Junior Reps 2026

Eric

Eric

Staff
Frank Facer said:
Yeah, Walsh will be Qld's long term fullback. That leaves the halves for Purdue. I would take Purdue over Derdan who Qld's current halfback and a player I would have liked us to have signed. We were in the market for him, but he chose to stay at Nth Qld. I would put an * next to Purdue's name. The question is, with Walsh at fullback for Qld, where does that leave Ponga's representative future?
As for Hamish Stewart and LPT. I don't know where I would have them. Either a + (might) or a - (maybe) next to their names. I hope they both become regular rep players. I would put a + sign next to Toby Couchman, maybe even an * next to his name. Both Couchman brothers and LPT debuted at 19. Not many props debut at 19. Every year before the season starts and during origin I pick my own NSW team. Last year I would have picked Haas, Terrell May and Koloamatagi as the first 3 props chosen (I think Koloamatagi was still playing second row when the first origin was played. I had either Jack Deblin or Toby Couchman as my 4th prop. Debelin was suited to origin. He played great when picked. I think he should have been playing origin a lot earlier. Then he never played origin after he was stood down by the NRL for the allegation. He was a lock, but in my opinion he was a better option at prop that the likes of Jake Turbo, Spencer Leniu or Stefano Utoikamanu I would usually pick 4 props. I probably would have given Couchman another year before playing him. I think he will be ready for origin this year. In 2 or 3 years time, we may have 3 origin props or at least 3 origin standard props, in Koloamatagi, Toby Couchman and LPT. I haven't seen much of Ryan Couchman and don't know what is his long term position.

I looked up what Tom Dearden is on at Nth Qld and this is what I got.

Tom Dearden's contract with the North Queensland Cowboys is worth $700,000 per year, as confirmed by the club's official player profile and contract details. This figure reflects his current annual salary under the five-year extension signed in December 2023, which keeps him with the club until the end of the 2029 season. While rival clubs had reportedly offered up to $1 million annually, Dearden chose to remain with the Cowboys, where he is considered a key part of the long-term future.

Were we one of the clubs who offered him a mil a season? Taking 300K less a season to stay at Nth Qld, is quite a lot. He had big wraps on him as a teenager at Brissy and only fulfilled his promise at Nth Qld.
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I reckon Couchman's will be rep players as well. They'd be perfect bench players for Origin. Able to play in the middle or edge.
 
Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
jodragon40 said:
I believe and hope so
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About 20 years ago, or my mate who is the the Manly fan, good judge of talent and good football brain said to me that, we had poor management and he said Doust was a "Bank Manager", ie that he didn't have football brain. I later learnt Doust was a Hospital Manager, St George Hospital to be specific. My mate was saying it before I heard anyone else talking about Doust or calling for him to go. He is still on the Board and so is Craig Young.
 
Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
Eric said:
I reckon Couchman's will be rep players as well. They'd be perfect bench players for Origin. Able to play in the middle or edge.
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Toby has proven he can play big minutes, like 70 minutes at prop. Koloamatangi has also proven he can play big minutes at prop. That makes it easier for the likes of LPT to play the impact role and shorter minutes. Hopefully LPT can play 50 or so minutes in the future.
 
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Leighton Craig

Leighton Craig

SGI Jersey Flegg
Dragons sg ball and Harold Matt’s trials results from earlier today

HM Dragons vs roosters 20 - 12
Standouts

Rokko walker, played fullback 1 try and 1 try assist for him very silky quick movement and very impressive passing game

seluki halangahu, played lock 1 try for him very damaging player plays just like his brother and very impressive passing game

SG Ball dragons vs roosters 4 - 32
Standouts

Honestly no one, roosters were just too good exposed holes in our defence, the try scorer was
johannan ah kee
 
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Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
RedV01 said:
Mr. Moderator, I promise this is the last I will say on the issue. And it's not off topic really.

Who was the last St. George junior (excluding Illawarra) who made it big? Like played Origin or test matches for one of the top tier countries? Was it Nighty?
If not for the fact that it's a done deal once and for all, I'd be suspicious about the motivation anyone casting aspersions on the JV.

