Mason and O'Donnell

[billy2]

<H1>Young Knights follow in family footsteps

BY ROBERT DILLON
09 Dec, 2011 04:00 AM
IF bloodlines and DNA count for anything, the Newcastle Knights have a couple of young tyros ready to follow in famous footsteps next season.
Rodney Mason, brother of Willie, and Kyle O’Donnell, brother of Luke, are members of Newcastle’s extended pre-season squad and hope their hard yards over summer will be rewarded in the 2012 NRL campaign.
Mason has graduated to senior ranks after two seasons in Newcastle’s under-20s in which he established himself, like his colourful elder sibling, as a towering prop or second-rower.
At 191 centimetres and 109 kilograms, he is not quite as big as Willie (196cm and 115kg) but nonetheless casts a formidable shadow in his own right.
O’Donnell, 21, joined Newcastle last season from Cronulla, but his hopes of getting a taste of NRL action were cruelled by a succession of frustrating injuries.
Like Luke, he is a powerful back-rower (189cm, 102kg) who represented the Junior Kangaroos in 2010.
Both youngsters realise they will in all likelihood start the season in Newcastle’s NSW Cup team and have to bide their time behind an array of established forwards.
But having admired their own flesh and blood at NRL, Origin and Test level, the dream of following a similar path provides powerful motivation.
‘‘He’s pretty much kept me going all these years, made me want it even more because of him,’’ Mason said yesterday.
‘‘Because of what he’s done, and how far he’s made it, I want to be like him.
‘‘I just want to make that step.’’
Likewise, O’Donnell said his big brother had been his inspiration for as long as he could remember.
‘‘I’m pretty tight with both my brothers,’’ he said.
‘‘Luke left for Townsville when I was only 13, which made it hard . . . but he’s been somebody I’ve always looked up to.
‘‘It’s been pretty handy to have a role model that close to me.’’
O’Donnell arrived in Newcastle 12 months ago with high expectations, but torn elbow ligaments, a fractured sternum, an infection in his ear and jaw and a strained calf sabotaged his plans.
‘‘I had a pretty unfortunate year with injuries, which hindered me playing consistent footy throughout the year,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m hoping to turn that around this year and get as many first-grade games as I can under my belt . . . I think I learned a lot last year.
‘‘I got a bit of experience in NSW Cup towards the end of the year, so I did draw some positives out of it.’’
Mason said he was relishing training under new coach Wayne Bennett and high-performance manager Jeremy Hickmans, even if it was ‘‘the hardest pre-season I’ve ever done’’.
He was hopeful the hard yakka would pay dividends when the season kicked off.
‘‘To make my debut, that’s my goal,’’ he said.
‘‘Hopefully I can achieve it.’’
Luke O’Donnell and Willie Mason were negotiating with Newcastle in 2010.
Both players teamed up at North Queensland before heading to England and France to play out their careers.
‘‘He was tossing up between Newcastle and Huddersfield,’’ O’Donnell said.
‘‘It would have been nice for him to come here, but it would have made more competition for me, I guess.’’
Mason said he was ‘‘pretty keen’’ for Willie to sign with Newcastle two years ago when he parted company with the Roosters. ‘‘I thought it was going to happen,’’ he said. ‘‘I was pretty excited for a while, but it was his decision.’’

</H1>http://www.theherald.com.au/news/lo...-in-family-footsteps/2386806.aspx?storypage=0

 

[billy2]

Both impressive looking guys who have shown very little on the field in Knights colours, although i've seen a couple of good games from both of them on the rare occassions they are not injured.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

As a guess Kyle is the more likely to play first grade i think on ability alone.

 

[billy2]

As a guess Kyle is the more likely to play first grade i think on ability alone.

Totally disagree.
O'Donnell looked great in NYC by running at the little guys and only doing what he wanted to do, but in NSW cup he gets dominated week after week, especially when Rip insists he mans up to other forwards.
At the end of the season he started to hold his own in NSW cup, but even at the end of the season he was dominated by Robbie Rochow and other good players.
Mason rarely puts many good games together because of injury, but when he is match fit he takes it up to anyone.
Both have poor hands and plenty of mistakes in their games, but Kyle is a shocker with ball security.

