QLD Reds rookie top guns to watch in ‘Tahs under-18 battle includes red-hot fullback talent Wallace Charlie

Watch for white-hot Queensland Reds Academy ace Wallace Charlie in Saturday’s under-18s clash against the NSW Waratahs. Like fellow Fijian scrum half Moses Sorovi, the St Peters trump has been a real head turner.

Wallace Charlie in action for St Peters Lutheran College.

St Peters Lutheran College senior Wallace Charlie is one of many teen top guns who will get their chance to dazzle when the Reds under-18s take on the Waratahs under-18s at Ballymore on Saturday.

The hot stepping No.15, born on Thursday Island and of Papua New Guinean and Fijian descent, has the “footwork” and fearless nature of NRL great Matt Bowen who, along with St Peters Lutheran College old boy Kadin Pritchard, has been an inspiration to him

Charlie played with Pritchard as a Year 10 (2022) student in AIC First XV rugby for St Peters after arriving from Cairns.

Pritchard has been a great mentor for the exciting fullback or fly half talent who played his junior footy for the Cairns Kangaroos and Cairns Brothers.

Wallace Charlie (left) pictured at 12 years of age in Cairns West Primary School kit.

Pritchard, supporters of the Reds and his schoolmates know why there should be a huge fuss over the under-18 Australian Sevens selection.

He is a player you watch in awe. That was the case for many during his stunning showing at Ballymore last Saturday when a Reds squad took on a fierce Brisbane-Fiji side in a great battle ahead of Saturday’s game against the ‘Tahs.

Charlie has strength, he has pace and he has that Fijian flick pass.

His sidestep is lethal too.

Charlie’s goal is to attack and he has shown that for St Peters Lutheran College, for the Brisbane-Fiji side, and will do so next year for Brothers when he transitions into Colts 1 footy.

He doesn’t come in a huge package but he is a strong defender with IQ.

He is in the Reds Academy and has visions of playing in the Australian Schools and Under-18s side which is announced at the end of every year.

The encouraging sign is that ex-Reds scrum half Moses Sorovi made his mark in a Maroon jersey after finding his way to St Peters at Indooroopilly from Yam Island in the Torres Strait.

Current Queensland Reds halfback Moses Sorovi pictured back in his school playing days at St Peters Lutheran College 2012, (Moses is seated front row middle, hands on legs) Picture Supplied

“My goal is to make the Australian 15s team, the under-18s squad and I hope everything goes alright with the Reds Academy,” Charlie said after causing Reds players problems for the Brisbane-Fiji side on Saturday.

He said a good 2024 looked like a premiership with St Peters, making that Australian team and then more footy with the Brethren.

Helping him along the way will be Pritchard, a St Peters old boy (2022) who was in the Reds Academy before being picked up by the ACT Brumbies last year.

“The one AIC player I look up to and have learned a lot off is Kadin Pritchard,” he said.

“He taught me a lot of things. Playing alongside him in grade 10 I really learned a lot.

“It really does (motivate me),” Charlie said about seeing young veteran Pritchard get a chance with a Super Rugby club.

“I still talk to him, he gives me advice throughout the season.”

Treyvon Pritchard. Picture: Tom Primmer/QRU.

Pritchard’s electric younger brother Treyvon, a Year 12 student at Churchie, will run out alongside Charlie in this Saturday’s interstate clash where Queensland’s future Reds will get a chance to show what they are made of.

Some of them, like Iona College’s Lehopa Leota, are made of granite.

Others, like Marist College Ashgrove winger Tom Howard, are full of flare, anticipation and skill.

What’s not to like about these rookies learning their trade in the Reds Academy.