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Waratahs sign whiz-kid
By Greg Growden, Chief Correspondent
Saturday, April 23, 2005 Print this article
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Top prospect: Kurtley Beale, who is about to off-load in a game for St Joseph's College, is "the player of the future".
Photo: Getty Images
NSW have signed 16-year-old schoolboy five-eighth Kurtley Beale, but Australia's most exciting junior football prospect will not be fast-tracked into the Super 14 ranks.
Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie and Beale's manager, Glen Ella, confirmed yesterday to the Herald that Beale had recently agreed to join NSW, and will be involved in the Waratah Academy development program when he completes his schooling at St Joseph's College next year.
Beale has attracted the attention of countless rugby league clubs and several Australian rugby provinces, including the new Western Force. Last season he was one of the most talented players to emerge from the Sydney schoolboy ranks for many years when he guided St Joseph's to an undefeated GPS premiership when only 15.
After months of talks, the year 11 student at Australia's best-known rugby nursery decided that after completing his school commitments he wanted to be a Waratah.
"We have been talking to Kurtley since May last year, and it is very exciting that he has decided to join NSW, because for us it has been virtually a 12-month project," McKenzie said yesterday.
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"Everyone I know who is a good judge in the rugby league and rugby union world, all say that he is the player of the future.
"We have had to keep it very quiet for quite a long while because we do not want to disrupt his schooling, especially as Joeys, in particular their coach Anthony Boyd, have done an outstanding job in nurturing and guiding Kurtley. Over the last few weeks, we have been dotting the i's and crossing the t's, so that he will become a NSW Academy player when he completes his schooling next year.
"Kurtley is a long-term prospect, and while he is an outstanding talent, being involved in Super 14 football is well down the track. We will not be fast-tracking him into the representative ranks.
"I do think he has the ability to excel at Super 14 level, but anything can happen over the next couple of years."
McKenzie and Ella said it was important that Beale was left alone until the end of next year, because of his aspirations to continue playing for St Joseph's, as well as striving for positions in the NSW Schoolboys and Australian Schoolboys line-ups.
Ella, a former Wallabies fullback, said Beale "wanted to play rugby when he finishes school" despite intense interest from rugby league clubs.
"Kurtley is as good a talent as any I have seen for a long time ... and most importantly he is a nice kid, who is not after any publicity," Ella said.
"He has really good vision, outstanding passing skills either side, excellent step and good acceleration. Probably his kicking game is his weakness, but that can be worked on."
McKenzie said Beale reminded him of two of Australia's greatest players - Stephen Larkham and Mark Ella - in that he "never looked rushed".
"The great players have that special quality where they appear to have so much time to do anything. And Kurtley has that. It doesn't matter how tight the game is, he always seems to have plenty of time to do the right thing," McKenzie said.
Ella was alerted about Beale three years ago when former Wallabies captain Steve Williams contacted him, and said: "You've got to come down and look at this incredible kid who's playing for Joeys."
Ella went to Centennial Park where Beale, aged 13, was playing in the 14A team against Scots College.
"After the match, I walked up to the coach, and asked why Kurtley was playing one year above his own age group. The coach replied, 'Well, you've just seen how good he is'."
Later, Ella told McKenzie about Beale when the pair were both Wallabies assistant coaches to Eddie Jones.
"Glen kept telling me that when I became NSW coach, 'I've got the player for you. Don't worry, we've got it covered', Glen kept saying," McKenzie said.
Last year, Ella took McKenzie to the St Joseph's-Riverview schoolboys grudge match, and introduced him to Beale after the game.
"I saw everything that people had been raving about," McKenzie said. "He was something special. So I invited him to a Waratah training session at the start of January.
"Within 15 minutes, both Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri had come up to me, and said, 'Who is this guy?'. They were very impressed.
"My backs coach Brian Melrose was virtually wetting his pants, pleading with me, 'Whatever you do, you have to sign this bloke'."
http://www.rugbyheaven.smh.com.au/articles/2005/04/22/1114152323019.html
