Kurtley Beale - Watch out for him in the future or not?

[Mal Meninga]

Boy look what one week of exposure can do for a schoolboy!

But I pose the question, is he really that good? By 'that' I mean the next Larkham or Ella, that media have pegged him to become. A few players in my team have played against him before and have said that although he was standout for his age(he played an age above, like him being 14 playing for the 15a's) he didn't really seem like first XV potential for a big school like Joeys.

His big positives are without a doubt his unmatchable speed which in open space is a huge asset and can't be taught, also great touch in his passing game which allow's him to control the game with ease, BUT what his glaring negatives is that he's a twig and will eventually get injured with the amount of shots he takes, unless he bulks up but he'd lose a fair bit of that agility and quickness. Also, his kicking game is erratic. Plenty of times today vs Riverview he continually made mistakes in not kicking out in his own 22, which ran his forwards ragged, however his forwards had superior fitness.

So will Beale become the next Wallabie from Joeys? Or is he simply a magic show but will get found out?

 

[Johns Magic]

Beale has the talent and should become a great player, if he doesn't lose focus. I have played against this guy and let me tell you, he is just a magician on the field. A couple of years ago I was playing in the 13a's against Joeys 13a's and Kurtley was playing, and even then you could tell how good he was going to be. He ran around everyone, had the best passing game, and a huge boot. I recall being in awe of him when Joeys had the ball on their tryline, and they passed to him standing on the dead ball line. He launched a HUGE torpedo that went to halfway on the fly, and the way he kicked it made it roll out 25 metres from our line. That's about 85 metres. Needless to say, he joust orchestrated a thrashing on us that day, about 40-0.

I am now in the 15's and there is only one other boy in our age group playing 1st's, called Israel Stevens, from Scots. he is playing openside, and is a huge prospect, but Kurtley has the ability to play for the Wallabies, and dominate. NSW would be crazy not to sign him, as soon as possible.

 

[eastsrule]

i play with issy for easts. issy is a champ, he plays in the backs for us.

 

[Mal Meninga]

Beale has the talent and should become a great player, if he doesn't lose focus. I have played against this guy and let me tell you, he is just a magician on the field. A couple of years ago I was playing in the 13a's against Joeys 13a's and Kurtley was playing, and even then you could tell how good he was going to be. He ran around everyone, had the best passing game, and a huge boot. I recall being in awe of him when Joeys had the ball on their tryline, and they passed to him standing on the dead ball line. He launched a HUGE torpedo that went to halfway on the fly, and the way he kicked it made it roll out 25 metres from our line. That's about 85 metres. Needless to say, he joust orchestrated a thrashing on us that day, about 40-0.

I am now in the 15's and there is only one other boy in our age group playing 1st's, called Israel Stevens, from Scots. he is playing openside, and is a huge prospect, but Kurtley has the ability to play for the Wallabies, and dominate. NSW would be crazy not to sign him, as soon as possible.

What school do you go to, Scots?
I wouldn't be overly surprised if he does end up making it big, but he didn't dominate in the game I saw him yesterday, and his kicking game had power but was way off.
I play in the ISA and went to the rep trials were the talent was pretty high, and their was a 5/8 from Chevalier who was offered a scholarship by Kings to go play in their 1's, and i've played against him before and he carved us up big time to cost us the title, but like Kurtley, I think he more benifits from the competition, as they're not up to his standard, but once he meets full time pro's he won't shine.
How is the 16's level in the GPS, you watch it much?

i play with issy for easts. issy is a champ, he plays in the backs for us.

Do you know of the halfback for the 16's who goes to Cranbrook? I played against him a few weeks ago and he ended up playing 1's that same day, is he getting regular game time?
What comp do you play in for school?

 

[eastsrule]

Do you know of the halfback for the 16's who goes to Cranbrook? I played against him a few weeks ago and he ended up playing 1's that same day, is he getting regular game time?
What comp do you play in for school?

That would be James Burrough's. I play for Waverley in CAS.

 

[Mal Meninga]

What team, position?
Is Aloy's the easy beats in the cas?

 

[eastsrule]

Aloe's are a very small school. They usually struggle to win a game against Waverley. I'm a flanker, 16B's.

 

[Johns Magic]

What school do you go to, Scots?

No, Grammar.

i play with issy for easts. issy is a champ, he plays in the backs for us.

Really? I play in the 15's at Easts. But unlike you, we are complete crap :lol: And now that all of the Cranbrook boys aren't allowed to play for us anymore, I don't think we'll even have a team.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm a Waverley old boy and we used to beat the stuffing out of Aloes and Cranbrook, Trinity, Barker and especially Knox were our competition when I was there.

However, back to the main point of this thread, I went to watch Waverley/Joeys a few weeks ago and Beale destroyed our backs, aside from our fullback who's a demon.

