jirskyr
Well-known member
I used to play footy against a guy who, even around 16 years old, was huge and dominated his age group in Balmain juniors. I stopped playing at 14 precisely because I was not huge.That may be true - but I remember watching Teddy as a run-of-the-mill, skinny kid on the left wing during his Matt’s Cup days and Nofa certainly deserved his spot at fullback in that team.
A year or two later however, Teddy was an absolute standout ...
But once my age group got to around 17 or 18, everyone basically caught up. That's where a lot of these kids get found out, because they dominate juniors based on natural athleticism and size advantage, that they won't necessarily maintain.
That's why NSW Cup is a perfect testing ground, to play against more hardened, older players who are much better at tackling than kids.
There would be 100 stories like Nofo and Teddy, right? Of kids who came good later in their junior career.