Harold Matts is U16, the 7 is Alex Seve, a Wenty player
Under 16s....wow what amazing skills and talent...Wouldn't mind having a few of those kids in the Hay Magpies GROUP 20 first grade team.....
AND the SG Ball...again fantastic. Great coaching by the staff...I am in awe....
Alex Seve was excellent yesterday. I had heard some good things about him prior to this weekend but his involvement was top notch. Tui Aufualo was outstanding on the right edge. The Roosters had no answers to him and surprisingly he distributed the ball quite well to his winger, which can sometimes be a problem for a blockbusting centre at that age group.
The front rowers in both teams were the pillars for both victories. Jesse Cronin (the high profile 16s recruit) and PJ Vaigalu (Cahill's nephew) steam rolled the Chooks in the Harold Matthews while Cameron King played massive minutes in the SG Ball. I was genuinely surprised at how little rest he had yesterday given his size but he simply kept rumbling the ball forwards. James Tasipale was very good as well but King stole the show for mine.
I'm pretty certain the club originally had Denzal Tonise listed as 70-something kgs so I was shocked when I saw how solid he was but I just checked again and he is now 97kg. Not sure if I goofed (quite possible) or if his numbers got retconned (also possible) but he played well.
Delboy would know better than I on the relative strength of the Junior Reps for the Roosters but they have been consistently strong over the last few years due to their heavy investment in both grades. Convincing wins for both teams is as good a start to the season as you could ask.
The Harold Matthews team still have NSW rep and captain Josh Curran to come back as well as new recruit QLD rep Travis Turnbull. They were defensively all over the Roosters and whoever is drilling them in 'D' deserves a pat on the back.
The SG Balll squad was without Anthony Layoun and obviously the boys called up into the NYC team. Reimis Smith was named but I don't believe he played any minutes. Layoun's imminent return may cause a headache for the coach(es) as Sione Katoa was very good from the back.
