So over the weekend i make my way down to Belmore Sports Ground to not only support our NSW Cup boys against the doggies but to also watch Daniel Abou-Sleiman play his 1st game at fullback for the Tigers after being fast tracked up from Ron Massey cup after only 3 games for the Magpies. For those of you who don't know who this kid is, he was a Bulldogs jr with plenty of potential who played fullback for their under 20s & NSW Cup team before being released to head to Japan last year to play rugby union. When the fulltime whistle was blown i sat there like all of the Tigers fans there with HUGE smile on my face, not only because the boys had smashed them off the park but also because Sleiman in my opinion had played the most complete game by a fullback in NSW Cup for the last couple of years! His positional play and support around the ruck, his onfield talk and his contact to me was heads and shoulders above where Curtis is right now in his development. He made some good returns, half breaks and even scored on debut.
When Rowe was selected to replace Teddy i posted on here that IMO he wasn't quite ready for 1st grade and that he was still trying to find his feet in NSW Cup,
he lacked 1st grade contact in trying to stop tries and was tentative on kick returns and hitting holes. But to minimize major reshuffling it was a move that had to be made given the situation we were in without Teddy. Rowe is a kid with plenty of potential and a future star but atm he is swimming with the sharks who will keep circling until he finds and starts building confidence. I think Sleiman will be given the nod ahead of Rowe to cover Teddy in the future, and a few more games in NSW Cup will only add pressure on Rowe to improve and retain the no.1 jersey in reggies!!