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DRAGONS JUNIORS THREAD

baggygreen man

baggygreen man

Bench
Messages
3,760
A place where we fans can follow and discuss our current juniors as they make their way thru our Pathway System.

Players to watch in our junior rep sides in '24.​

  • Kade Reed (Illawarra Steelers): A director of the play who uses his presence effectively Kade will strut his stuff in Ball next season after missing a year thru injury and having to repeat Matts. As he is a year older than his level he is a chance for a Flegg stint too.

  • Zach Taufa (Illawarra Steelers): A bookend who leads by example in the front line. Is physically large but skilful , also demonstrates great leadership.

  • Tom Kirk (Illawarra Steelers): Hailing from Gerringong where many Dragons were produced, the 195cm outside back cuts an imposing figure with his strength and athleticism.

  • Hayden Buchanan (Illawarra Steelers): Has been linked with the club long term, such is the view FO have of this young centre. His dynamic charges, energy and physicality are his trademarks.

  • Finau Latu (St George Dragons): A Junior Blue Latu is a mobile middle forward who doubles as a ball player. He began his Dragons rep career this season and joins the NRL training squad in '24.

  • Jacob Halangahu (St George Dragons): Another from Brad Fittler’s Junior Blues camp, Jacob is a tearaway back rower with a trademark strong carry to terrorise defences.

  • Cyrus Stanley-Traill (St George Dragons): The Endeavour High student is a prop/backrower that can get through a mountain of work. Does not mind the hard stuff either and enjoys finding the white wash too.

  • Loko Pasifiki Tonga Junior (St George Dragons). Another attending Endeavour High, Loko Junior is a giant 118k, 195cm prop who likes nothing more than scattering a defensive line. Has an offload and is a strong round the hips defender.
Halangahu, Loko Jr, Latu will suit up for the Australian Schoolboys side to take on PNG in November.
 
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Dragon David

Dragon David

First Grade
Messages
7,598
baggygreen man said:
A place where we fans can follow and discuss our current juniors as they make their way thru our Pathway System.

Players to watch in our junior rep sides in '24.​

  • Kade Reed (Illawarra Steelers): Backs up for his second year in Matts after injury last year. A director of the play who uses his presence effectively.

  • Zach Taufa (Illawarra Steelers): A big front rower who leads by example in the front line. A physically large forward but very skilful as well, also demonstrates great leadership.

  • Tom Kirk (Illawarra Steelers): Stands at a whopping 195cm tall. The Gerringong product outside back cuts an imposing figure with his strength and athleticism.

  • Hayden Buchanan (Illawarra Steelers): Has been linked with the club long term, such is the view FO have of this young centre. His dynamic charges, energy and physicality is really something to behold.

  • Finau Latu (St George Dragons): A mobile middle forward who doubles as a ball player. A Junior Blue Latu began his Dragons career this season and joins the NRL training squad in '24.

  • Jacob Halangahu (St George Dragons): Another from Brad Fittler’s Junior Blues camp, Jacob is a tearaway back rower with a trademark strong carry to terrorise defences.

  • Cyrus Stanley-Traill (St George Dragons): The Endeavour High student is a prop/backrower that can get through a mountain of work. Gets the dirty work done and can find the tryline as well.

  • Loko Pasifiki Tonga Junior(St George Dragons). Another attending Endeavour High, Loko Junior is a giant 118k, 195cm prop who likes nothing more than scattering a defensive line. Has an offload and is a strong round the legs defender.
Halangahu, Loko Jr, Latu all chosen in the Australian U18s Schoolboys side to take on PNG.
Click to expand...
A great list to start with and very good synopsis of each one, thanks RVH.
 
baggygreen man

baggygreen man

Bench
Messages
3,760
Emerging south coast gun back rower Jarrah Treweek has capped off a stellar 2023 season with two personal awards, the Laurie Daley Cup Most Valuable Player and the Illawarra South Coast Dragons Player of the Year.

Treweek, who stands an imposing 195cm was an instrumental member of the Dragons side that took out the Laurie Daley Cup for the second year in a row, culminating in a grand final hat-trick and Player of the Match performance.

I understand we cant keep all our IIlawarra or St George juniors but we do need to make an extra effort to hold onto blokes that show this level of promise. Poor recruitment and retention is a big part of what is wrong with this club..
 
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Gippsy

Gippsy

Bench
Messages
4,693
Unless Flanno can pull off a miracle or three I can't see us signing anyone of note next year. So, I'm guessing we are going to go with our youngsters next year, especially our young forwards, the Couchmen, Tsougranis, Egan, Ackers, Webster.., Anyone else we should look out for?

If so, it will be interesting to see how they go!
 
D

Desperate Dragon

Juniors
Messages
381
Fairly sure that the Rumble brothers played in this group, so the Dragon's talent scouts would have seen plenty of Treweek, amongst others play.
Someone else here may be able to correct me on this, but I do not recall seeing Treweek's name in any of the Steeler's junior representative team lists in the past year or two??
 
justadragon

justadragon

Bench
Messages
2,777
Until we spend some serious money on our pathways and stop dicking around the club is going nowhere. Here we are trying to get imports in, we have a perfect example in one of them. The template that Penrith put out is our future, this is where success comes from. Top rated development coaches, top rated recruiters is a must. Why did the Panthers win every grade last year and have been consistently at the top in every grade for numerous years. How many of their own juniors have they got in their NRL squad. Look at the way they perform coming into top grade as compared to ours. Thats why they can afford to lose players like Kikau , Crighton etc they dont care, they are confident in what is coming through the grades. With the nursery we have its a disgrace where we stand in KOE, JF and SG, and whats more have no representation in finals is a total f%$king disgrace.
 
Slippery Morris

Slippery Morris

First Grade
Messages
7,471
Saints juniors were doing ok from memory as a junior team consisting of Amone, Sullivan, Sloan, Feagai x 2 beat a super Penrith team in the day. Saints were up there with the best juniors in the NRL as Saints were their biggest challengers. All Saints had to do was build a team around this like Penrith did in the day and are now reaping the rewards but no, Saints have an aging half dictating his ways and demanding the ball all the time whilst the old has-beens recruited being the halfbacks mates, have been blocking the paths of up and coming juniors like Jacob Host, Sele, Jackson Ford, Robson etc.

I have trust Flanno will sort this out and in a couple of years this year will be the short term pain we had for the long term success we will be having (I hope).
 
D

Desperate Dragon

Juniors
Messages
381
Flanagan has already said he will set up 3 junior academys, one each for the elite juniors at St George and the Illawarra, and 1 for St George Illawarra.
His previous experience at the Dragons has at least given him the exposure to know how much work needs to done to start turning the joint around and making us competitive again from the base up.
 
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