Heath Mason #288

What type of fullback is he? Running, organising, ball playing, broken play, support runner?

Bula looks like he needs a couple of weeks off to have a holiday, relax and smile.
 
Masterton said:
200m and 6 tackle breaks. He looked pretty happy at fulltime.
Click to expand...
Bula was schooled in attack by young Kini. Every time he touched the ball he made half a break, was at the centre of their attack. Bula took a bunch of half hearted kick returns so they kept kicking to him as he posed little threat, 0 LBs, 0 LBAs. Kini 3LBs, + 3LBAs. A fullback who makes under 8m a run isn't doing anything remarkable. He wasn't bad, he just wasn't good
 
We talk some absolute bollocks about Bula at times because he isn't 'this guy or that guy'.

Bula is Bula. He's good.

Mason looks like a hard worker. Just not sure what his future role is. That Connor Watson/Kurt Mann fill-in-everywhere thing might be his ticket.
 
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...d/news-story/f9a3ea863b1a7501c6d237c4d90548dd

It’s among the fastest growing areas in the state, and the Macarthur region in Sydney’s southwest churns out rugby league talent just as fast.

Locals like Heath Mason, the 19-year-old from Thirlmere who helped the Wests Tigers end a nine-game losing streak last weekend in his NRL debut.

Sharing the big stage with fellow first-gamer and Liverpool Catholic Club junior, Jordan Miller, the pair made it five locals to successfully transition from the victorious 2022 Wests Magpies under-17s side.

Now ahead of Sunday’s Junior League Appreciation Round at Campbelltown Stadium, Mason lifted the lid on a footy crazed family and a journey that kicked off as a four-year-old.

“My pop John Mitchell and uncles all played for Thirlmere Roosters,” said the rising backline star and St Gregory’s College graduate.

“I’ve got heaps of cousins, especially on mum’s side of the family, and it wouldn’t surprise me if 40 or more have played for the club over the years. I always loved going to the footy at Thirlmere when I was growing up.

“I’d watch first grade with my close friends and we always knew players in the team. They were great days, I was ball boy too and we used to get a voucher for red frogs and a soft drink.”

With hundreds of juniors from up to 23 Macarthur clubs set to join over 200 players from the Tigers pathways, the Canberra Raiders can expect an energetic welcome for the round 16 clash.

Still in the mix to make Benji Marshall’s final 17, the speedster in white headgear often reflects on tips from the early days.

“Thirlmere run a healthy system down there,” Mason said of the club who field senior teams in the Macarthur competition, and currently have four ex-NRL stars on the books including former Maroons playmaker Corey Norman.

“They usually have a few former first grade stars. When I was coming through the junior reps at Wests, former Parramatta player Jacob Loko and ex-pathways players like Kye Madden would always help me out with advice to make sure I made the most of my opportunity.

“Only recently Norman and some of the other ex-NRL guys were running junior clinics at the club.”

Inspired by the rise of Tallyn Da Silva and Lachie Galvin, Mason hasn’t forgotten his junior teammates who pack a healthy dose of humour and goodwill.

“All my family and mates were at Leichhardt for my debut,” he said. “They were the boys that kept me playing, even as I moved through the pathways they have always been there and I really appreciate it.

“They were going to buy white headgear but then mum found some old ones in the cupboard. All the velcro had worn away, but the boys still wore them at the game.

“I couldn’t believe it. It was pretty cool to get a photograph with them after full time.”
 
Red88_Tiger said:
Was mason more or less vocal marshaling the defensive line. I only ask because south’s usually strip us for numbers on the edges pretty easily.
Click to expand...
Souths backline was budget tier last night.
That helped us alot.

Gagai, Kennar, Milne and Fletcher Myrers.
With the rookie fullback... that's a lot of inexperience and/or non starters.

On paper, our team was much better.
Arguably their backrow may be better with Murray & Keon but they made their mistakes too.