 

[RABK]

In all honesty if guys like Mason, O'Donnell, McKinnon, Wade and Likiliki are all playing first grade for us by the end of next year it can only be a great thing.

It means they would of had to earn the jerseys over players like Edwards, Hilder and possibly even Houston, Taia, Faas, Tui and McManus. To elaborate - work ethic alone wouldn't have gotten them into FG as the proven players i listed have that in spades, rather they would have to have their x factor firing to be in FG. That list has a lot of raw potential in size, speed, aggression. And that's what earns rep jumpers and wins big games.

I personally think our forward pack is very bland on a bit of x factor so if a couple of these young guys step up to replace a couple of aging guys than good for us.

 

[billy2]

If they are in direct competition with anyone it's Tetevano, and Tets is way, way ahead of them right now.
O'Donnell trained with firstgrade last off season and only improved slightly, if at all.
I have a feeling Mason will thrive in the firstgrade squad and improve rapidly - like Tetevano did last year.

 

[Silent Knight]

I concur on Tets Billy. He took to FG like a duck to water. I eagerly anticipate Zane's development under Bennett over the next 4 years. I think Wayne will turn Tets into a powerhouse prop.

 

[RABK]

I think Bennett has a clear history of having no problems giving young guys who've earnt a FG run over proven first graders. A lot of guys not even a year out of rep jerseys have been giving the tap by bennett. Carne, DeVere, Webb, Walters, Myers all players off the top of my head who Bennett dropped/advised a change of club in favour of youth.

Tets doesn't have a FG jersey to lose, he'll be earning one over the players i named.

 

[RABK]

Also Bennett continually emphasises that he is here to build a strong side sustainable for years, with a premiership a hopeful outcome. Our 2013 FG side will be 2 or 3 years younger on average is my bet.

 

[Frederick]

In all honesty if guys like Mason, O'Donnell, McKinnon, Wade and Likiliki are all playing first grade for us by the end of next year it can only be a great thing.

It means they would of had to earn the jerseys over players like Edwards, Hilder and possibly even Houston, Taia, Faas, Tui and McManus.

OR we have the worst injury run in the history of professional sport.

Quick, everyone...find the biggest piece of wood and don't let go! I hear there's gonna be a lot of spare wood down laman st soon!

 

[Silent Knight]

Also Bennett continually emphasises that he is here to build a strong side sustainable for years, with a premiership a hopeful outcome. Our 2013 FG side will be 2 or 3 years younger on average is my bet.

The key battle will be for the hooker position. I don't think it's going to be Hilder. It will come down to Chris Adams, Chris Marlborough or Chad Redman as our long term solution. God imagine the rivalry between those 3 this year, competing for one of the most crucial positions in our NRL squad from 2013 onwards.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Totally disagree.
O'Donnell looked great in NYC by running at the little guys and only doing what he wanted to do, but in NSW cup he gets dominated week after week, especially when Rip insists he mans up to other forwards.
At the end of the season he started to hold his own in NSW cup, but even at the end of the season he was dominated by Robbie Rochow and other good players.
Mason rarely puts many good games together because of injury, but when he is match fit he takes it up to anyone.
Both have poor hands and plenty of mistakes in their games, but Kyle is a shocker with ball security.

Congratulations on disagreeing. The same could be said about many players. Maybe you see yourself as Nostradamus or a guru on junior league matters but the bottom line is you rate Scott Dureau when 99% of the world does not.

 

[billy2]

Congratulations on disagreeing. The same could be said about many players. Maybe you see yourself as Nostradamus or a guru on junior league matters but the bottom line is you rate Scott Dureau when 99% of the world does not.

You know how some people come on here to have childish and idiotic slanging matches?
I'm not one of them.

 

[RABK]

Congratulations on disagreeing. The same could be said about many players. Maybe you see yourself as Nostradamus or a guru on junior league matters but the bottom line is you rate Scott Dureau when 99% of the world does not.

Bit uncalled for. And 99.9999999998% of the world don't rate Dureau.

 

[Sean18]

How's Korbin Sims going?

 

[billy2]

How's Korbin Sims going?

Training with firstgrade too - not sure why he wasn't mentioned in this article - except for being in NYC this year he seems in the same boat as the other two.