THE under 16 Western Rams may have been outclassed by their Manly Warringah Sea Eagles rivals on Saturday, but coach Kurt Hancock still sees a bright future for his young players.
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Saturday’s match at Caltex Park was the final chance for 31 Western Rams hopefuls to press their claims for a place in the squad for this year’s Country Championships.
St John’s junior James ‘Busta’ Nelson finished as Western’s man of the match, setting up his side’s only try, while fellow local talents Sully Haycock, Jarrod Peachey, Aiden Lake, Kyle Hartley, Thomas Stimpston and Jared Burns also wore Rams jerseys.
The Sea Eagles proved too slick as they ran out 56-4 winners, the benefit of training together on a regular basis clearly highlighted.
There is no doubt many Manly players will go on to play in NSWRL junior representative competitions but Hancock feels many Western Rams have the potential to shine on that level as well.
We are starting to get a bit of recognition out here now with the junior program we've got.
- Kurt Hancock
"We are starting to get a bit of recognition out here now with the junior program we've got,” he said.
"It's really closing the gap on the Harold Matthews and SG Ball in Sydney, which is a real positive for the bush kids.
"We're not far off, the different is we can't get to training four-five times a week because of the travel.
"I wish they had they [Western] had this sort of program when I was a kid coming through. Now if they do go down to Sydney, they are going to be ready from the word go.
"They have got their diaries that the have to fill out each week as well - with this program they are getting a real insight into what it is going to be like down in Sydney.
“I've been really happy with the way the program has been run, it's a real credit to Western Division.”
The under 16s Country Championships will feature regional teams from across New South Wales and unlike the seniors, they will use a round-robin pool format as opposed to a knockout.
It is a draw which Hancock is a big fan of and he feels his Rams have the potential to do well.
"If everything goes right I think they will do well at the Country Championships, but you've got to have that bit of luck as well,” he said. “These are a really good group of kids, but it could be a really good age group across the state as well.”
MANLY 56 (Cooper Wood 3, Keegan Turner 2, Josh Schuster 2, Kaeo Weekes 2, Johan Polota-Ko Pu, Albert Hopoate, Ben Trbojevic, Jai Vakai, CJ Mundine tries) defeated WESTERN 4 (Harry Hopkins try)
