Promising Juniors Thread.

RedVHeartbeat

SGI NSW Cup
What position does Rokko Walker play. I note he was not in the Warriors Matts Cup '25 squad. So will likely start in Saints MC in '26.
 

Mailroomsgi

SGI Jersey Flegg
Jasias Ah Kee made his A grade debut in Penrith comp on the weekend.
He was a standout handling the stepup comfortably with 2 tries and 2 assists.

With the changes off field I'm more confident we can retain him.
Brilliant, while it’s exciting signing new talent to the club

Keeping him would be a real statement, he would be better than basically any junior half we could sign and you could argue he’s the most talented u17 player in NSW in my opinion

He’s a clone of Anthony Milford at Canberra when he was still hyper athletic and Jasais could genuinely be shaped into any spine position he wanted that’s how talented and gifted he is

Hope your right Justa 🤞
 

AyiosYiorgos

SGI Jersey Flegg
Brilliant, while it’s exciting signing new talent to the club

Keeping him would be a real statement, he would be better than basically any junior half we could sign and you could argue he’s the most talented u17 player in NSW in my opinion

He’s a clone of Anthony Milford at Canberra when he was still hyper athletic and Jasais could genuinely be shaped into any spine position he wanted that’s how talented and gifted he is

Hope your right Justa 🤞
So our halves potentially going forward

6. Jasias Ah Kee
7. Kade Reed
 

Mailroomsgi

SGI Jersey Flegg
That’s a great mix of ball running and ball playing between the pair of them

I haven’t seen much of Jasais play left side but he looked great in the game against the dogs in parts on that side in Matt’s this year. Carried St George to win that game on his own

The timeline for Jasais is perfect with Atkinson coming in, he’ll be turning 20 YO in Atkinson’s final year (2028)
 

Mailroomsgi

SGI Jersey Flegg
Unrelated but I heard Carter Mareko might be joining Canterbury which is just baffling that all these kids want to keep going to the dogs and roosters with their pathways blocked

The ability to sell the club And vision has never been more important in junior recruitment
 

AyiosYiorgos

SGI Jersey Flegg
Unrelated but I heard Carter Mareko might be joining Canterbury which is just baffling that all these kids want to keep going to the dogs and roosters with their pathways blocked

The ability to sell the club And vision has never been more important in junior recruitment
Bulldogs love a shiny new toy
 

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
Gus definitely loves it.. hes very good at signing players.. and just loves the game of wooing their signature... but the game gets boring when all the spots are filled... so you have to start sacking players so you can sign more.

But agree, im rly confused what all these young kids are going to do in the dogs or roosters system.. with multiple guns in the queue in front of them with 10yr first grade careers ahead of them..
 

Mailroomsgi

SGI Jersey Flegg
They’ll lose a few for sure, the cream will rise to the top but some very good ones will go elsewhere that they want to keep

Yet Gus will say he’s never lost anyone he’s wanted to keep (despite losing the Seve bro’s 6 months ago who are the best props Canterbury have produced since David Klemmer)
 

GCRV

SGI NSW Cup

Top 50 schoolboy players ahead of the 2025 ASSRL Nationals​

No. 45 Jasais Ah Kee​

Position: Five-eighth
Affiliation: Dragons
School: Patrician Brothers College Blacktown
The playmaker won the Dragons’ Harold Matthews Cup player of the year after an electrifying campaign in the No.6 jersey. A dangerous runner of the football and a nightmare to contain for opposition defences.

No. 32 Oliver Burton​

Position: Fullback
Affiliation: St George Illawarra Dragons
School: Illawarra Sports High School
A fullback packing plenty of pace, Burton has only this month extended with the Dragons until the end of season 2028. Burton scored nine tries during his first Harold Matthews season with the Illawarra Steelers.

No.11 Creighton Meafou​

Position: Back row
Affiliation: Dragons
School: Edmund Rice
A star in both rugby codes. Meafou was selected in the Australian under-16 rugby union side after his performances for the Waratahs Gen Blue. He is also a star with the Steelers in the Harold Matthews Cup, having co-captained the side.
 

