The Raiders capture themselves a PantherANOTHER member of the Bathurst Panthers dual premiership under 18s side will line up with an NRL club next season after second rower Blake Seager signed with the Canberra Raiders last week.
Already contracted to the Wests Tigers, Seager delayed a move to the Tigers in order to finish his HSC at Bathurst High School. However, after some wrangling with the Tigers, he was released and able to link with the Raiders for 2012.
He will begin training in early November as he attempts to crack the starting line-up of the Raiders’ Toyota Cup under 20s team.
“Through playing rep footy a few scouts saw me play and approached my mum and dad about possibly going down to Canberra,” Seager explained.
“I was already contracted to the Tigers but really didn’t want to move down to the city, so there was a bit of a dogfight to try and get around it, but it got sorted out in the end.
“I head down on the 31st of October after my exams and start training on November 7.”
Seager joins the likes of his Panthers team-mates Doug Hewitt, Brady Cheshire and Luke Carpenter who have all secured Toyota Cup contracts in the wake of another grand final victory over Orange CYMS in the Group 10 competition.
“It is a pretty exciting thing to happen, it has been a big goal of mine for the last three or four years to build a career and I can’t wait to get stuck into it,” Seager said.
“Obviously it has helped playing in such a strong club side, having quality players around me has been a good thing and allows you to play better yourself.”
The Raiders have a strong record in the under 20s competition, having won the inaugural grand final in 2008 and generally been in or around the top eight since then.
Seager says that the youthful nature of the club in general will make for an exciting few years, though he is going to take time to lend his allegiance to the ‘green machine.’
“Dad is a mad Canberra supporter but I’m not. I suppose I’ll have to be now though,” he said.
“It is going to be a tough way to start off, around here you play on the weekends and train a couple of times a week, but in Canberra I’ll be doing an apprenticeship during the days and training most nights, so it will be tough.
“At least I’m more or less used to the weather though. It might be a few degrees colder but it shouldn’t hurt too much.”
Source: Western Advocate
Topic: The Raiders capture themselves a Panther
