Around the Grounds

[perverse]

Halfback is a worry but Hopwood looks a great prospect. Maybe he can be the middle we are all looking for.

In 5 years Cody Hopwood will still only be 24 years of age. He's a prospect and will see first grade within the next 12 months or so (probably)... but he's a long, long way off maturing into the finished product.

 

[aqua_duck]

Hopwood looks an incredible prospect tbh. Still needs to fill out too. Looks like he could be the best junior we’ve had come through in a long time. Helps he plays a position we need too.

Votano’s very classy. I have some small concerns regarding his athleticism for the NRL, hopefully another off season will help.

His athleticism is fine, he’s a big body, has decent speed and can get up to contest kicks, not sure where you see his athletic limitations.
I think the issue for him is finding a position, with Ponga and Sharpe here I don’t think he’ll get a fullback gig, I’d be giving him some time in the centres in nsw cup

 

[Yosh]

In 5 years Cody Hopwood will still only be 24 years of age. He's a prospect and will see first grade within the next 12 months or so (probably)... but he's a long, long way off maturing into the finished product.

He looks big enough to playing some first grade soon.

 

[perverse]

He looks big enough to playing some first grade soon.

I think the main indicator of how far off the club thinks he is is that even in the most dire of prop shortages we've had this year, he still hasn't managed to find his way into the team. And that's not a knock on him, he's just really young. He could play Flegg for another year or two at least but we've already got him up a grade seasoning him against bigger bodies already.

The thing is there's a very wide gap between first grade and cup as far as being a middle goes. The NRL is insanely physical and fast compared to any other Rugby League. Maybe he will be capable of a serviceable 15-20 minutes off the bench by the end of the year, I dunno. An NRL middles' body isn't built overnight, or even in a single year/off season. Turning kids into NRL players is like tempering steel - especially for a prop. I'm not expecting anything out of him this year except for *maybe* getting a small run towards the end of the season if an injury opportunity presents itself - just to give him a taste of what the NRL is like and where he needs to get to. Maybe he'll see a bit more bench time next year if he keeps kicking on. I wouldn't expect more from him than that.

And that's not to say he's not brimming with potential, it's just to say he's 19 and the NRL is really, really hard. If we have him delivering regular minutes from the bench by the end of next year we've probably done well to accelerate his development even.

 

[slotmachine]

Hopwood is a 2027 proposition at the earliest imo.

His last game in Cup he started at prop, played 38 minutes and had 5 runs for 35m. Someone like Brodie Jones is good for 150m+ a game at that level.