Five Canberra Raiders players selected in the Queensland Under 18s teamFour Canberra Raiders players will converge on ANZ Stadium next weekend to represent Queensland, after gaining selection for the Under 18’s Maroons team.
IMAGE: Qld 18's representatives Jono Kent, Anthony Milford and Scott Doyle. (Brenko lee and Patrick Mago were absent from training)Jono Kent has been selected at fullback, Brenko Lee in the centres, Anthony Milford at halfback whilst Patrick Mago will look to provide impact from the interchange bench.
Scott Doyle has also been named as 18th man and is likely to play, with Mago under an injury cloud.
All four players were integral members of the clubs under 18s side which lost the SG Ball Grand Final to the Balmain Tigers earlier this year.
The talented quartet will represent the Maroons in the curtain raiser to Game Two of the State of Origin series at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday June 13.
Raiders High Performance and recruitment manager David Hamilton said the selections of the four players highlights the strong connection to the Logan area in Queensland and the resources the Raiders put into recruitment interstate.
“We still have a very strong link to Queensland which goes back to the days of Mal Meninga and Gary Belcher coming from Souths Brisbane and we have links with seven junior clubs and two high schools in the Logan area,” Hamilton said. “Our recruitment team of Brian Edwards and Mark Tookey work very hard in identifying and recruiting talent from these areas and it shows with the amount of representation we have in this year’s Queensland team.”
Milford described his selection for his state as a huge honour and is thrilled to be able to play on the same night and in front of the same crowd as many of his idols.
“It’s a very big honour and it means a lot to me,” said Milford. “The feeling when we run out in front of that big crowd will be intense but I’ll be looking forward to the challenge.”
“I found out I was in the team through Dunners [Canberra Raiders Toyota Cup Coach Andrew Dunemann]. He told me I made the team and then later on that afternoon it got announced.”
“At first I just thought he was just ‘geeing’ me up but when it got confirmed I was over the moon and so excited. When I told my family they were extremely proud of me.”
Whilst Milford has excelled in pressure situations in his previous junior representative career, he conceded that there will be plenty of nerves that will come to fruition when he runs out in front of over 80 000 Blues fans.
In Milford’s favour though are the successful combinations that he shares with his Raiders team mates.
“It’s really good to have three of the other Raiders boys in the team with me. Knowing that I have Jono out the back and Brenko out wide gives me a lot of confidence as we’ve had a combination for a few years now. We’ve also got Patrick coming off the bench as well and it’ll be great having him run off me when he comes on.”
“They know my game and I know theirs. We go into camp in the next few days, I’ll probably be a bit star struck when I see the Queensland State of Origin team to be honest but I can’t wait.”
Source: Raiders
Topic: Five Junior Raiders Called Up to Queensland
