevor Ryan who was 18. All the headlines were about the youngest centre partnership ever. I was about the same age at the time

Think he played for Australia at 18...but had bulked up quite a bit from the skinny kid I, asked during his high school years..despite which we cldnt keep him down to less 5han 2 tries per game!
Very quick..very evasive..then filled out a lot very quickly

 

[happy_tiger]

Same year. 1989.

Was ET a high schooler as well

 

[TTTiger]

Think he played for Australia at 18...but had bulked up quite a bit from the skinny kid I, asked during his high school years..despite which we cldnt keep him down to less 5han 2 tries per game!
Very quick..very evasive..then filled out a lot very quickly

Yeah, shame about the illness he was struck down with, could have been anything, he was a freak. School teachers tried to guide him towards athletics, great swimmer, high jump and running, but he chose league, i guess the fact that we had a tigers player in the teaching staff helped guide him in that direction. From memory it was Thompson, played in the center position, he could have gone on and represented Australia in the Olympics, he was that good.

 

[supercoach]

Was ET a high schooler as well

I think so, vaguely remember a photo shoot in his school uniform

 

[Lestronge]

Isn’t he the youngest to ever play in a GF? He was 17

I thought he was 16 and 11 months ?

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Paul Mellor debuted at 16 as well

 

[davey_farrell]

Atkinson to dragons signs 3 year contract from 26, sharks couldnt keep them all, good pick up for them

 

[Yossarian]

Was ET a high schooler as well

Yep.

 

[Rusty]

Round 21 of the 2006 season, and whilst still in high school, Lawrence made his debut for the Wests Tigersagainst the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium. He is the youngest player to have debuted for the Tigers, at 17 years and 283 days old.

 

[851]

Was ET a high schooler as well

Rowdy was

 

[Bellend]

You lot forgot he debut at 17yrs old

Jim "Block" Serdaris​

 

[Kaito]

We need to bring someone in, a hard nut to mentor
& rev up our forwards, doesn't have to be a full time
post but it would be nice to get someone in there
specifically 4 our pack to work on 1st up contact
and some other specifics. Right now we've got 3
coaches who were all pretty boy backs in their day lol

 

[tigerballs]

Tito, not sure if Geoff Starling was close to that age, went to school with him, he was a year above me, had remained family friends until we moved out of Sydney, and then lost touch.
If memory serves me right, he would have been about 17 or 18 at the time.

Geoff Starling is the youngest ever to play for Australia at 18, as did Kerry Bousted.

 

[Dr_Ice]

Nah I just meant , the whole schoolboy debut was such a huge event at the time . I think Tim brasher debuted a year later similarly .

Tim Brasher went to my school and was in Year 12 in 1988 when he made Australian Schoolboys. He then repeated Year 12 in 1989 at a different school when he made his 1st grade debut and played the grand final aged 18.

He actually initially played in Wests Magpies junior reps

 

[Kaito]

Tim Brasher went to my school and was in Year 12 in 1988 when he made Australian Schoolboys. He then repeated Year 12 in 1989 at a different school when he made his 1st grade debut and played the grand final aged 18.

One of my all time favorite balmain players as a kid,
massive talent I remember he scored this mad try
against souths in the mid 90's against Souths were
he regathered the ball with 1 hand off a Benny Ellias
kick out of dummy half I think & he got creamed too.
Spoilt as a kid watching Sironen, Ellis & Brasher play
4 the blues too it was the golden age for me man.