From The Age 8th December
Local talent is Storm's aim
Storm hopes (from left) Will Naitoro, Petera Tamarua, Laurence Nathan, Gareth Widdop, Russell Webber, Malo Feterika, Pulou Vaituutuu.
Photo: John Donegan
Stathi Paxinos
December 8, 2007
MELBOURNE Storm is expecting its under-20s team, which will take part in next year's national competition, to provide it with things that would make this year's premier side even stronger.
Greater back-up to the main squad is one, a more seasoned younger list is another, but most encouragingly for the club, which was set up in a rugby league wasteland a decade ago, it could produce the first dinky-di Victorian to don the Storm's jersey.
The closest the Storm has come to boasting a local product has been former back Jake Webster and back-rower Jeremy Smith, who both spent time in Melbourne before moving to northern states. But that could change, as players such as Laurence Nathan and Petera Tamarua, who were born in Melbourne, have earned spots in the inaugural under-20s squad.
Even more encouraging for the Storm is that there are among eight teenagers who have come through the club's academy system - whose players have been competing in the local leagues - to claim their spots, and while some are relative newcomers to the scene, such as Malo Feterika, who is from New Zealand, and Gareth Widdop, from England, others have come through the junior ranks in Melbourne.
So the race is on to become the Storm's first local product and Nathan and Tamarua are keen to claim the title. "It would be my best achievement ever, I reckon," Tamarua said to Nathan's immediate agreement.
The pair both have parents who have come from New Zealand, a bastion for rugby union, but they said they withstood pressure from friends to remain in league. "When we were growing up our mates were telling us to change to rugby union because there was more competition but we stuck to league," Tamarua said.
And Storm's general manager of development Greg Brentnall, who oversees the academy program, said he was hopeful the current group of graduates in the under-20s squad, which also includes Russell Webber, Darcy Etrich, Will Naitoro, Pulou Vaituutuu, could become first-graders.
"I would like to think that one of these boys is going to get through . . . I would think we're as close as two or three years to bringing a player through the academy program and to the NRL level," he said.
"When the 20s were first mooted we were looking at maybe two players coming out of our local system to being in the squad and we've ended up with eight," Brentnall said. "So from that point of view it's a good indication that through the academy program we've been able to develop these players a bit quicker than we thought we were going to."
He said the under-20s competition would provide a pathway to the NRL that had previously been missing in Melbourne.
"The thing with having the 20s is that there's always been a bit of a void in our development pathway for the young kids coming through the Victorian system. They've always had to go away once they finished school to stay in the system," Brentnall said.
"They didn't see the local competition as part of the pathway to get through to the NRL but . . . we've now got a legitimate pathway where if they're good enough they're going to be able to get through the system here and be able to play in our 20s and hopefully go through and play in the seniors."
He said the under-20s team would also provide a path for those who have not made the squad who are playing in the local league. Storm officials would be keeping a close watch on local leagues as the squad members who were not named in the match-day teams and were not sent to the Storm's Premier League team on the Central Coast, would play locally.
"Last year in the academy program we had four kids that came out of the 18s who decided they had to leave Melbourne if they wanted to improve their rugby league," Brentnall said.
"This year we've got 14 over that age but now we've got a 20s squad and the fact is (even) if they are not in the squad there's still going to be opportunities for our Victorian kids. What we are trying to show them is that there is still a pathway for them, that they can be involved here.
"There's going to be injuries and whatever in the under-20s squad during the year and if they're playing good, strong, competitive league in the local competition they are going to be in prime position to getting a position in the under-20s."
Under-20s coach Brad Arthur said the academy players would not be out of place in the squad dominated by players from rugby league heartlands.
"To be honest, they were a little bit behind the eight-ball when we first came together, but it's just hard because Melbourne does not have a rugby league culture. But to the boys' credit they have really trained hard and picked up and they're back 'even stevens' with the other blokes now so it hasn't taken long," Arthur said.
