NRL Rich 100: Peter O’Sullivan responsible for recruiting the greatest NRL talent
He’s the man who found Greg Inglis and Israel Folau, and he was the first to spot Latrell Mitchell’s talent. Now Peter O’Sullivan has shared some of his tips for finding future stars early.
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Peter O’Sullivan is regarded as the best recruitment manager in the business.
He is the man who first identified Greg Inglis (2004) and Israel Folau (2006) as teenagers to sign them at Melbourne Storm.
He also found Boyd Cordner, Latrell Mitchell, Roger Tuivasa-Scheck and Joey Manu as teenage rookies for the Roosters.
It’s not just his eye for football talent but his contact book around country NSW, Queensland, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji.
If there is a kid as young as 14 with genuine NRL potential he’ll know about it, usually before the others.
The job of a recruitment manager is almost as important as the head coach at any football club.
They are the ones with a $9.6 million chequebook to assemble the 30-man rosters across the 16 clubs.
“My job means jackshit unless you’ve got a good coach,” O’Sullivan said.
“But a coach hasn’t got much hope without a good roster. It goes hand in hand.”
O’Sullivan has worked for Melbourne Storm, the Sydney Roosters and now the New Zealand Warriors.
“It’s so competitive and you’ve got to have vision and look ahead,” he says.
“Everyone knew GI (Inglis) was going to be a great player at 18 but we could see it when he was much younger. So you’ve got to spot them early and before your rivals.”
O’Sullivan tells a great story about securing Latrell Mitchell for the Sydney Roosters.
He’d gone to watch another player in a Central Coast game against St George in SG Ball (Under 18s). Mitchell was playing for Central Coast.
“It was a little suburban park, they were warming up and I saw this other kid (Latrell) and thought who the hell’s that,” O’Sullivan said.
“I wanted to sign him before he ran on to the field. He just stood out. As soon as you see someone move you can see their balance … you know.”
Latrell was then picked in a possibles v probables trial for NSW Under 16s.
“I was dreading him playing in that trial because all the scouts and all the clubs would be watching,” O’Sullivan said. “But we got him in the end.”
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Originally published as NRL Rich 100: Peter O’Sullivan responsible for recruiting the greatest NRL talent