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I suppose you're talking about Latrell? I mean that was obviously a monumental stuff up but I'm more talking about overall junior development and progression. It seems like our juniors from 16-18 are amongst the best then fall off a cliff afterwards.
Very valid point. As a NFL fan you'll appreciate this one, I think perhaps we look for high floor-low ceiling type prospects where as we should perhaps be looking for low floor-high ceiling type prospects?
Cordner was offered first grade money at 16 which we couldn't match at the time, Inglis was on scholarship with the storm at age 14-15 if I recall, Mitchell was a massive stuff up. I think we probably messed up the development of guys like Cogger and Lamb who were supposed to be the next great halves pairing, Hudson Young from the raiders was one we let slip through the net, Pangai Jr is one who we tried to keep but weren't able to, Cade Cust is originally from Scone but came through the Manly system, outside that there's not many guys that got away. I mean perhaps we need to be more proactive and allocate more resources in recruitment at that junior level and use Hunter Sports High as a nursery for juniors we recruit from outside the area, also maybe change the philosophy of going for prospects with great intangibles but limited physical attributes and look for kids with height/weight/speed and trust the system we have in place to develop the intangibles.
Yeah, like less Joel Edwards and Luke Yates types and more Tavita Pangai types.
From what I understand we were desperate to keep him as he and Sione were pretty much the best players in their age group in Australia at the time but like you said his whole family relocated, perhaps his parents picked up a government job?
Yep I remember them playing Mats at like 14 and terrorising 16 year olds.
It's a shame Sione didn't keep growing. He still plays the game like he's a foot taller than everyone else... if he had the rig to back it up he'd be a beast.
Either that or if he had an extra yard or 2 of pace.
