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Rookies to watch in 2018


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Based on what I saw with the Bulls last season

James Bentley (St Helens) hard worker who will benefit from being coached well at St Helens. Should fill out a bit as he gets older, but has great hands and footwork at the line.

Mikolaj Oledzki (Leeds) looks ready to step up to SL and have an impact. Definite star of the future.

Cameron Smith (Leeds) needs to up his game if he isn't going to just be a wasted prospect

Corey Aston (Castleford) not sure why he's at Cas to be honest, has a long way to go to be SL level

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If it's about all the rookies then considering the start of the season he's had, Luc Franco (fullback at Limoux) might well draw attention and get picked up by a SL/Championship team.

As far as SL goes for Catalans, Romano could get a lesson or two from Ambert (centre for the reserve) about creating chances for his winger, it would be the making of him.

Oledzki is an absolute machine.

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I think, for Wigan, there's more excitement about the players (hopefully) returning from injury. We saw some bright sparks from the youngsters last year, though, especially on the wings, so I'm hoping they develop their game further.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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In terms of debutants, for London I'd go with Jacob Ogden. Had a good end to the season with Skolars last year and played for Jamaica against France. Picked up from the RFL Midlands academy, but don't tell Parky though, as apparently there aren't any decent rl players in the Midlands. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 22/12/2017 at 12:47 PM, londonrlfan said:

In terms of debutants, for London I'd go with Jacob Ogden. Had a good end to the season with Skolars last year and played for Jamaica against France. Picked up from the RFL Midlands academy, but don't tell Parky though, as apparently there aren't any decent rl players in the Midlands. 

I’ve heard a lot about this kid. Apparently some Wigan fans were raving about him when the broncos u19’s played Wigan u19’s which I think the broncos won.

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Good call with Matty English at the Giants, always stands out in the Academy games and hopefully will get more of a chance this year, there's also Sam Wood who's already played Centre and Stand off in the 1st team as well as scoring half a dozen tries.

 

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From Cas

Obvious one is Jake Trueman, showed his potential last year.  Hopefully a break through year.  Extremely highly rated.  

I'd also hope Cas find a season long deal at a full time championship club for Egodo who seemed to impress in Championship 1last season to continue his progression with a view to last year.

At good chunk of Cas u19 grand finalists are still eligible for u19's this year so hopefully will be pushing for the 1st team squad next year.

 

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41 minutes ago, Gates1 said:

From Cas

Obvious one is Jake Trueman, showed his potential last year.  Hopefully a break through year.  Extremely highly rated.  

I'd also hope Cas find a season long deal at a full time championship club for Egodo who seemed to impress in Championship 1last season to continue his progression with a view to last year.

At good chunk of Cas u19 grand finalists are still eligible for u19's this year so hopefully will be pushing for the 1st team squad next year.

 

Is trueman a #6 or #7? 

Totally agree with you about Egodo. He needs to be playing every week rather than being a squad player behind Eden, minikin and Lo.

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Arthur Mourgue 18 yr old half back at  Catalans Dragons signed first pro contract and no 30 shirt for Dragons in 2018. Will be focal to the Academy side again but may yet see a SL start later in the year.

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57 minutes ago, audois said:

Arthur Mourgue 18 yr old half back at  Catalans Dragons signed first pro contract and no 30 shirt for Dragons in 2018. Will be focal to the Academy side again but may yet see a SL start later in the year.

Looking at the current halfback options at the dragons this kid could be rushed into large spells of 1st rugby far too soon. Hopefully Albert will kick on and cement a starting position in the halves.

Isn't their also an even more highly rated halfback at the dragons who played in the age group below the u19’s last year??

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3 hours ago, stevevalerugby said:

I think 20 year old Sion Jones will show well this year at Halifax RLFC after a good Pre-Season.  with a really good performance against Featherstone Rovers on the Weekend.

