Players to watch from yesterdays lower grades

[Darren]

In flegg, a new kid who has come back from bad knee injury, 2nd row Junior Palau,

very excited about him, very big, strong and mobile, similiar to willie mason, that big for his age!! not slow and cumbersome, made several big breaks and I remember going "where has the guy come from" when he moved around the field he dominated, hope that he stays with us, potentially could be anything

forward Mark Offerdahl was back to his barnstorming best, hit the line with gutso and made huge metres, has been down on form in my opinion but yesterday showed why he is rated very highly, another top forward coming thru

2nd row John Grieve: looks class in all he does, built abit like watmough, dynmaic in defence, saved 2 tries, came down from qld several years ago, signed to a fulltime contract, I can see why

centre Scott burns: has played forwards off the bench when I have seen him play but played centre and did really well, big kid and moves well, hope to see more of him

2nd row darcy lussick up from sg ball, looks talented but will need several years as bit skinny for forwards

In PL, Ballin continues to look a mile ahead of anyone except jack a , his ruck work, kicking and defence is 100%, kid oozes class and will surely cement hooker in 1st grade next year

jack afamasaga gets better and better, great on left side of field (ala choc) looks like he is much fitter and could be a smoky for 1st grade if any injuries, the way he is improving, would be happy for him to take beavers spot if he retires, plays like a frank pritchard

michael bani winger didnt get alot of ball but his defence was sound!! similiar in size and build to wesser but not as stocky, he is lightning quick, he saved 2 tries off bombs when vince mellars who was clearly taller couldnt get the bomb over him, should be a show for hicksy spot provided he bulks up a bit more

have to say vince mellars looked impressive on jets wing, extremely quick off the mark, manly need to grab one of these gems in PL etc and get them on the end of our gun backlinel etc

inoke (noxi) PL 1st game!! this highly rated kid has hit PL!! up against a big Jets pack, he held his own and more, really went well, very young and needs time but continues to impress

gromy looked good in patches, still 2 years away in my opinion

plenty of young forwards coming thru, cuthbertson showed last night what I have known for a long time, he is a talented kid that needs plenty of time and patience for him to mature, he aint anywhere near the completed project but he is a 100kg kid who can run and pass better than any other forward in ALL 3 GRADES at our club, its just him working out when to play that way and when to not

Well done Crusher, plenty of talent coming thru

 

[Canteen Worker]

Thanks Darren for an updated report. I asked Fluffy about the lower grades at half time in main game. Said that PL looked good and he agreed that Afamasaga played well. Pretty solid overall.

What amazes me though is that PL can beat the top team (Parra) and then struggle against the lower teams.

Appreciate the effort to keep us appraised of the youngsters coming through. Is vital as the days of buying half a team are gone and development and recruitment of young players is increasingly vital.

 

[willstyles]

centre Scott burns: has played forwards off the bench when I have seen him play but played centre and did really well, big kid and moves well, hope to see more of him

inoke (noxi) PL 1st game!! this highly rated kid has hit PL!! up against a big Jets pack, he held his own and more, really went well, very young and needs time but continues to impress

Awesome report, as usual Darren. Two things though - I'm pretty sure it is Noxi's second game in PL this year. Fairly sure. Slow start to the year from Noxi, but hopefully he cements a spot in PL for the rest of the year. I'd love to see him in first grade for a game or two next year.

Also, is Scott Burns the flegg bloke who looks like he is about 45? I thought he was a prop! Big, big bloke who looks like he is balding pretty badly. Can't imagine him in the centres... Might be thinking of a different guy, but I was pretty sure he was Burns? Looked quality, but I seriously thought the bloke was a potential prop!

 

[Garts]

Wonder if Junior Palau is any relation to Wycliff Palau who is the Wallabies No 8. Pretty sure Wycliff comes from around the Nth Beaches.

 

[Darren]

gday will, yeh, burns was a forward as I remembered him, but he went well at centre, he is definitely big for the backs

 

[Darren]

guys happy to do it, I overheard some chat about the flegg kid Junior Paulo

I was standing near the rail at the tunnel and 2 lower grade players were next to me standing up. One of them said that Paulo had a bad knee injury which has kept him off for most of the season. It seems like he is only just coming back. Also their was a comment of "well, he signed up for big money, let's see what he does" . It sounded like the club has spent some dough on him,

to be honest, he stood out immensely in flegg, his first run he went straight over the defence and ran 20 metres and off loaded. Generally, he ran and got 2nd phase ball going each time. He came off the bench, hence the long term injury and played for 10-15min each time. Obviously, he ain't but he reminds me of Mason, he's huge but well built, he ran angles in attack and just oozed class, will look forward to seeing more

Flegg seemed impressive yesterday, with under 20's starting next year there is loads of talent coming thru, it seems more forwards than backs but that can never be a problem

I'm going to Sharks and Parra games so will write more, just be patient, our club may not have to keep spending big dough as we have some potential coming thru

for next year it will be cuthbo, ballin, jack a and bani from PL

flegg to PL, burns, offerdahl, noxi, groom,

 

[Dan]

Great report thanks for that. Gives a good idea of how things are going etc.

CW - that has always been the case for Many PL and Manly in general. We lift for the big ones and get complacent for the rest

 

[geoffeagle]

Premier League best and fairest points from last night
3 Matt Ballin
2 Jason Wells
1 Jack Afamasaga/Clint Halden ( 22 points from 2 tries and 7 goals)

 

[willstyles]

Wonder if Junior Palau is any relation to Wycliff Palau who is the Wallabies No 8. Pretty sure Wycliff comes from around the Nth Beaches.

Wycliff is based on the beaches for sure. But his second name is Palu, not Palau.

 

[mellonhead]

Saw all 3 grades on Sat night, great night all round. Having said that, I don't think we faced much opposition in any game. As the players said, it gave us a chance for most of the teams to play with their regular sides (except Sione and Burns). To Burns situation, I as invited into the sheds after the game and Burns sounded sick as. Hope he kicks it soon.

Darren, great post, looking forward to the next.

 

[willstyles]

Saw Travis outside the New Brighton Hotel again mid-arvo on Thursday. Rushed out to talk on his mobile for a minute then rushed back in. Dunno if he was boozing or not.

 

[Stiffi]

Great Work Darren. I always look forward to your reports, keep them coming
Cheers,