Heath was high energy.
Showed some class but also some inexperience also.
He'll be better the more games he gets, obviously but he did well.
 
Spartan117 said:
Good game against south's.

Really looking forward to the next few weeks back to back.
Click to expand...

If we are being honest it was a mixed game

He was terrible under the high ball - looks scared to take a bomb. Defensively was just as bad. The concern here is he hasn’t improved in this area over the last 6mths. I mentioned this back in Feb and he is just as bad with giving up on the bombs - it’s like he doesn’t read them or something.

It’s simple if he can’t defuse bombs or doesn’t attack bombs then he isn’t a fullback.

With the ball in hand was effective and busy. He at times threatened which is his strength.

Do think we looked better defensively numbers wise most game which indicates he was communicating (which we know Bula has issues with).

He has potential but has some major weaknesses which I’m yet to see improvement on.
 
For his first start, I was impressed. Need to remember that this kid only started playing fullback last year (previously in the halves). With the ball in hand he was lively, dangerous and showed some x factor which we need. Scrambled well to save 1 try off a grubber. The bombs that he did contest, he came up good for most of them from what I remember. He needs to have an aggressive mentality for taking bombs (or drop outs) though. There were far too many that he let bounce. Cherry Evans will be putting them to the skies on Thursday, so he will need to be ready.
 
Mighty_Tiger said:
If we are being honest it was a mixed game

He was terrible under the high ball - looks scared to take a bomb. Defensively was just as bad. The concern here is he hasn’t improved in this area over the last 6mths. I mentioned this back in Feb and he is just as bad with giving up on the bombs - it’s like he doesn’t read them or something.

It’s simple if he can’t defuse bombs or doesn’t attack bombs then he isn’t a fullback.

With the ball in hand was effective and busy. He at times threatened which is his strength.

Do think we looked better defensively numbers wise most game which indicates he was communicating (which we know Bula has issues with).

He has potential but has some major weaknesses which I’m yet to see improvement on.
Click to expand...
Tigers missed heaps of tackles, commentary said 47 with a few mins to go.

Across the team that's simply unacceptable and the reason we almost lost.
 
Red88_Tiger said:
Was mason more or less vocal marshaling the defensive line. I only ask because south’s usually strip us for numbers on the edges pretty easily.
Click to expand...
I find this hard to tell on tv, but from what I could tell not really, especially under pressure. Although our backs did seem to hold their line and mark up better, Doobie didnt rush up all game. I’m not sure that was Masons doing, maybe someone on the team read my post about removing a finger for the next time they rush up.
On our line, once Mason made a tackle he was marker and then chased the ball left or right and got involved in the tackle and back to marker again. He always seemed to be chasing the game a bit on our line, so I don’t know when he was counting and marshalling the troops?
Maybe someone who went to the game can elaborate.
His biggest problem is he seems scared of catching the ball, he let it bounce half dozen times. Well it was probably only 3 times but felt like 6.
He’s real good in attack. He seems quick, alert, and chooses the correct option most of the times. He was a 5/8 (we love em), and he should be doing his fullback education in reggies, and you can tell. He also has spades of Ticka, and have a go in him. He’s no bludger. I also reckon if the coach tells him the plan he’d be the type to stick to.
So plenty of good thing and plenty to work on.
@Mighty_Tiger said it well too.
 
Not sure how it looked on tv but watching him live, he looked pretty dangerous in attack whenever he had the ball and to me seemed like one of the most likely to 'make something happen'. Very quick and agile and offered something different to Bula.

I'm not going to bag him for struggling under some of the high balls, Whighton put up some booming, wobbly kicks that a lot of first graders would have struggled with.

The kid also showed a lot of heart and took the ball up when we were in trouble. As much as I like Bula, he does go missing when we need our backs to make some tough metres.

Extremely impressive for a bloke who was at high school last year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Staff online

Members online

Total: 1,488 (members: 42, guests: 1,446)
Back
Top