What I was told, he was still growing and they selected him in the development squad rather than the Matt’s team and told him that he needed a bit more time to develop physically and wanted to keep him.The rest is history as he wanted to play reps and His manager and Tigers did a deal which is not unusual given even then the number of players to choose from in selecting reps.
looking back, it was a mistake but things have changed since then at junior level as staff and expansion of training squads into North and South increased the eyes on the juniors, certainly improved since since De Gois and Shepard took over 2/3 years ago.