Juniors - Pathways General Discussion

Needaname said:
I’m not buying the Faagatu hype (just yet). Was extremely disappointing defensively in the trial.
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Thrown in with a mish mash of youngsters all crapping themselves. Players who had previously played with poise ALL played overwhelmingly poorly. Poor coaching and squad management, rather than mixing them in with pros we threw them in.
Let's not forget that those who played NSW cup last year were largely all rejects so we had Flegg and sg ball kids playing with fringe NRL players who were coming back from major injuries and were gun shy. A recipe for disaster as far as playing well and competing was concerned. I expect those that get a second chance this weekend will do better
 
rihannafan1 said:
He's what, just turned 19? Was a straight A student to my understanding too. Plenty of reason to believe he'll work it out.
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That’s why I said just yet. I feel it may of been premature to give him time in the trial. However I don’t feel like there will be much negative to come out of it only maybe just a bit of a reminder to our fans / even coaching staff that our pre flegg youngsters need a lot more work to be relied upon at this stage. I was expecting more given the prep he already had in Queensland cup.
But it does beg the question. Other teams have 17 year olds pushing first grade and 18 year olds debuting. What are we doing so wrong that our kids aren’t ready until they are in their 20s?
 
I have no doubt Faagatu will make it to NRL level.

How far he goes will depend on him and how he develops at the club. We don't have the greatest record developing juniors in the last few years though: Brooks, Liddle, Mikaele etc.
 
Yeah 19. You would think he will play Flegg and maybe some cup this year but he hasn’t had the same rise/impact as Matumua whom is the same age and I believe Kit Laulili is severely underrated by ppl on here.
 
Needaname said:
Yeah 19. You would think he will play Flegg and maybe some cup this year but he hasn’t had the same rise/impact as Matumua whom is the same age and I believe Kit Laulili is severely underrated by ppl on here.
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I'd argue Fa'agutu is starting from a higher base than Matamua and Pole as he has already played Q Cup. while in the trial he was found out by Metcalf who completely burned him, he'll learn from that. Matamua was still playing 5/8 in SG Ball this time last year. his rise was meteoric, but Fa'agutu could do similar.

agree with you on Laulili'i. he's something special and the club hold him in very high regard. I don't think he's a 13 long term but he will come off the bench and punch holes in a defensive line as a middle forward in any grade. would expect him to debut in Cup this year alongside Fa'agutu (and potentially Feledy, Da Silva and Sukkar) and snare a development contract for 2024.
 
jrtiger said:
I'd argue Fa'agutu is starting from a higher base than Matamua and Pole as he has already played Q Cup. while in the trial he was found out by Metcalf who completely burned him, he'll learn from that. Matamua was still playing 5/8 in SG Ball this time last year. his rise was meteoric, but Fa'agutu could do similar.

agree with you on Laulili'i. he's something special and the club hold him in very high regard. I don't think he's a 13 long term but he will come off the bench and punch holes in a defensive line as a middle forward in any grade. would expect him to debut in Cup this year alongside Fa'agutu (and potentially Feledy, Da Silva and Sukkar) and snare a development contract for 2024.
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I hope so, and feels it’s likely with Sheens. Though on one hand I’d like to see our talented kids to be promoted but on the other hand you don’t want to ruin them to early. I feel like there is just as much talent in other clubs as ours if not more. I mean for instance and I know they are comp leaders but Penrith played 3 hookers and 2 fullbacks and Kurt Falls whom isn’t in their top 30 and not on dev contracts and we played an entire spine in our top 30 including another top 30 hooker on the bench.
Long way to go.
 
Needaname said:
I hope so, and feels it’s likely with Sheens. Though on one hand I’d like to see our talented kids to be promoted but on the other hand you don’t want to ruin them to early. I feel like there is just as much talent in other clubs as ours if not more. I mean for instance and I know they are comp leaders but Penrith played 3 hookers and 2 fullbacks and Kurt Falls whom isn’t in their top 30 and not on dev contracts and we played an entire spine in our top 30 including another top 30 hooker on the bench.
Long way to go.
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production line is only just kicking into gear now. it won't be til sorta the end of the decade until you see us have a Penrith-esque conveyor belt. keep in mind that they were building this from around 2015 onwards and are only seeing the rewards properly now. we might even be a little longer than that. main thing is the club has its ducks in a row which is refreshing.
 
jrtiger said:
production line is only just kicking into gear now. it won't be til sorta the end of the decade until you see us have a Penrith-esque conveyor belt. keep in mind that they were building this from around 2015 onwards and are only seeing the rewards properly now. we might even be a little longer than that. main thing is the club has its ducks in a row which is refreshing.
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Agree 💯
 
jrtiger said:
I'd argue Fa'agutu is starting from a higher base than Matamua and Pole as he has already played Q Cup. while in the trial he was found out by Metcalf who completely burned him, he'll learn from that. Matamua was still playing 5/8 in SG Ball this time last year. his rise was meteoric, but Fa'agutu could do similar.

agree with you on Laulili'i. he's something special and the club hold him in very high regard. I don't think he's a 13 long term but he will come off the bench and punch holes in a defensive line as a middle forward in any grade. would expect him to debut in Cup this year alongside Fa'agutu (and potentially Feledy, Da Silva and Sukkar) and snare a development contract for 2024.
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I agree. I also think that, despite Fa'agutu being clearly caught out defensively, he showed a tremendous amount of impetuous in both attack, with the nature of his runs, and in defence with the strength of his first contact.

He is the definition of raw, but a super exciting prospect.
 
Needaname said:
I hope so, and feels it’s likely with Sheens. Though on one hand I’d like to see our talented kids to be promoted but on the other hand you don’t want to ruin them to early. I feel like there is just as much talent in other clubs as ours if not more. I mean for instance and I know they are comp leaders but Penrith played 3 hookers and 2 fullbacks and Kurt Falls whom isn’t in their top 30 and not on dev contracts and we played an entire spine in our top 30 including another top 30 hooker on the bench.
Long way to go.
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Got to remember where we're starting from though. Our recruitment for lower grades has been appalling in recent years and our talent pool is accordingly low. Last year's Cup and Flegg squads were some of the worst we've ever fielded. So in that 18-20 year bracket we really only Bula coming through from Flegg last year and then players who were players fresh from school like Miller, da Silva and Faagatu.
 
jrtiger said:
production line is only just kicking into gear now. it won't be til sorta the end of the decade until you see us have a Penrith-esque conveyor belt. keep in mind that they were building this from around 2015 onwards and are only seeing the rewards properly now. we might even be a little longer than that. main thing is the club has its ducks in a row which is refreshing.
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Keeping these players on the hook until they are ready is the trick. Rivals will be in their ears soon saying “we’ll get you ready faster”.
 
Tucker said:
Keeping these players on the hook until they are ready is the trick. Rivals will be in their ears soon saying “we’ll get you ready faster”.
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Done well so far.

Retained almost all notable junior talent from 2022 into this year.

Jordan Miller was heavily linked to Redcliffe on massive money but ended up re-signing with us.
 
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