The under-20s team of the decade: Tom Trbojevic, Ben Barba, Shaun Johnson, Jason Taumalolo
Nick Campton, The Daily Telegraph
September 5, 2017 12:20pm
Subscriber only
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IN the 10 years of the under-20s fans have been treated to watching the greats of tomorrow take their final steps before they hit the big time.
The hype surrounding a player’s potential never exceeds what they show in the Holden Cup. The opposition aren’t as big or strong, the defence isn’t as tough and young phenoms can put up some truly incredible performances.
To celebrate a decade of the under-20s, we’ve put together a team of the best players to play at that level — with a fair few honourable mentions.
All the players included are in on their under-20s performances only.
Before we begin, a massive shout out to NYC Database. Without their websitethis article would not have been possible.
2017 TEAM OF THE YEAR: Who are the stars of tomorrow?
1) Tom Trbojevic
Trbojevic’s stats from his 2015 under-20s season are truly outrageous. Despite dipping in and out of the side due to playing first grade, Trbojevic was churning out ridiculous numbers on almost a weekly basis. One week, he ran for 485 metres, the most in a single game in the competition's history. Three weeks later he had six line-breaks in a match, another competition record (albeit one he shares with three other players).
He had 33 line breaks that season, the equal most in a year in the competition’s history despite only playing in 14 games.
Overall, he scored 41 tries in 32 games in the competition in 2014-15, a remarkable run however you look at it.
Trbojevic was a standout in 2015.
2) Dane Gagai
Not many players made the under-20s team of the year more than once but Dane Gagai did. The then Broncos flyer was a workhorse at wing or fullback for Brisbane, running for an absurd 4524 metres in 2010 and breaking 275 tackles that year, the most in a single season in the competition’s history — three times that season he broke 20 or more tackles in a single match. Gagai scored 39 tries in 61 matches in his under-20s career from 2009 to 2011 and is the only player to be named in two different starting positions (wing and fullback) in the official team of the year.
Dane Gagai was a force to be reckoned with in the Under 20s.
3) Konrad Hurrell
The Warriors have won three under-20s titles and it’s in a large part due to players like Hurrell. In 2011, his first season playing rugby league at any level, Hurrell scored 21 tries in 20 games, ran for 4140m (the sixth highest total in the competition’s history), broke the line 33 times and broke 268 tackles — both those last two are the second-highest single season totals in history.
In two matches that season he broke 21 tackles, just two shy of the competition record for a single game.
It was Hurrell’s only season in the under-20s — he blew through the competition like a hurricane – but it’s enough to get a start here.
4) Siuatonga Likiliki
A two-time team of the year representative, Likiliki’s NRL career may not have reached any great heights but he was a powerhouse in junior football, boasting a size, physicality and strength that few centres could match.
Likiliki scored 29 tries in 50 games from 2008 to 2010 and played in the Warriors’ 2010 under-20s premiership side. His first grade career was restricted to one match with the Warriors in 2009 and two with Newcastle in 2011.
5) Gideon Gela-Mosby
Gela-Mosby flashed over for 39 tries in 25 games in 2015, beating Jake Mullaney’s old competition record by a clear 10 tries and tearing the competition apart with his speed and footwork.
The Cowboys flyer made the team of the year twice and is the third most prolific tryscorer in the competition’s history with 53, one behind co-leaders Matt Dufty and Drury Low. Those 53 tries came in just 44 matches.
Had the Cowboys not been upset in the 2015 preliminary final by Manly, it seems safe to assume he would have cracked 40 tries for the season. This is one instance where the numbers speak for themselves.
Gela-Mosby went so close to scoring 40 tries in a season.
6) Ben Barba
The first true superstar of the under-20s, Barba’s season in 2008 took on mythical properties as the year unfolded. In 20 matches that season he scored 28 tries, kicked 70 goals and two field goals for 254 points.
Had he not been moved up to first grade late in the season he would have surely threatened the 300-point barrier.
He played just six more matches in the under-20s but finished with 38 tries from his 26 matches and the footage of him from those early seasons remains electrifying to this day.
7) Shaun Johnson
Johnson’s 2009 season was something extremely special — he conjured up 48 try assists and 31 line break assists and the former remains a single season competition record.
Not content with that mark, he set to work leading the Warriors to their first under-20s title in 2010 and by the time his youth career wrapped at the end of that season he’d scored 24 tries in his 45 games and kicked 148 goals and six field goals for a total of 298 points.
Johnson has always been a special player and the under-20s was the first elite stage where he truly shined.