Mailroomsgi

SGI Jersey Flegg
They never get these rankings right in the daily Tele (They mean nothing anyway but I’ll have a little rant)

The disrespect to Jasais Ah Kee at #45, id have him top 10. The fact he’s not in the halves over Jeziah Papa/Chase Butler is bizarre

That’s probably about right for Burton just because he’s 2 years younger than most of these guys

Bit high for Creighton Meafou but he’s very talented and could prove me wrong easily

Last year they had Halangahu ranked #8 and he ended up getting MVP for NSWCCC who smashed everyone
 

GCRV

SGI NSW Cup
They never get these rankings right in the daily Tele (They mean nothing anyway but I’ll have a little rant)

The disrespect to Jasais Ah Kee at #45, id have him top 10. The fact he’s not in the halves over Jeziah Papa/Chase Butler is bizarre

That’s probably about right for Burton just because he’s 2 years younger than most of these guys

Bit high for Creighton Meafou but he’s very talented and could prove me wrong easily

Last year they had Halangahu ranked #8 and he ended up getting MVP for NSWCCC who smashed everyone
Absolutely. It would be much more useful if they make it into an unordered list.
 

TheRev

SGI NSW Cup
Thats a challenging thing to do.. try to rank so many kids, very very subjective.. and I doubt anyone watches all the lower grade games that closely that they can watch players individual journey for context over their performance... in Jasais's case.. he played in a really weak side this year, which I suppose did help him stand out in a way, but imagine what he could do on the back of a more dominant forward pack.. or with more guns outside him..

Creighton is an interesting one, physically and skill wise he could be anything, he just didnt kick on this season like we had hoped.. but early days im still pretty confident hes a 1st grader.. just not sure if hes elite elite yet.. saw a lot of Stephen Crichton in his early games.. as a leader and as a player.. worries me that he is still messing around in rugby.. but hopefully we will lock him up at some pt.. hate this ~16yr age thing.. its just too young.. still a lot of ladder rungs before they could possibly be moved up... I cant really see a world where we would fast track kids at stgeorge.. we sort of did with Buchanan (I think he could have played first grade if he had taken the opportunities given to him these last 2years) and perhaps Halangahu/Latu, there are a couple.. but we are being much more patient with Reed & Heidke.. these guys could have had half a year of NSW Cup by now, players their age are in 1st grade at some clubs (Rodwell for example on the fringe of first grade at the rorters).. we arent wired like that.. were being super patient.. Nick also could have had a full year or 1.5yrs as a 2nd rower in NSW Cup and be injury cover in first grade by now, I mean where is Nicks *2023 NSW U19 teammate in Tamale.. 2yrs of NSW Cup and 1yr of first grade already.. granted Tamale did come thru early to us from Rugby... he skipped the normal pathway.. but hes in 1sts now and owning it.

I generally do agree with Flanno that too many kids is disaster.. but I do think we fail to really clear the runway to let the best talent come through, and even when the runway is clear (thru injury) we still prefer to play it safe.
 
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Eric

Staff
I generally do agree with Flanno that too many kids is disaster.. but I do think we fail to really clear the runway to let the best talent come through, and even when the runway is clear (thru injury) we still prefer to play it safe.
This is exactly my beef with Flanno. A few years ago I think it was the Broncos (but might be wrong) Seibold cleared out a lot of the older players and went with a very talented and young squad. They won the spoon and coach was given at least $1 mil to walk away. But Flanno has been way too cautious. Egan only got selected due to injuries to Sele, Eisenhuth and RFM. Should've been in the team from round 1 last year. Then I agree 100% with the ones you mentioned.
 

GCRV

SGI NSW Cup
This is exactly my beef with Flanno. A few years ago I think it was the Broncos (but might be wrong) Seibold cleared out a lot of the older players and went with a very talented and young squad. They won the spoon and coach was given at least $1 mil to walk away. But Flanno has been way too cautious. Egan only got selected due to injuries to Sele, Eisenhuth and RFM. Should've been in the team from round 1 last year. Then I agree 100% with the ones you mentioned.
Probably not round 1 but should've been given a chance by mid season. Egan I mean.
 

Mailroomsgi

SGI Jersey Flegg
IMG_0562.jpegLove to see it and yes everybody who’s been following this thread would have knows this weeks ago

I’m posting it here more because it’s unusual that young pathways signings get announced on the clubs official page

I wonder why these 2 in particular got this compared to previous ones
 
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