(Archived) THE RUMOUR MILL - Player Movement
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Jaws
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An Article about him , looks like he may have a decent future . From humble beginnings
SOURCE : Sydney Morning Herald
If he had chosen track and field instead of footy, there’s a chance that Hame Sele would be on the Gold Coast preparing for the Commonwealth Games instead of a clash against Newcastle.
The decision to focus on footy appears to be a prudent one. Sele made his NRL debut last season, earned his first representative jersey a few short weeks later and has cemented a spot in the 17 of Paul McGregor’s table-topping St George Illawarra side.
However, Sele proved himself equally adept on the athletics field in his teens, making it to state level in javelin, discus and shot putt.
“I did athletics as well. I don’t know if I would have succeeded more in that,” Sele said.
“I made the NSW state team and went to Queensland to verse the other states. It was a pretty good experience.
“It was really hard because I was in the Harold Matts team at the time and my training schedules clashed.
"My old man told me I would have to pick one because he took me to all of my trainings, and I liked league more. Maybe if I had stuck to athletics I could have had a chance.”
Had he gone down the other path, the Kingsgrove Colts junior could be involved in the other sporting event overseen by ARLC boss Peter Beattie.
“I don’t know, it would be a dream to go to the Commonwealth Games, but I don’t know if I was ready for that,” Sele said.
What is certain is that he would never have been able to make it as a professional athlete if not for the sacrifices of his parents.
His father, Setefano, was too sick to work and dedicated himself to raising his three children. His mother, Vea, made ends meet by working three jobs at once as a resident assistant nurse.
“[Setefano] got sick, he got kidney failure. He’s just doing dialysis now,” Sele said.
“My mum was always working because my dad couldn’t work. My dad would look after the kids, me and my little brother and sister. He would take us everywhere and my mum would be the hard worker.
“She was working three jobs. You have no idea how hard she works for our family growing up. Making first grade, I can pay it back to them a little bit. It all helps.
“My old man, just with everything he did for me growing up, has been my biggest influence.
“He has given me the biggest opportunity I can, always taking me to training. He will always be the number one man in giving me advice as well, week in and week out.
“He was always trying to help me improve and help me get to first grade.
“Being here now, it’s not just a dream for me but for him too.”
Sele recently became a father himself. The 21-year-old forward has made such an impression in his career to date that NSW coach Brad Fittler chose him for his Emerging Blues camp over the summer.
However, Sele skipped the event in order to be present at another, the birth of his daughter Valentina.
“She came along and I just wanted to be with my baby,” he said.
“It wasn’t really a tough decision.”
However, there could be a difficult call when it comes to his representative eligibility. While the Blues have earmarked him as a State of Origin prospect, he is also proud of his Tongan heritage.
“It’s a pretty hard decision if it came up,” he said. “I would probably play for Tonga, if I got that chance.”
The more immediate goal is retaining his place in the Dragons side for this year and beyond.
“I’m off contract and playing for a contract this year,” he said.
“Hopefully I can get another one.”
snowman
Total gronk
id take the side loss and sign napa
If take napa also but it’s edge second rowers we need.
snowman
Total gronk
put fifita there, thats where he ran all finals series anyway
BurgoShark
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We have lots of edge players. Maybe we need some depth to replace the two injuries (Graham & Rudolf) but there are plenty of options ...
- Bukuya has been an outstanding right edge player for most of his career other than the ten games this year after illness/injury when he was so-so.
- Sorensen and Capewell are both 25. Players can certainly improve after that. Luke Lewis didn't even start playing in the forwards until he was 27.
- Briton Nikora may be a while off being a regular but could play a role next year
- Jack Williams has been an edge player every season except this year (he was moved to lock to accommodate Sorensen and Nikora in the lineup)
- Josh Carr was one of the best back rowers running around the 20's
- Uele played some back row for the Jets and they were some of his best performances
- Wilton is probably good enough to start in NSW Cup next year despite being 20's eligible
Bukuya, Sorensen, Capes, Williams all showed they can play NRL so if any of the others can get above them in the pecking order then they will be a good contributor, & hopefully some of these guys can get better still too.
There is a very significant gap between Graham and our next best though so if we did pick up another player that was better than those four I'd be okay with it.
Sir Chadley
Jaws
Is Rudolph the goods mate? I know he is injured and won't be with us first thing but most of us have never seen him play.
What can you tell us about him?
HaroldBishop
Megalodon
He has a big arse, I can tell you that much.
snowman
Total gronk
he is pretty average
was at souths and was lazy, barely played for norths and went to redcliffe
broncos didnt even look at him and they usually have a monopoly on q cup talent
was at souths and was lazy, barely played for norths and went to redcliffe
broncos didnt even look at him and they usually have a monopoly on q cup talent
Western Sharkie
Jaws
Get ya coat while you’re at it lol
Thanks for the insight mate. Don’t know a lot about our nsw cup players and juniors ect.
snowman
Total gronk
josh carr is a beast of a kid
will definitely play firsts
will definitely play firsts
HaroldBishop
Megalodon
:glasses-cool:
BurgoShark
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True.
Correct again. He began 2017 as the starting prop but was out of the 13 a Month later and fighting for a job in the 17 after that.
I can't comment on this. Obviously his form wasn't up to scratch so perhaps you are right here.
He might have been average before but he wasn't average this year. He kept his spot over a lot of good players, finished quite high in the league PotY award and was the best player on the field on Grand Final day.
This bit I completely disagree with. Brisbane rarely actually recruit players from the Qld Cup. They sign thousands of 13-15 year old players and the ones who are good enough at 18-20 become Q Cup players for a few years while they try to make the NRL. Melbourne have the better record of signing players AFTER they have debuted in the Qld Cup and in the last 20 years Cronulla, Wests, Manly, Canberra and the Bulldogs have all have all recruited fairly heavily from the Q Cup at different times.
What I can tell you about him is that he is definitely not a prop anymore. He started off the bench early on and played a little bit of lock here and there, but 6 weeks in he was playing 70+ minutes every week at left edge and he stayed there all year ahead of Aaron Whitchurch (a former Bronco), Kotoni Staggs and Myles Taueli (both current Broncos). The Redcliffe coach definitely rates him.
The first thing I thought when I was the news of his signing was that he will be an awesome replacement for Sorensen on the Jets. I think Soro has proven all he can in that comp and Flano will keep him up in the NRL barring injury or a massive form slump. Given that the announcement said that Rudolf will be on a development contract that would make sense. Development players can't play unless the team suffers injuries to a lot of players in similar positions. I think the plan (even before the injury) would have been for Rudulf to take over on the left edge at Newtown for one year with a view to him competing for a spot in the 30 in 2020. It seems to me that he was fairly hyped up in the NYC, so maybe (like snowman suggested) he got a little complacent. If that was the case at Souths it certainly wasn't the case at Redcliffe.
Skills-wise he is a big unit who runs good lines and has one of the better offloads in the comp. Defensively he goes well - especially considering that he had to be Cameron Cullen's bodyguard all year.
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