Johnson helped lead the Warriors to the premiership in 2009.
8) Viliame Kikau
The big Fijian prop was a revelation when the Cowboys unleashed him on the competition for the first time in 2014.
An athletic, powerful forward, Kikau muscled his way over for 32 tries in 42 matches, including 21 in 21 games in 2015.
No other forward has had such a concrete impact on the competition in terms of point scoring and Kikau’s try-scoring feats would be impressive no matter his position.
Kikau also captured the 2016 RLPA under-20s player of the year award.
9) Michael Lichaa
There was a reason Canterbury broke the bank to lure Lichaa away from Cronulla and a big part of it was his under-20s form.
Lichaa is one of the few players to earn back-to-back team of the year selections in the same position and his three-season stint with the Sharks in this competition had him earmarked as one of the top young hookers in the country.
Courtesy of a deadly running game that was stamped out of him once he reached first grade, Lichaa tore opposition defences apart in his 52 matches from 2011 to 2013.
Lichaa dominated for the Sharks in the lower grades.
10) David Klemmer
The 2012 under-20s player of the year, Klemmer’s size, strength and footwork allowed him to dominate junior football like few forwards have in the 10 years of the under-20s.
He played a major role in steering Canterbury to the 2012 minor premiership and is one of two props to win the Dally M under-20s player of the year award.
11) Jason Taumalolo
Appearing in 55 matches from 2010 to 2012, Taumalolo operated mainly as an edge forward in the under-20s and was just as effective in the lower grades as he has become in first grade.
His 4192 metres gained in 2011 is the second highest total by any forward in a single season and he won the RLPA’s under-20s player of the year award that season.
He also made the team of the year and helped take the Cowboys to the grand final, where they lost to the Warriors in golden point.
Jason Taumalolo has always been a handful.
12) Tariq Sims
A series of leg injuries has robbed Tariq Sims of some of his pace but in his younger days he was a hell raiser in the middle of the field. He had the power and footwork to break the line to go with the speed to go all the way when he broke into the clear.
The 2010 player of the year, Sims played 49 matches for Brisbane from 2009-10 and crossed for 18 tries in that period.
13) Nat Butcher
Butcher’s statistics have to be seen to be believed. Man of the match in the Roosters’ 2016 grand final win, Butcher played 35 matches in 2015 and 2016 for the Tricolours and was named at lock in the team of the year last season, as well as the RLPA’s under-20s player of the year. That year he broke the record for most metres gained in a year with 4526 and tackles in a season with 1049, a seemingly impossible feat that gives him a claim at being the best forward in the competition’s history.
Butcher made every post a winner in 2016.
14) Carlos Tuimavave
A gifted, willowy five-eighth, Tuimavave played 52 matches for the Warriors from 2010 to 2012 and each of his three seasons was something special.
In 2010 he partnered Shaun Johnson in the halves for the Warriors’ grand final win over the Rabbitohs and was man of the match 12 months later when they went back-to-back in golden point against North Queensland.
He also scored team of the year selections in 2011 and 2012, both at five-eighth.
The 25-year old played just 14 NRL matches from 2012 to 2015, including five for the Knights after leaving New Zealand, and currently plays for English club Hull FC.
15) Jack de Belin
De Belin doesn’t have the spectacular numbers of some of the other players on this list but the hardworking forward earned the 2011 player of the year award with dominant displays in the middle of the field.
As he has gone on to do in first grade, de Belin’s vice-like tackling, powerful runs and judicious offloads made him a dangerous and complete weapon for the Dragons that season and throughout his 41 games at this level in 2010 and 2011.
Beau Henry was a standout during his time in the lower grades.
16) Beau Henry
The 2009 Dally M and RLPA under-20s player of the year was considered a slam dunk superstar in waiting and based on his accolades it’s easy to see why.
Henry dominated the opposition whenever he took the field in his 51 matches.
He put up 35 try assists and 31 line break assists in 2009 as well as eight 40/20s and scored 17 tries in 25 matches.
A robust, powerful halfback or five-eighth, Henry was lauded as a marquee purchase for Newcastle when he joined them for 2011 but departed mid-season to join the Titans and played just 14 matches from 2011 to 2014.
17) Kalyn Ponga
Ponga won back-to-back team of the year selections in 2016 and 2017 and played a major role in North Queensland’s run to the preliminary final in 2015.
From his first match in the competition Ponga looked like a star and he would still be eligible for another season in the under-20s next season.
