Round 1 of the Junior Reps to kick off this SaturdayWith the NSWRL Junior Representative 2012 Season commencing this Saturday, Seiffert Oval will play host to the next batch of exciting young Raiders juniors.
The up and coming prospects will showcase their vast talents against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in Round 1 and Raiders fans are urged to come along and cheer the boys on if you’re unable to make it to the NRL trial in Albury.
The Harold Matthews Cup (Under 16s) kicks off at 1:30pm followed by the SG Ball Cup (Under 18s) at 3pm.
After what has been an impressive pre-season for the Under 16s, the side peculiarly slump to a 48 to nil loss to the Penrith Panthers in their last trial of the year.
“The pre-season has been pretty good,” said Coach Brett Maron.
“We’ve trained well and the boys responded to the camp really well.”
“I’m hoping that trial was a bit of an anomaly and hopefully we can turn that around on the weekend. We did get some positives out of the game but unfortunately we’ve got a couple of injury concerns as a result of the trial.”
“We need to work on the initial stages of the game, controlling the ruck and not giving away easy metres.”
The Harold Matthews side features several past and present Raiders players’ surnames such as Croker, Lomax and Williams.
“There are a few namesakes in the team and there would have been more however Zac Woolford just missed out because he broke his hand in one of the trials and that’s Simon’s son so there’s a whole bunch of them.”
Maron has highlighted centre Jack Williams and halfback Jack Hickson as the keys to unlocking the backlines unlimited potential and two imports from Griffith as the cornerstones to his forward pack.
“Our centre Jack Williams is looking very promising and our halves have been good, in particular halfback Jack Hickson who’s going to be our captain on the weekend.”
“In the forwards there are a couple of guys who have come from Griffith in Daniel Dole and Leon Tupuola who are impressive too.”
“The talent in the squad compares favorably to previous years, but the proofs got to be in the pudding. We’ve set some challenging goals and to meet those goals we need to win our home games considering the three final games are away from home so it’s essential to get the season off to a good start this Saturday.”
Considering the wide catchment the Raiders have to select from, Under 18s Coach Peter Marrapodi and his staff have gone through a thoroughly extensive selection process. He believes the talent in his squad will make for a successful year.
“It was a long and hard selection process to finalize the squad,” Marrapodi said.
“It’s a long process for the kids, particularly those kids that come from the country, having to come down to train twice a week. It’s a process that I never take for granted because you hold their dreams in your hand almost so it’s not one that I ever take lightly.”
“As far as individual talent goes, this group is right up there. The difference to last year though is that that group had grown up playing together whereas this year the squad has come from all over the place. There’s certainly a lot of talent here, we just need to get the combinations right.”
Marrapodi has highlighted his front row as a key ingredient in his team to allow his talented halves to direct the play.
“Our front row is looking good with Hayden Pengelly, who was made captain, and Jeremy Cropper, who’s a recruit from Port Macquarie. They both have had really good off seasons and should set a good platform for our two halves Anthony Milford and Carl Johnson who have really come on in leaps and bounds. I’m looking for them to lead the team around the park.”
“As far as talent across the board there the team’s looking strong and we should have a pretty strong year.”
The first game at home is crucial in getting the young Raiders tyros off to a good start considering the particularly tough draw assigned to them.
“Every game’s going to be really important to us because as far as the draw goes, High Performance and Player Recruitment Manager, David Hamilton, said he’s never seen a tougher draw for a Harold Matts or SG Ball side. Home games are basically must win games for us.”
Source: Canberra Raiders
Topic: Round 1 of the Junior Reps to kick off this Saturday
