Junior Reps 2026

[jodragon40]

I said it last year and one of the manly scouts who I speak to regularly said it too. He looked great in Matt’s against young kids because he was just the bigger faster stronger guy then.

Now everyone’s caught up or gone past him he can’t rely on sheer athleticism anymore

Overall I thought the team performance was great today, just don’t have the talent right across the park like previous years to go toe to toe with the best sides for 70 mins

They need much more from their 1/6/7 if they are going to achieve results consistently

Andrews/Phillips/Meafou the best of the lot and my 3/2/1

No disgrace in that loss. Now bring on the Knights

 

[TheRev]

I said it last year and one of the manly scouts who I speak to regularly said it too. He looked great in Matt’s against young kids because he was just the bigger faster stronger guy then.

Now everyone’s caught up or gone past him he can’t rely on sheer athleticism anymore

Overall I thought the team performance was great today, just don’t have the talent right across the park like previous years to go toe to toe with the best sides for 70 mins

They need much more from their 1/6/7 if they are going to achieve results consistently

Andrews/Phillips/Meafou the best of the lot and my 3/2/1

Is the Top 30 locked in for next year though for Weatherall? Its a real problem to be carrying him for 2027/2028 etc, he might make it but he is going to need some time and we dont want to lose the other prospects or potential signing while were waiting 3-4 years for him.

True the #1 didnt really make any impact, like in all the games earlier.. 6 and 7 hard to tell, 7 was alright I thought, but missing some spark, even a Timmins at ctr would have been outstanding, he can carry 3 over the line.. their centre in Tauaa ran thru us all afternoon.... thought Phillips was pretty good again, I know hes not too popular but hes probably the best 9 I saw today.

man oh man this could be a long year.. need to go and recharge before tonights trial.

 

[jodragon40]

Second Half:

• Souths have some very dangerous outside backs.. but we've managed to contain them so far.. and gotten our own back through Archie Wheeler who has made up for his defensive error earlier with an individual try, just beats his man 1on1 and manages to reach and out and get it into the corner.. 16-12 up.
• And off the kick off Brown knocks on in the play the ball.. I didn't see the error at all.. but off the back of that the same bloke that Archie just beat, beat him right back again and scored again in the corner, down 16-18... 2-1 against Archie.
• Andrews you legend.. nothing doing just gets handed a ball and uses footwork to change direction and easily score next to the posts.. easily.. feel like souths are dominant yet were in front 22-18.
• Had a chance to score under the post after a souths knock on, but they've ruled it as knock-on to us first some how.. and of course souths go on to score.. forward sort of running at the back of a retreating weatherall with his back to the opposition....and we just couldn't stop him scoring under the post.. 22-24 bout 7mins or so to go.
• Ah man couple of 6-agains given against us to march souths up the field.. we defended well btu last tackle yet again.. they grubber thru and it just stays in play by millimetres for souths to score.. they actually miss the goal-kick which means we had a last minute chance to win.. we almost did after CMeafou catches the kick off.. but.. just not quite good enough.. and I do think souths were the better team. 22-28 Loss but one we did let get away at the same time.

No disgrace in that loss plenty to work with

 

[jodragon40]

Is the Top 30 locked in for next year though for Weatherall? Its a real problem to be carrying him for 2027/2028 etc, he might make it but he is going to need some time and we dont want to lose the other prospects or potential signing while were waiting 3-4 years for him.

True the #1 didnt really make any impact, like in all the games earlier.. 6 and 7 hard to tell, 7 was alright I thought, but missing some spark, even a Timmins at ctr would have been outstanding, he can carry 3 over the line.. their centre in Tauaa ran thru us all afternoon.... thought Phillips was pretty good again, I know hes not too popular but hes probably the best 9 I saw today.

man oh man this could be a long year.. need to go and recharge before tonights trial.

No it's not as far as I know

 

[GCRV]

Results didn't go the way we wanted but many thanks to TheRev for the very comprehensive summaries.

 

[Mug Fan]

Steelers Matts looked like they had timed the start of the season wrong.
Fitz had a burner but was hooked
Api passed HIA but will be tested during week.
Darcy dislocated should that didn't pop back in,(also same for Papoas Dragons).

Ollie and Asher standouts
Hunter did a shit load of work Sam and Jake looked good off bench but forwards need to lift.

 

[Mug Fan]

Steelers ball were terrible only thing that kept us in game was how bad Souths were especially 7 and 5.

The good after roasting Phillips he played his best game with his extra size I think he is a 13
Mason A huge CJ was good but needs more involvment.