He’s had some truly fabulous matches in his three seasons, like the game in 2015 where he broke 22 tackles, one off the competition record, and ran for a ridiculous 327 metres. In 2017 alone he managed 12 tries, 12 line breaks, 13 try assists and 90 tackle busts from just 14 matches.
18th man: Addison Demetriou
Perhaps the weirdest positional switch possible is moving from prop to centre but that’s just what Addison Demetriou did in 2015 and the results were truly spectacular.
Playing for Manly alongside Tom Trbojevic, Demetriou caught fire out wide and dominated his opponents, running for 4433 metres and breaking 197 tackles, transforming into a wide-running wrecking ball and earning a player of the year nomination.
In Round 15 of that season he ran for 299 metres, scored two tries and broke 26 tackles, the most in a single game in the history of under-20s.
The only player in this team not to play first grade, Demetriou is currently plying his trade for Auburn in the Ron Massey Cup.
Honourable mentions:
Mitch Cornish — one of the toughest omissions, Cornish made the team of the year in 2012 and 2013 and led Canberra to the grand final in the former season and the preliminary final in the latter.
Ben Hunt — the competition’s first player of the year and still the youngest to earn that honour. Steered the Broncos to the grand final that season on the back of 35 try assists.
Kyle Flanagan — with 344 points this year from 19 tries and 134 goals, Flanagan is the most prolific pointscorer in a single season in under-20s history and the favourite to take out the 2017 player of the year award.
Jake Mullaney — helped the Tigers to the 2009 grand final on the back of a monstrous season where he scored 322 points from 29 tries and 103 goals.
Ashley Taylor — holds the competition record for most try assists in a game with six and won the 2015 player of the year award.
Shaun Fensom — the Raiders skipper in the inaugural under-20s grand final and the RLPA Under 20s player of the year that same season.
Sam Lousi — bigger than big, the towering Lousi was another dual premiership Warrior in 2010 and 2011 with the ability to offload at will and run over anyone he damn well liked.
Drury Low — his 54 tries is the equal most in the competition’s history along with Matt Dufty.
Jayden Berrell — with 82 matches, the Broncos dummy half is the second-most capped player in under-20s history, behind only Wayne Ulugia and made the 2015 team of the year.
Wayne Ulugia — the most capped player in the competition’s history with 88 matches and the fourth most prolific tryscorer with 50.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...o/news-story/031e90e7fd163268681613a37233e369
Nick Campton, The Daily Telegraph
September 5, 2017 12:20pm
Subscriber only
Ads by Kiosked
IN the 10 years of the under-20s fans have been treated to watching the greats of tomorrow take their final steps before they hit the big time.
The hype surrounding a player’s potential never exceeds what they show in the Holden Cup. The opposition aren’t as big or strong, the defence isn’t as tough and young phenoms can put up some truly incredible performances.
To celebrate a decade of the under-20s, we’ve put together a team of the best players to play at that level — with a fair few honourable mentions.
All the players included are in on their under-20s performances only.
Before we begin, a massive shout out to NYC Database. Without their websitethis article would not have been possible.
2017 TEAM OF THE YEAR: Who are the stars of tomorrow?
1) Tom Trbojevic
Trbojevic’s stats from his 2015 under-20s season are truly outrageous. Despite dipping in and out of the side due to playing first grade, Trbojevic was churning out ridiculous numbers on almost a weekly basis. One week, he ran for 485 metres, the most in a single game in the competition's history. Three weeks later he had six line-breaks in a match, another competition record (albeit one he shares with three other players).
He had 33 line breaks that season, the equal most in a year in the competition’s history despite only playing in 14 games.
Overall, he scored 41 tries in 32 games in the competition in 2014-15, a remarkable run however you look at it.
Trbojevic was a standout in 2015.
2) Dane Gagai
Not many players made the under-20s team of the year more than once but Dane Gagai did. The then Broncos flyer was a workhorse at wing or fullback for Brisbane, running for an absurd 4524 metres in 2010 and breaking 275 tackles that year, the most in a single season in the competition’s history — three times that season he broke 20 or more tackles in a single match. Gagai scored 39 tries in 61 matches in his under-20s career from 2009 to 2011 and is the only player to be named in two different starting positions (wing and fullback) in the official team of the year.
Dane Gagai was a force to be reckoned with in the Under 20s.
3) Konrad Hurrell
The Warriors have won three under-20s titles and it’s in a large part due to players like Hurrell. In 2011, his first season playing rugby league at any level, Hurrell scored 21 tries in 20 games, ran for 4140m (the sixth highest total in the competition’s history), broke the line 33 times and broke 268 tackles — both those last two are the second-highest single season totals in history.