Why reserve team rugby is vital for the game. A young Welsh lad that we need to be involved at Pro Level. If Fax and the other 5 teams dont run reserve Grade we risk Losing such players.

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51 minutes ago, walter sobchak said:

Looking at the current halfback options at the dragons this kid could be rushed into large spells of 1st rugby far too soon. Hopefully Albert will kick on and cement a starting position in the halves.

Isn't their also an even more highly rated halfback at the dragons who played in the age group below the u19’s last year??

Assuming you're talking about Munuera, I don't rate him higher than Mourgue but he's one to keep an eye on. Hard to make a judgment on players really until they get into the u19s.

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1 minute ago, Evil Homer said:

Assuming you're talking about Munuera, I don't rate him higher than Mourgue but he's one to keep an eye on. Hard to make a judgment on players really until they get into the u19s.

Exactly. But it’s good that the French are now producing potential halves and by the looks of things props.

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9 minutes ago, walter sobchak said:

Exactly. But it’s good that the French are now producing potential halves and by the looks of things props.

Yep. I think the Dragons u19s team has a bigger impact than most people realize, the France age group teams are always competitive with England at international level and now you're giving those players the same pathways as the English kids, they're basically churning out 17 junior internationals every year which will lead to a huge surplus after a few years.

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3 hours ago, stevevalerugby said:

I think 20 year old Sion Jones will show well this year at Halifax RLFC after a good Pre-Season.  with a really good performance against Featherstone Rovers on the Weekend.

Ive heard good things about him, hadn’t realised he was pushing on Halifax first team already though, great news 

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21 hours ago, walter sobchak said:

Is trueman a #6 or #7? 

Totally agree with you about Egodo. He needs to be playing every week rather than being a squad player behind Eden, minikin and Lo.

Yeah Trueman is a half, played stand off for the 19's I think.  With Roberts moving to Full Back he'll be aiming to climb above Ellis in the pecking order.  Could see him getting some time from the bench to start with, like we did with Chase at the start of last year before we sacked him. (Ellis can always stint at 9, which helps if carrying a half on the bench).  

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43 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Be interesting to see If Cas let us have Trueman like has been suggested as Im not sure been bashed about in the Championship will be seen as good for his development.

They will have to catch him to bash him about!

In all seriousness he needs game time so unless Powell is going to throw him in dual reg in it seems likely.  I remember Powell saying he wants him to work on being more vocal during matches and will need game time to do so as well as developing the more obvious skills.  If he's as good as its been suggested he potentially could be he is going to be targeted throughout his career so developing his toughness in the Championship might not be a bad thing.  Richard Marshall is a good coach and Murrell has plenty of nous and experience so Halifax seems a decent option for him to develop to me.

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From our perspective, we have another title winning under 19s to choose from, and will bring through whoever is ready. There are some great prospects within that squad, and I am sure we will be talking about a couple of names at the end of the year who are unknown today. Not sure why Kirmond feels the need both to berate people for not posting and to slag off Wigan and Leeds. If he/she bothered to look, they would see plenty of schools and junior clubs churning out players both for the these clubs and the league. If he/she could be bothered to go off on one perhaps look at the clubs who have no academies of their own and no reserves. 

 

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2 hours ago, DoubleD said:

Hasn't been mentioned yet, but one player who I'm really looking forward to seeing play is Caine Barnes at Wigan. The lad's got huge potential, not sure how much game time he'll get in 2018. 2019 might be his year but he is a great prospect

He’s been mentioned on a similar thread started by me. Heard nothing but good things about him and with him being a West Cumbrian lad I’ll be following his progression closely. Even though he plays for Wigan.

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4 minutes ago, walter sobchak said:

He’s been mentioned on a similar thread started by me. Heard nothing but good things about him and with him being a West Cumbrian lad I’ll be following his progression closely. Even though he plays for Wigan.

Noone's perfect :)

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2 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Noone's perfect :)

I didn't realise you were such a Herman's Hermits fan.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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