How Benny’s Babes from the Queensland State of Origin squad got their start in the NRL
They are Benny’s Origin Babes, but how did Xavier Coates become a Bronco young gun, what led to Brenko Lee breaking into the NRL and did you know Jaydn Su’A was to become a Raider? We reveal how Queensland’s next generation got their starts.
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They are Benny’s Origin Babes, but how did Xavier Coates become a Bronco young gun, what led to Brenko Lee breaking into the NRL and did you know Jaydn Su’A was to become a Raider? We reveal how Queensland’s next generation got their starts.
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XAVIER COATES (Brisbane Broncos)
Xavier Coates came through the back door to be signed by the Brisbane Broncos. Queensland’s most exciting three-quarter talent since Israel Folau, Coates was playing five-eighth for Marymount College in the Confraternity Shield when Broncos official Mick Kennedy (skills coach) and recruitment ace Brian Edwards glanced at each other in admiration of Coates’ athletic ability. Most Gold Coast league kids come to the attention of scouts playing for either Keebra Park SHS or Palm beach Currumbin SHS, but Coates was in a battling Marymount side displaying some x-factor. “Mick and I liked his size and athletic ability, so we went to coast to watch him play for Currumbin, the same side as Tom Dearden,’’ Edwards said. Frustratingly, Coates did not get quality ball so the pair had to go back a third time to view him. “On the third visit he eventually got some good football. He had some open space, he beat players and did everything you wanted to see, and we signed him by the end of that week.’’
BRENKO LEE (Melbourne Storm)
A journeyman, Lee moving to Melbourne had been the making of him according to the man who signed him to his first NRL contract for the Raiders – Brian Edwards. “He has been at Canberra, the Bulldogs and Titans, but where I heard about going to Melbourne I was pleased because I knew that Craig Bellemy was just what he needed,’’ Edwards said of the Marsden SHS and Logan Brothers junior. “He just needed a little bit more time than the others.’’ Marsden SHS principal Abndrew Peach said his community was delighted to see Lee, and fellow Marsden SHS alumni Corey Allan and Jaydn Su’a all progress into the state squad. “We’ll be looking forward to cheering them on against the Blues and know that they’ll represent our state, our community and their families with great pride, passion and persistence.”
MOEAKI FOTUAIKA (Gold Coast Titans)
The Logan Brothers junior was not initially on hit-list of talent scouts when he graduated from Keebra Park SHS. But once he got into the broader league community playing Mal Meninga Cup for Souths Logan Magpies, he was quickly identified by Magpies’ official Mark Beaumont as a player of considerable potential. “Going into the Mal Meninga Cup playing for Souths Logan, I said to him this was a chance to have a crack and this is where it was going to start, to show people your real qualities,’’ said his former coach at Logan Brothers, Andrew Jamieson, who was Fotuaika’s unofficial taxi service in the region. Beaumont quickly suggested the front row workhorse to the Broncos, but before the Broncos could blink the Gold Coast Titans had identified him.
PHILLIP SAMI (Gold Coast Titans)
Sami was rewarded for having the courage to leave his comfort zone playing league in the Ipswich region to travel to the Easts Tigers where he became a smaller fish, but in a bigger pond. It was there where the Titans, eager to add talent and youth to their roster, moved to sign him.
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EDRICK LEE (Newcastle Knights)
It was the eagle eye of then Canberra Raiders recruitment officer Brian Edwards which led to Lee’s first NRL contract with the Raiders. Lee was not a schoolboy prodigy. Indeed after trialling for the Easts’ Mal Meninga Cup side, he missed selection in the original 24. “I had seen him playing for the local high school and his uncle, who is Brenko Lee’s father, gave me a ring. He said ‘I know he missed out (on Easts) but I think you should have a look at him’. By that stage he was playing second row at Souths Logan, but with one look at him Edwards could not wait to send tapes of him playing back to Canberra for review.
HYMEL HUNT (Newcastle Knights)
Hunt was a junior star playing in the Redcliffe district whom the Brisbane Broncos identified on a scholarship. But he lost some gloss in the eyes of Brisbane and was let go, and several clubs late he has been richly rewarded for his persistence with recognition in the extended Maroons squad. “He has fought his way along. He has had a couple of clubs and it has not been an easy road for him. But he has played consistently well and there you go,’’ Brian Edwards said in reference to being drafted into the original Origin training squad.
PATRICK CARRIGAN (Brisbane Broncos)
It was Broncos Elite Player Development Manager Simon Scanlon who liked what he saw of Carrigan who was coming off the bench for Easts in the Mal Meninga Cup competition. The result of Scanlon’s judgment is that both the Broncos, and Queensland, have a potential 10 year player at their disposal.
LINDSAY COLLINS (Sydney Roosters)
Collins was in demand from the NRL, the Queensland Reds and even Australian football scouts were interested. But the Brisbane Brothers junior from the same club as Dave Shillington was always a league player and was never not going to give the Broncos first crack at his services. However, the Roosters liked his size and mobility while observing him in the Broncos’ under 20s and they went hard for him, eventually getting their man, as the Roosters often do.
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JAYDN SU’A (Rabbitohs)
Another choice of Brian Edwards who identified him from Marsden SHS and Logan Brothers when he was just 13 years old. After two years on a Canberra scholarship, his parents approached Edwards. “His parents came to me when he was about 14 or 15 saying they had got an offer from the Broncos and Jaydn had always wanted to play for the Broncos. So we released him because you don’t want to hold a kid back like that.’’ Edwards said. “He is a very, very nice guy, a good kid.’’
COREY ALLAN (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Another Logan Brothers junior, Allan originally attended secondary school at Keebra Park SHS before moving back to Marsden SHS where, as a 15-year-old, he was contracted to the Brisbane Broncos. Allan was a rangy, elusive runner capable of the unexpected and NRL watchers were only now starting to see his potential bubble to the top. “The Marsden SHS community is exceptionally proud of Brenko (Lee), Corey (Allan) and Jaydn (Su’a) with their State of Origin squad selections,’’ said Marsden SHS principal Andrew Peach. “All three young men still have a great connection to our school through family, programs that we run and their efforts to support our current students.’’
TINO FA’ASUAMALEAUI (Melbourne Storm)
Fa’asuamaleaui was first scooped up in the wide Brisbane Broncos recruitment net after starring during the Wide Bay secondary school trials. He was in the Brisbane Broncos elite player development squad with David Fifita but then the Storm came along to lure this big, strong athlete south of the border.