Anyway Beale will be a superstar I can tell you that much.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah the Waverley fullback is awesome. He played New South Wales schoolboys didn't he?

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah I think so. I was class of 2002 and he was the fullback then, and he's only in yr.12 now so that just shows how good he is.

 

[eastsrule]

Shaun Foley is his name. He will be playing Australian Schoolboys this year I reckon.

 

[ledzep]

I go the View and I was there yesterday
Kurtley is a freak
He should play rep one day

 

[Hazy]

he's a twig and will eventually get injured with the amount of shots he takes, unless he bulks up but he'd lose a fair bit of that agility and quickness.

Mal - Strength and conditioning practices these days will ensure that he doesnt lose any speed and agility by 'bulking up'. There used to be a school of thought (in about the 70's) that greater muscle size meant less speed but that has now been disproven. Kurtley's big problem will be the same that all school boy superstars have to face, big fish in little pond moves to big pond and suddenly not so big anymore.

Elton Flatley was huge in Brissy school rugby, but took time to establish himself in the top flight. From what ive read Kurtley's got the goods, but his attitude will determine how far he goes with it.

 

[Bib]

What school do you go to, Scots?

No, Grammar.

i play with issy for easts. issy is a champ, he plays in the backs for us.

Really? I play in the 15's at Easts. But unlike you, we are complete crap :lol: And now that all of the Cranbrook boys aren't allowed to play for us anymore, I don't think we'll even have a team.

My bro was in the barker firsts in 01/02 and there were some pretty average 5/8ths out there.

Eastern Suburbs colts were strong this year, y arent cranbrook kids allwoed to play for east's club champs?

 

[Johns Magic]

It is more just in the 15's I think. The Cranbrook 15a's coach has banned the players from playing for us because we play mainly on Friday nights, and he is concerned that this leaves them in poor shape for Saturday. The boys said they would play anyway but the coach came down to one of our games and ordered them not to, and said that if they did, they would be chucked off the end-of-season Cranbrook tour. It's really disappointing because we don't have a full team any more, and since they were most of our best players, we are really struggling. We've been forced to forfeit twice in a row, and if we forfeit again, we get chucked out of the competition.

 

[Mal Meninga]

The Cranbrook 15's are damn good this season. They put 50 on my school this year, but our 15's are so useless we couldn't even beat a division 2 ISA school.

Mal - Strength and conditioning practices these days will ensure that he doesnt lose any speed and agility by 'bulking up'. There used to be a school of thought (in about the 70's) that greater muscle size meant less speed but that has now been disproven. Kurtley's big problem will be the same that all school boy superstars have to face, big fish in little pond moves to big pond and suddenly not so big anymore.

Elton Flatley was huge in Brissy school rugby, but took time to establish himself in the top flight. From what ive read Kurtley's got the goods, but his attitude will determine how far he goes with it.

So in essence Beale could gain 10-15kg's(which looks like the bare minumum for him if he does go pro) he'd still be able to glide around and make guys miss?
He's a 15 year old playing at possibly the best rugby school in Australia's 1's, attitude shouldn't really be a problem for him. If at 15 he can handle it, than maturity has already kicked in for him. Willingness to get better would be his only problem.

Does anyone know if Beale's on one of those "academic scholarships" that GPS has made famous? I remember a few years ago Kings gave out a bundle of these to guys that were in their 20's.

Shaun Foley is his name. He will be playing Australian Schoolboys this year I reckon.

Maybe, but Stannies had an Aboriginal who was part of the development squad last year playing fullback, so they've probably got plans for him to play there this year. Bloody good player, but than again they got carved up by 90+ points by Beale's gang so who knows.

I go the View and I was there yesterday
Kurtley is a freak
He should play rep one day

Do you know Mark St.John? Plays for 16a's at your school, did he make GPS 16's?

 

[Anonymous]

Shaun Foley is his name. He will be playing Australian Schoolboys this year I reckon.

I agree.

 

[ledzep]

Do you know Mark St.John? Plays for 16a's at your school, did he make GPS 16's?

I know who he is
Can't help you with your other question though

 

[Hazy]

So in essence Beale could gain 10-15kg's(which looks like the bare minumum for him if he does go pro) he'd still be able to glide around and make guys miss?

He's a 15 year old playing at possibly the best rugby school in Australia's 1's, attitude shouldn't really be a problem for him. If at 15 he can handle it, than maturity has already kicked in for him. Willingness to get better would be his only problem.

If he's 15 he still has a growth spurt (or two - even if they are real slow ones) in him, which will increase his frame, which in conjunction with a monitored program will give him the size he requires without loosing pace.

And his 'willingness to get better' is the attitude I was talking about. His attitude (or arrogance) about being the best at Joey's wont carry him when he leaves school.

Everybody becomes a 'great' 15 yr old school boy footballer when they hit 30.