In two matches that season he broke 21 tackles, just two shy of the competition record for a single game.
It was Hurrell’s only season in the under-20s — he blew through the competition like a hurricane – but it’s enough to get a start here.
4) Siuatonga Likiliki
A two-time team of the year representative, Likiliki’s NRL career may not have reached any great heights but he was a powerhouse in junior football, boasting a size, physicality and strength that few centres could match.
Likiliki scored 29 tries in 50 games from 2008 to 2010 and played in the Warriors’ 2010 under-20s premiership side. His first grade career was restricted to one match with the Warriors in 2009 and two with Newcastle in 2011.
5) Gideon Gela-Mosby
Gela-Mosby flashed over for 39 tries in 25 games in 2015, beating Jake Mullaney’s old competition record by a clear 10 tries and tearing the competition apart with his speed and footwork.
The Cowboys flyer made the team of the year twice and is the third most prolific tryscorer in the competition’s history with 53, one behind co-leaders Matt Dufty and Drury Low. Those 53 tries came in just 44 matches.
Had the Cowboys not been upset in the 2015 preliminary final by Manly, it seems safe to assume he would have cracked 40 tries for the season. This is one instance where the numbers speak for themselves.
Gela-Mosby went so close to scoring 40 tries in a season.
6) Ben Barba
The first true superstar of the under-20s, Barba’s season in 2008 took on mythical properties as the year unfolded. In 20 matches that season he scored 28 tries, kicked 70 goals and two field goals for 254 points.
Had he not been moved up to first grade late in the season he would have surely threatened the 300-point barrier.
He played just six more matches in the under-20s but finished with 38 tries from his 26 matches and the footage of him from those early seasons remains electrifying to this day.
7) Shaun Johnson
Johnson’s 2009 season was something extremely special — he conjured up 48 try assists and 31 line break assists and the former remains a single season competition record.
Not content with that mark, he set to work leading the Warriors to their first under-20s title in 2010 and by the time his youth career wrapped at the end of that season he’d scored 24 tries in his 45 games and kicked 148 goals and six field goals for a total of 298 points.
Johnson has always been a special player and the under-20s was the first elite stage where he truly shined.
Johnson helped lead the Warriors to the premiership in 2009.
8) Viliame Kikau
The big Fijian prop was a revelation when the Cowboys unleashed him on the competition for the first time in 2014.
An athletic, powerful forward, Kikau muscled his way over for 32 tries in 42 matches, including 21 in 21 games in 2015.
No other forward has had such a concrete impact on the competition in terms of point scoring and Kikau’s try-scoring feats would be impressive no matter his position.
Kikau also captured the 2016 RLPA under-20s player of the year award.
9) Michael Lichaa
There was a reason Canterbury broke the bank to lure Lichaa away from Cronulla and a big part of it was his under-20s form.
Lichaa is one of the few players to earn back-to-back team of the year selections in the same position and his three-season stint with the Sharks in this competition had him earmarked as one of the top young hookers in the country.
Courtesy of a deadly running game that was stamped out of him once he reached first grade, Lichaa tore opposition defences apart in his 52 matches from 2011 to 2013.
Lichaa dominated for the Sharks in the lower grades.
10) David Klemmer
The 2012 under-20s player of the year, Klemmer’s size, strength and footwork allowed him to dominate junior football like few forwards have in the 10 years of the under-20s.
He played a major role in steering Canterbury to the 2012 minor premiership and is one of two props to win the Dally M under-20s player of the year award.
11) Jason Taumalolo
Appearing in 55 matches from 2010 to 2012, Taumalolo operated mainly as an edge forward in the under-20s and was just as effective in the lower grades as he has become in first grade.
His 4192 metres gained in 2011 is the second highest total by any forward in a single season and he won the RLPA’s under-20s player of the year award that season.
He also made the team of the year and helped take the Cowboys to the grand final, where they lost to the Warriors in golden point.
Jason Taumalolo has always been a handful.
12) Tariq Sims
A series of leg injuries has robbed Tariq Sims of some of his pace but in his younger days he was a hell raiser in the middle of the field. He had the power and footwork to break the line to go with the speed to go all the way when he broke into the clear.
The 2010 player of the year, Sims played 49 matches for Brisbane from 2009-10 and crossed for 18 tries in that period.