As for the current crop, CST is a St. George junior. Think so anyway. Expecting big things from him. So we will be able to 2 have made it in the last 20 years.
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Melbourne and Easts have been 2 of the most successful teams in the last 28 years. I can't name any players who were Melbourne juniors or Eastern Suburbs juniors who have played for NSW, Qld or Australia. Victor Radley an Eastern Suburbs junior has played 9 games for England. Easts with virtually no juniors from the Eastern Suburbs won last year's SG Ball and have another top quality SG ball team this year. Easts look to be very adept at signing good juniors from other clubs, country areas and New Zealand to fill their junior rep teams. We can/should be doing the same. It looks like we have improved in that department recently, especially with St George junior teams. But if they are successful, while playing for a St George junior team, then we have to get them to move to Wollongong or else they have the option of staying in Sydney and playing for any of the other 8 Sydney clubs.

Tom and Jake Trbojevic are the only 2 Manly juniors I can name who played reps since Nightingale debuted. Jason King played 2 origin last year, but I would be surprised to see him become a big name rep player and long term origin player.

The only South Sydney juniors I can think of who has played reps in the last 20 years are Cam Murray and Addin Fonua Blake who then went to play for St George SG Ball, then debuted for Manly.

Josh Reynolds is the only Canterbury Bansktown junior I can name to have played reps since Nightingale debuted for us. He was a Kingsgrove Dragons junior

Zac Lomax and Trent Merrin are the only 2 Illawarra juniors I can name who has played reps since Nightingale. They both left us to play for other Sydney based clubs. Brett Morris debuted before Nightingale and Josh Morris around the same time as Nightingale. They both left us to play for Sydney based clubs.

All of those Sydney clubs have survived as stand alone teams and their future looks very secure.
 
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RedVHeartbeat

RedVHeartbeat

SGI NSW Cup
RedV01 said:
As for the current crop, CST is a St. George junior. Think so anyway. Expecting big things from him. So we will be able to 2 have made it in the last 20 years.
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Your point being what RedV01.That the joint venture has squeezed out home grown Saints players. I reckon that could be the case, I expect because the Illawarra is a stronger and larger nursery than St George therefore produces more players. Such a pity as every yr the SGJRL has some talented kids in their comp with stars in their eyes to one day wear the iconic RedV. Who else among our pathway elites other than Stanley-Trail is a Saints jr. Be interested to know.
 
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RedV01

RedV01

SGI NSW Cup
RedVHeartbeat said:
Your point being what RedV01.That the joint venture has squeezed out home grown Saints players. I reckon that could be the case, I expect because the Illawarra is a stronger and larger nursery than St George therefore produces more players. Such a pity as every yr the SGJRL has some talented kids in their comp with stars in their eyes to one day wear the iconic RedV. Who else among our pathway elites other than Stanley-Trail is a Saints jr. Be interested to know.
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No. The deal was that St. George would provide the money and Illawarra would provide the players. It's perfect.
 
RedVHeartbeat

RedVHeartbeat

SGI NSW Cup
RedV01 said:
No. The deal was that St. George would provide the money and Illawarra would provide the players. It's perfect.
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Not if you are a budding Saints junior or the parent of one. You aware of the quality blokes that came thru Saints junior clubs. Reg Gasnier, Billy Smith, Johnny Greaves, Mark Gasnier, Jason Nightingale played their junior footy with Renown, which is still active. 1999 was the worst yr in the history of St George.
 
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Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
RedVHeartbeat said:
Not if you are a budding Saints junior or the parent of one. You aware of the quality blokes that came thru Saints juniors. 1999 was the worst yr in the history of St George.
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Anthony Mundine, Lance Thompson and Jason Stevens were St George juniors who came though the 90's. There may have been others who I can't recall off the top of my head. They all debuted in their teens too.
 
R

RandomDragon

SGI Junior League
People arguing about St George vs Illawarra… how boring… you do know the club no longer recognises its self as a JV… people blame the board for being dinosaurs blah blah, it’s truly the fans though isn’t it? I was born the first year of the JV and couldn’t give a f*ck about St George vs Illawarra or where they play, I just want them to win and have a team full of juniors. IMO they should drop St George Illawarra and just call them the Dragons. It’s inevitable
 
RedV01

RedV01

SGI NSW Cup
Frank Facer said:
Huh? East's and Melboune haven't missed the semis in the last 6 years, with hardly any juniors to speak of. We have not made the semis in the last 7 years, with our 2 lots of junior teams.
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Sir, over the last 28 years Penrith and Donkeys have been the most successful teams. Not Rorters or Melbourne. Penrith especially is a model we should, and I sure are looking to emulate. With the money from St. George and players from Illawarra, it's a very realistic goal.
 
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