Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 3284948, member: 1899"] I'm trying to think of what promising talents you could be referring to. The only players who come to mind are Jaydn Su'A and Corey Allan but I'd need a bigger sample size to jump to that conclusion. At least at the NRL level, at a junior level that's more prevalent because players struggle to adapt in their new environment and rarely make the sacrifices to hone their craft. I've lost track of the amount of times I've seen some exciting young prospect linked to the Roosters only for them to completely disappear. Dehjza Pene, Stepharn Holo, Geordie Brand, McKenzie Baker etc. All had pretty big raps on them but their careers barely went anywhere. Baker is a small exception since he's playing NSW Cup for the Knights but he's struggling to hold a position - he keeps going from fullback to halfback. I don't think it's a Sydney problem, it's a Brisbane and North Queensland problem. 0 representatives from the Broncos is just completely unacceptable and I understand that they've had a couple of these players poached from them - Walsh, Fifita, B. Hunt and Macca would all be Broncos if they didn't attract ridiculous contracts. However considering how great their junior pathways are supposed to be they should be churning out more Brisbane based players. Fans whinge about Reece Walsh but the problem is that it's feast and famine with the Broncos. They'll go out and sign the best kids from Mackay and Southport but they'll ignore Brisbane so when these young prospects who have never had any issue attracting any interest go to the highest bidder Brisbane are left holding the bag. Or in other words playing Karmichael Hunt at 6 after 12 years out of the game. I never understood the Nikorima signing with Sydney. They had all these other quality five eighth prospects at the club at that time in Hastings, Matterson & Watson. Even Latrell, Moga and Momirovski could play 6 in a pinch. The balance was just completely out and I was not shocked at all to see his career end up the way that it did. For all this talk about the Roosters Way they were signing some absolute drop-kicks around that time - Paul Carter being the most obvious example. Frei was one of the most exciting U/16s coming through but he had knee issues and he lost his speed. He toiled away in QCup, stood out and earned a few NRL deals but it was clear that he couldn't compete at that level. Similar deal with Whitchurch who made all the junior rep teams but had injury problems and just missed too much footy. There was a good prospect there but he just never fixed his hands. Brendon Gibb is probably a better example. It looked like he was going to follow in Gillett's foot-steps and be the next break-out star from Norths. Instead some ranga took that from him and Gibb ended up at Penrith where he suffered a couple of really bad injuries and never went on with it. He came back to Brisbane and got a few games around the Origin period but that was the extent of his NRL career. I was happy though - I wanted as many 2008 NYC graduates as possible. I really had my fingers crossed for Watene-Edwards and Butterfield. Back in the day there was an us vs. them mentality between the Sydney and Brisbane based Queensland players. It got to the point where they'd play a trial between the two similar to City vs. Country which the Sydney teams usually came out on top. I especially remember the 1987 trial because Laurie Spina completely out-played Langer but the selectors ignored them and went with Alf regardless. [USER=8272]@1910[/USER] may have to correct me but I'm pretty sure Bennett had to be talked around on that selection and it wasn't until the senior players like Vautin spoke up for him that he started to warm up to him. Then Alf had one of the all-time great Origin debuts and there was no turning back from there. Coincidentally Fatty found himself in the centre of the Sydney vs. Brisbane Queensland divide. He was famously selected over Norm Carr who was one of the best players in the BRL and fans were not happy. It was seen as the selectors going with the Sydney based player on principal so when the Maroons lost Game I he became the scapegoat. Queensland went onto win the series with Carr at lock and Fatty off the bench - I think it was only a series later that Vautin won fans over. [/QUOTE]

Verification

Active Now

No members online now.

Total: 32 (members: 0, guests: 32)

Reply to thread

Log in

Active Now