The bad 1 6 7 like in the trials gave us nothing. Marley being managed hopefully back in 2 weeks that should change things.

Leeroy was a disgrace after 2 NRL pre season he should be able to play 79min at this level.
Kap who missed the pre season looked better.
We need to offload him asap time to make him uncomfortable.

Not long home after a meeting will watch other 4 games tomorrow.

 

[RandomDragon]

Steelers ball were terrible only thing that kept us in game was how bad Souths were especially 7 and 5.

The good after roasting Phillips he played his best game with his extra size I think he is a 13
Mason A huge CJ was good but needs more involvment.

The bad 1 6 7 like in the trials gave us nothing. Marley being managed hopefully back in 2 weeks that should change things.

Leeroy was a disgrace after 2 NRL pre season he should be able to play 79min at this level.
Kap who missed the pre season looked better.
We need to offload him asap time to make him uncomfortable.

Not long home after a meeting will watch other 4 games tomorrow.

Can you confirm if Weatherall is top 30 next year? dont think we write him off after 1 poor performance.

 

[Mailroomsgi]

It’s more than one poor performance, it’s quite a large sample size now

 

[TheRev]

Leeory was T&T 2025, Development 2026, and im pretty sure its Top30 2027 & 2028.. I dont know if there is any flexibility there.. I cant imagine he would voluntarily stand down.. but hes definitely not going to be ready for NRL.. right now he is struggling to hold his U19 spot.. and no I agree hes certainly not written off, but we really were expecting soooo much more after all the work we put in + a dev contract + his 3rd year in U19's, he should be blowing them away in his carries, even if we excuse the errors etc.

Its annoying cause someone like Hutchinson would definitely do more with that contract opportunity.. I would say DMeafou too but I havent seen him play a decent stint in ages.. young Mason Andrews also put his hand up today.

 

[Mailroomsgi]

A top 30 contract is literal gold man. Can u imagine the level of talent we could leverage into signing with us for someone of Leroy’s age?

That’s why it’s a real disappointment that he’s not kicked on, imagine someone like an Itula Seve or Cooper Clarke that we used that top 30 contract for

Anyway sometimes these things happen, gambling on young talent is necessary

We did it with Burton and should do it with Ah Kee. The race for the best young talent is so competitive these days that sometimes you have to commit much earlier than most would like

 

[TheRev]

A top 30 contract is literal gold man. Can u imagine the level of talent we could leverage into signing with us for someone of Leroy’s age?

That’s why it’s a real disappointment that he’s not kicked on, imagine someone like an Itula Seve or Cooper Clarke that we used that top 30 contract for

Anyway sometimes these things happen, gambling on young talent is necessary

We did it with Burton and should do it with Ah Kee. The race for the best young talent is so competitive these days that sometimes you have to commit much earlier than most would like

Yep I think to be blunt, this is one we got wrong (note that we got most right).. and its exactly as you said... this is the challenge now... younger and younger we now need to commit to the talented teenagers, promise them a T&T and a Dev Spot and a Top30 spot in xyz years.. in order to keep them (or woo them) to the club. I will also say that Leeroy was signed in 2024.. before Anderson got here, and Anderson does say he specialises in props....

Someone like Ah Kee (if he stays) and Burton seem like obvious talents.. but we could absolutely be wrong about that.. sometimes backs end up too small for example, but Burton is a big body, he will make it somewhere between 1 thru 5.. Ah Kee is nuggety and that level of skill, I think he will handle 6 perfectly, 7 maybe and 9/14 maybe also.. but im pretty confident hes making it.. Halves like Reed/LKT are hard.. halves rarely make it.. but we seem to have done well there, Reed tbf has probably been quite patient and willing to prove himself.

Forwards are probably the hardest.. because a) especially for the bigger ones, size isnt enough as the grades go up and b) sometimes they just need a few more years to develop.. its not an exact science.. and not easy to time that right when they still have 3 or 4 grades to move through yet... I dont mean for this to be a pile in on Weatherall.. but I was ok to forgive him a slow 2025 after coming off injury.. but the thought of Top30 is scaring me with how far he has to go still... even a dev spot has real opportunity cost.

I know some say Cook is a waste of a Top30 spot for next year, but Cook is a 1st grader, even if hes not the 1st choice we will use him in our campaign.. Halangahu or Nick as Top 30 could be played even though they might not quite be there yet.. CST I believe is Top 30 next year... with 2 years of cup in him and looking strong at that level.. he will be just ok for 1st grade imo.. i.e. I think we got him right... but Leeroy is 3 grades behind still, and has a long long journey ahead.

