Shute Shield 2020: Eastwood’s Tane Edmed picks rugby over cricket, NRL
He’s the talented young gun who got away from both cricket and rugby league. So why is this son of a rugby league hardman now playing in a completely different sport altogether?
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He’s the son of a Balmain Tigers hardman who should have been preparing for the 2020/2021 cricket season or even the NRL.
Instead Tane Edmed is out to make a name for himself in a completely different sport.
While rugby league recently won the tussle for the multi-talented Joseph Suaalii, Edmed has gone the other way.
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A talented teen cricketer and league player, Edmed, who attended Junior Wallabies camp earlier this year and is a member of the Waratahs Gen Blue program, is now preparing to make his Shute Shield debut with Eastwood when the season gets underway on July 18.
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The 19-year-old from Five Dock has moved from Randwick to the North Shore club for opportunity and is out to make a mark in his new colours as he amps up his quest to one day pull on a Wallabies jersey.
But he could just have easily been doing it in one of two others sports.
Playing First X1 cricket as a schoolboy in Year Nine, secured a cricket scholarship to Trinity College.
“I was a massive cricketer. I started very young and was in NSW rep teams when I was quite young,” said the son of professional rugby league player Steve Edmed, who played in two losing grand finals for Balmain in 1988 and 1989 and also the English Super League.
“I was lucky to get a scholarship at Trinity and played all the way though to halfway through Year 11.”
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But when a wavering love of the sport coincided with a growth spurt, Edmed started to find form on the footy pitch in both rugby and league.
“I had always played rugby league but I was really small. Then I got way bigger and started to enjoy it,’’ he said. “I was playing SG Ball and at the end of 2017 I was signed by the Wests Tigers for under 20s.
“Then I started doing really well at my rugby as well.’’
Fate intervened with the youngster, now 183cm and 90kg, offered a professional rugby contract at the end of 2018..
“At the end of school I got offered a deal from Rugby Australia for sevens and 15s and I too it,’’ said Edmed, who asked to be released from the Tigers to take up the new role.
“I’m just better suited to union. I was playing hooker for league and five-eighth for union.
“League didn’t see me as a half. That made me the decision easier.”
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His latest decision was to move from Randwick, where he played colts last year, to Eastwood where he will work under coach and Woodies legend Ben Batger during the Shute Shield.
“Randwick have a lot of young fly half’s. I could have played a little first grade now and then but at Eastwood I could get more time in first grade,” Edmed said.
“So for me it was for the opportunity.”
“I’m looking to make my Shute Shield debut. It’s a really exciting time.’’
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Originally published as Shute Shield 2020: Eastwood’s Tane Edmed picks rugby over cricket, NRL