13) Nat Butcher
Butcher’s statistics have to be seen to be believed. Man of the match in the Roosters’ 2016 grand final win, Butcher played 35 matches in 2015 and 2016 for the Tricolours and was named at lock in the team of the year last season, as well as the RLPA’s under-20s player of the year. That year he broke the record for most metres gained in a year with 4526 and tackles in a season with 1049, a seemingly impossible feat that gives him a claim at being the best forward in the competition’s history.
Butcher made every post a winner in 2016.
14) Carlos Tuimavave
A gifted, willowy five-eighth, Tuimavave played 52 matches for the Warriors from 2010 to 2012 and each of his three seasons was something special.
In 2010 he partnered Shaun Johnson in the halves for the Warriors’ grand final win over the Rabbitohs and was man of the match 12 months later when they went back-to-back in golden point against North Queensland.
He also scored team of the year selections in 2011 and 2012, both at five-eighth.
The 25-year old played just 14 NRL matches from 2012 to 2015, including five for the Knights after leaving New Zealand, and currently plays for English club Hull FC.
15) Jack de Belin
De Belin doesn’t have the spectacular numbers of some of the other players on this list but the hardworking forward earned the 2011 player of the year award with dominant displays in the middle of the field.
As he has gone on to do in first grade, de Belin’s vice-like tackling, powerful runs and judicious offloads made him a dangerous and complete weapon for the Dragons that season and throughout his 41 games at this level in 2010 and 2011.
Beau Henry was a standout during his time in the lower grades.
16) Beau Henry
The 2009 Dally M and RLPA under-20s player of the year was considered a slam dunk superstar in waiting and based on his accolades it’s easy to see why.
Henry dominated the opposition whenever he took the field in his 51 matches.
He put up 35 try assists and 31 line break assists in 2009 as well as eight 40/20s and scored 17 tries in 25 matches.
A robust, powerful halfback or five-eighth, Henry was lauded as a marquee purchase for Newcastle when he joined them for 2011 but departed mid-season to join the Titans and played just 14 matches from 2011 to 2014.
17) Kalyn Ponga
Ponga won back-to-back team of the year selections in 2016 and 2017 and played a major role in North Queensland’s run to the preliminary final in 2015.
From his first match in the competition Ponga looked like a star and he would still be eligible for another season in the under-20s next season.
He’s had some truly fabulous matches in his three seasons, like the game in 2015 where he broke 22 tackles, one off the competition record, and ran for a ridiculous 327 metres. In 2017 alone he managed 12 tries, 12 line breaks, 13 try assists and 90 tackle busts from just 14 matches.
18th man: Addison Demetriou
Perhaps the weirdest positional switch possible is moving from prop to centre but that’s just what Addison Demetriou did in 2015 and the results were truly spectacular.
Playing for Manly alongside Tom Trbojevic, Demetriou caught fire out wide and dominated his opponents, running for 4433 metres and breaking 197 tackles, transforming into a wide-running wrecking ball and earning a player of the year nomination.
In Round 15 of that season he ran for 299 metres, scored two tries and broke 26 tackles, the most in a single game in the history of under-20s.
The only player in this team not to play first grade, Demetriou is currently plying his trade for Auburn in the Ron Massey Cup.
Honourable mentions:
Mitch Cornish — one of the toughest omissions, Cornish made the team of the year in 2012 and 2013 and led Canberra to the grand final in the former season and the preliminary final in the latter.
Ben Hunt — the competition’s first player of the year and still the youngest to earn that honour. Steered the Broncos to the grand final that season on the back of 35 try assists.
Kyle Flanagan — with 344 points this year from 19 tries and 134 goals, Flanagan is the most prolific pointscorer in a single season in under-20s history and the favourite to take out the 2017 player of the year award.
Jake Mullaney — helped the Tigers to the 2009 grand final on the back of a monstrous season where he scored 322 points from 29 tries and 103 goals.
Ashley Taylor — holds the competition record for most try assists in a game with six and won the 2015 player of the year award.
Shaun Fensom — the Raiders skipper in the inaugural under-20s grand final and the RLPA Under 20s player of the year that same season.
Sam Lousi — bigger than big, the towering Lousi was another dual premiership Warrior in 2010 and 2011 with the ability to offload at will and run over anyone he damn well liked.
Drury Low — his 54 tries is the equal most in the competition’s history along with Matt Dufty.
Jayden Berrell — with 82 matches, the Broncos dummy half is the second-most capped player in under-20s history, behind only Wayne Ulugia and made the 2015 team of the year.
Wayne Ulugia — the most capped player in the competition’s history with 88 matches and the fourth most prolific tryscorer with 50.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...o/news-story/031e90e7fd163268681613a37233e369