 

[Frank Facer]

Tell ya what, sometimes you can just see when a player has something about em.

Mason Andrews just moves different

He’s got a fan in me

Reminds me of the first time I saw Mundine debut for us. I remember thinking he moved well.

I've put a lot of new members on ignore, see how it goes.

lol

TheRev said:
Dragons SG Ball:

Second Half:

• 
  
• And Pappas has put his shoulder of its socket.. far out.. kid looked alright, assume hes a local greek boy

I went to a school at Earlwood. There was a guy named Bill Pappas in the year below me. I am wondering if William Pappas if is his son?

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

Reminds me of the first time I saw Mundine debut for us. I remember thinking he moved well.


lol

TheRev said:
Dragons SG Ball:

Second Half:

• 
  
• And Pappas has put his shoulder of its socket.. far out.. kid looked alright, assume hes a local greek boy

I went to a school at Earlwood. There was a guy named Bill Pappas in the year below me. I am wondering if William Pappas if is his son?

I doubt it's his son, Greeks don't normally name their sons after themselves, we normally name them after the kids Grandfather on the father's side first.

 

[Mug Fan]

Think ur spot on Rev, it’ll be a tough watch for the boys junior reps bar Harold Matt’s Steelers

Let’s hope DA and the pathways recruitment can jag some guns once this accomodation village is set up.

In the meantime we are branching out into real estate.

An update on this.
We will have a house in Kogarah and one in Wollongong.

 

[Mug Fan]

After watching the 4 games my overall opinion is our skills levels are not good enough, that's back on coaching, I don't rate any of them.

The players in Academy training stand out. We need to be attracting Willie level coaching and better staff.

The Hammoud incident was a shit show.
The tackle should of been put on report as a crusher and the game stopped, as was done for Luka tackle.

The trainers should of called for the game to be stopped, for 3 minutes they were with him while the game went on until Raiders took advantage and scored down left side.
How the f*ck does that ground have change sheds with no access for Ambulance.

 

[Mug Fan]

Inject that shit into my veins

Let us know what you thought of Rokko Walker when you get the chance to see the game mate.

Liked what I saw, nowhere near the same level obviously but gave me Similar vibes to a teenage Reece Walsh with the agility and risky ballplaying

Rokko watch, nothing new in that game that I haven't already seen from him.

Good to see him closer to the action, which is what I have asked for.

No doubting the kid has talent and can do freakish things but his league skill need a lot of work mainly around non union stuff, play the balls D contact.

No being in any system previously he has no upper body strength or size.
The plan will be to let him showcase his skills for next 2 months then full on into academy work.

 

[Mug Fan]

Can you confirm if Weatherall is top 30 next year? dont think we write him off after 1 poor performance.

It’s more than one poor performance, it’s quite a large sample size now

Leeory was T&T 2025, Development 2026, and im pretty sure its Top30 2027 & 2028.. I dont know if there is any flexibility there.. I cant imagine he would voluntarily stand down..

Either way it's a spot in our 36 man squad for next 2 year.

The club can't write him off but I certainly can, and I know someone else who can.

 

[jodragon40]

Leeory was T&T 2025, Development 2026, and im pretty sure its Top30 2027 & 2028.. I dont know if there is any flexibility there.. I cant imagine he would voluntarily stand down.. but hes definitely not going to be ready for NRL.. right now he is struggling to hold his U19 spot.. and no I agree hes certainly not written off, but we really were expecting soooo much more after all the work we put in + a dev contract + his 3rd year in U19's, he should be blowing them away in his carries, even if we excuse the errors etc.

Its annoying cause someone like Hutchinson would definitely do more with that contract opportunity.. I would say DMeafou too but I havent seen him play a decent stint in ages.. young Mason Andrews also put his hand up today.

Andrews caught my eye, very promising

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Solid lead by boys in Ball at oranges. Missed first half, will watch replay.

The boys were outstanding for first 30 mins, good attacking and defensive line speed, playing for each other, powerful pack making constant PCMs, sharp backs making inroads. We were clearly on top, until piggy back penalties got em back into the contest 10mins before oranges. Had that bounce from their chip kick landed with us, things may have finished differently. They got huge momentum from that six pointer to start their half. Still cant be too harsh on these kids as it takes time to gel as a team. Trouble is the season is so short not a great deal of time to remedy faults. The new coach will know how to get em up for next week.