Footy royalty waiting to answer crisis
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By Josh Massoud
April 09, 2009 12:00am
ONE is from a famous footballing family of yesteryear; the other a cousin of the game's modern megastar.
Together, Daniel Mortimer and Albert Kelly are two young halves on the verge of combining to solve Parramatta's playmaking woes.
The pair are impeccably bred for rugby league, with Mortimer the progeny of Canterbury's royal clan and Kelly a cousin of Melbourne dynamo Greg Inglis.
Although both are members of the Eels' Toyota Cup squad, they have each trained regularly with the NRL team and are on the cusp of first-grade selection.
Mortimer, who captains the under-20s and plays halfback like his legendary uncle Steve, ran with Parramatta's top grade yesterday.
Although Eels coach Daniel Anderson did not name the 19-year-old for tomorrow night's crunch game against St George Illawarra, several Parramatta insiders are still tipping he could make his debut.
Mortimer has already been told to prepare himself for NRL at some stage this year after extending his contract until the end of 2010.
His father Peter, one of the Bulldogs' famous band of brothers, has no concerns about the PE student stepping up against the Dragons.
"If he finds himself in that position, he'll give it everything," Peter said. "I've got no doubt he'll handle it - either (tomorrow night) or somewhere down the track."
While Mortimer's pedigree suggested he would continue the family tradition at Belmore, Parramatta's coaching structure won over the Orange CYMS product.
"The Bulldogs actually offered more money but we decided to go with Parramatta because the objective was for Daniel to be able to develop his game," Peter said. "Michael Hagan was Parramatta coach at the time and he'd played three Grand Finals in different backline positions.
"The Bulldogs still had Steve Folkes, who coached a forward-dominated game all his career."
While Mortimer was overlooked for junior representative honours until he earned an AIS scholarship in 2006, Kelly has ticked all the boxes.
After growing up alongside Inglis in Bowraville on the mid-north coast, the 18-year-old played NSW and Australian Schoolboys last season.
Kelly left his family to join Parramatta's Harold Matthews team three years ago. His uncle Mal Webster said the five-eighth had the same stand-out qualities as Inglis before leaving home.
"Albert was just like Greg, taking on kids older than him and standing out," Webster said. "Even before the Finch stuff I had the feeling he would make first grade soon."
