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EELS STAR DAN TIPS YOUNGEST MORTIMER TO HAVE BRIGHT FUTURE
Story & Photo BY : MARK RAYNER
ORANGES Robbie Mortimer may not be the most well known of the Mortimer family, but the promising young fullback, who played for Bathursts St Stanislaus College in their Arrive Alive Cup campaign this year, has the potential to join his brother Daniel in the NRL.
Daniel Mortimer, an Orange CYMS junior, was at Stannies on Tuesday to watch Robbie play in the match against St Gregorys and while the Bathurst school may have been 40-0 losers, the Eels halfback is still impressed with what he saw.
I thought he (Robbie) played pretty well. Theyve come up against a pretty hard team who are from a league school and have been training from day dot - but the boys did alright, Daniel said after the game.
Its a union school but its good to see them taking league more seriously.
The older brother said that he enjoyed getting out to Robbies games when his Parramatta commitments allowed him to and he had high praise for the fullback.
When Robbies playing I always try to get out and support him and see how hes going, he said.
I think providing he keeps listening and improving, he can go all the way. Hes got an enormous amount of potential and hes got a bit of size, which is something I dont have, so he has the wood over me there.
Robbie and Daniel are the second generation of Mortimers to get into league.
Their father Peter, who was also at Mondays game, and uncles Steve and Chris were dominant figures for Canterbury during the 1980s.
Daniel has already begun to forge an NRL career with the Parramatta Eels in 2009 after coming through their Toyota Cup under 20s side and, while the Eels have had an up and down season, he hasnt given up on them playing in the finals.
Im just happy to be up there playing and its good to get a couple of good wins, he said.
I think we have to win five of the next six to make the finals, so it will be tough, but if we can keep playing like our last two performances theres no reason why we cant make it.
Its probably a bit of a long shot at the moment but we just have to take it week by week and it will sort itself out if we are playing well. We will just take it as it comes.
Were definitely not expecting to get there but we will just keep improving.
Mortimer will remain with the Eels for 2010 and he says the recruitment of some talented players has the club set for a big year.
We have a couple of really good signings with Justin Poore, Shane Shackleton and hopefully Timana Tahu, so they will be pretty exciting times I think, he said.
While there has been recent speculation about where Mortimer will be when his contract runs out at the end of next year, he says he will worry about that once this season is over.
Im not sure, Im keen to play out the rest of this year and then slowly get into negotiations, he said.
I dont want to rush anything because I think my next decision will be a bigger one, hopefully longer than a year which I just signed, so Ill definitely look at all options but Im pretty happy at the Eels.
It will take a lot to get me away from them.
http://www.ourfootyteam.com/news_09.php#eelsStarDanTips300709a
Story & Photo BY : MARK RAYNER
ORANGES Robbie Mortimer may not be the most well known of the Mortimer family, but the promising young fullback, who played for Bathursts St Stanislaus College in their Arrive Alive Cup campaign this year, has the potential to join his brother Daniel in the NRL.
Daniel Mortimer, an Orange CYMS junior, was at Stannies on Tuesday to watch Robbie play in the match against St Gregorys and while the Bathurst school may have been 40-0 losers, the Eels halfback is still impressed with what he saw.
I thought he (Robbie) played pretty well. Theyve come up against a pretty hard team who are from a league school and have been training from day dot - but the boys did alright, Daniel said after the game.
Its a union school but its good to see them taking league more seriously.
The older brother said that he enjoyed getting out to Robbies games when his Parramatta commitments allowed him to and he had high praise for the fullback.
When Robbies playing I always try to get out and support him and see how hes going, he said.
I think providing he keeps listening and improving, he can go all the way. Hes got an enormous amount of potential and hes got a bit of size, which is something I dont have, so he has the wood over me there.
Robbie and Daniel are the second generation of Mortimers to get into league.
Their father Peter, who was also at Mondays game, and uncles Steve and Chris were dominant figures for Canterbury during the 1980s.
Daniel has already begun to forge an NRL career with the Parramatta Eels in 2009 after coming through their Toyota Cup under 20s side and, while the Eels have had an up and down season, he hasnt given up on them playing in the finals.
Im just happy to be up there playing and its good to get a couple of good wins, he said.
I think we have to win five of the next six to make the finals, so it will be tough, but if we can keep playing like our last two performances theres no reason why we cant make it.
Its probably a bit of a long shot at the moment but we just have to take it week by week and it will sort itself out if we are playing well. We will just take it as it comes.
Were definitely not expecting to get there but we will just keep improving.
Mortimer will remain with the Eels for 2010 and he says the recruitment of some talented players has the club set for a big year.
We have a couple of really good signings with Justin Poore, Shane Shackleton and hopefully Timana Tahu, so they will be pretty exciting times I think, he said.
While there has been recent speculation about where Mortimer will be when his contract runs out at the end of next year, he says he will worry about that once this season is over.
Im not sure, Im keen to play out the rest of this year and then slowly get into negotiations, he said.
I dont want to rush anything because I think my next decision will be a bigger one, hopefully longer than a year which I just signed, so Ill definitely look at all options but Im pretty happy at the Eels.
It will take a lot to get me away from them.
http://www.ourfootyteam.com/news_09.php#eelsStarDanTips300709a
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