Qld’s next Origin stars? All 30 teens named in this Qld Emerging under-19s squad
Who are the 30 teen league players identified as Queensland’s next Origin stars? We give an insight into every member of the state under-19 squad here.
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Members of Queensland’s Under 19 emerging squad will assemble in Brisbane this weekend as part of the QRL’s emerging Origin program that aims to mould the Maroons next generation players.
But exactly who are these 30 youngsters? We give an insight into where these kids have come from and what they might be capable of.
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Chris Faagutu (Wests Tigers)
Joint winner of the Justin Hodges Medal for the Langer Trophy’s best player in 2022 (he shared it with Titans gun Keano Kini of PBC SHS), Faagutu is an elite No. 13.
A three season veteran in the Langer competition at Marsden SHS, Faagutu is deceptively strong and has the mobility of an edge forward. The Logan Brothers junior was a 2022 Australian schoolboy and a natural leader on the training paddock and on game day.
Jye Gray (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Gray is an extraordinary talent with lightning acceleration over the first 20m. A halfback, Gray is deceptively strong for his size and will burst through the line if you don’t commit your body in front of him.
The Burleigh Heads junior had an amazing 2022 – winning the Meninga Cup with Souths Logan, captaining the Queensland schoolboys to national carnival success, and captaining The Southport School to a joint premiership in GPS First XI rugby. Try topping that.
Arama Hau (Gold Coast Titans)
Along with Josiah Pahulu (see below), Hau was the best big man in Queensland schoolboys last season. From Keebra Park SHS, the Burleigh Bears forward leader is an enormous talent who is a brutal runner from No. 13, mixing power with ball skills and pace. He can play on the edge with ease and was an Australian schoolboy selection.
Matua Brown (North Queensland Cowboys)
If you asked good judges in Central Queensland to name the best five prospects in the region, everyone would mention Brown. Originally from that famous league region of Innisfail-Cairns, Brown is a younger member of the squad who is fast with those class touches you just can’t coach into a kid. The Cathedral College product was a wise recruitment choice by the Cowboys. He has played locally with Rockhampton Brothers.
Angus Hinchey (Melbourne Storm)
Angus Hinchey is a player every side needs. Understated, he is someone teammates like lining up with because of his desire, work rate and aggression. He really must be a dream to coach. From The Gap SHS, Hinchey has grown up admiring Roosters thunderbolt forward Victory Radley and it will surprise no one if he plays against his hero one day. The son of former Redcliffe premiership winner James Hinchey, Hinchey came through the famous Wests Mitchelton network which delivered past champions like John Rhodes, John Ribot and Paul Vautin, among others.
Caleb Jackson (The Dolphins)
The Dolphins have displayed astute judgment to snare this Langer Trophy premiership winning utility back. From Ipswich where he helped his school through an unbeaten season in 2022, Jackson is a natural footballer who can play fullback, centre or wing with ease. When injury free, you can see he has genuine revs carrying the ball.
Ryan Jackson (The Dolphins)
Jackson was one of the Dolphins’ first youth signings. A prop, was a 2021 premiership winner with the St Laurence’s College First XV where his ball running was put to good use in rugby. But the Wynnum-Manly junior is a tight forward in league who will be lapping up being surrounded by the Bromwich boys, Tom Gilbert, Wallace, Nichols and co. With tutoring from them, he can’t go wrong.
Stanley Huen (Melbourne Storm)
An Ipswich Hornets junior, Huen is a strong, dependable centre or half who has long impressed the Storm. He also has subtle ball skills and plenty of pace, making this Ipswich Grammar School old boy the complete package. He was a member of Souths Logan’s 2022 Meninga Cup winning squad.
Mason Kira (Melbourne Storm)
A big man from Mountain Creek SHS, Mason Kira is an edge forward wrecking ball with untapped potential. He is a real dynamo and it is little surprise the astute Melbourne Storm talent scouts see something in him. Watch this space.
Liam Le Blanc (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Le Blanc is mature beyond his years, an old pro in a teenagers body. We really like this kid and reckon Souths have a good signing. He is understated, but gets through a mountain of work in the middle. He was an unsung hero of the Queensland schoolboys national championship win last season. Although he has always attended Nudgee College where he played First XV, Le Blanc is a league boy to the core from Brisbane’s northern suburbs.
Israel Leota (Brisbane Broncos)
Leota is an athletic freak who can be anything. A Souths Logan Meninga Cup premiership winner, the Ipswich Grammar School old boy originally hailed from Logan where he would play rugby, league and Australian football as a ruckman – all in the one season. He should be worth the investment.
Zac Lamont (North Queensland Cowboys)
Lamont is a highly skilled half with a killer kicking game who has been in the Cowboys system for several years. A Churchie old boy, he is also an ace goal kicker and he should benefit this season playing among the men in the colts and Q-Cup Blackhawks team.
Josh Lynn (Parramatta Eels)
Lynn was the glue behind Queensland’s national title winning effort at last year’s schoolboys championship. Originally from Coombabah SHS but who finished with PBC SHS, there is a splash of Cooper Cronk about this thorough professional who has learned how to get his team around the paddock before pulling the trigger.
Damon Marshall (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Marshall is very well known to our northern readers, a terrific No. 13 with pace and power. A natural leader, the Ignatius Park College old boy was one of the best, week in, week out, in a powerful Blackhawks under 18 outfit last season. He is certainly one the finest forward prospects from North Queensland.
Haizyn Mellars (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Mellars had the distinction of being a Queensland basketball and Queensland schoolboys rugby league representative – all in the one season. With amazing aerial skills, Mellars was a target both through the hands and in the air for Marsden SHS last season. It is little wonder he is a good athlete. After all his father Vince played NRL for the Warriors, Roosters, Sharks while his basketball playing mum Charmian was a 2008 Beijing Olympic New Zealand representative and a Commonwealth Games silver medallist.
Blake Mozer (Brisbane Broncos)
Mozer is the ants pants of this group, the best in the business who will probably captain the Queensland 19s. From Keebra Park SHS, the Southport Tigers junior is a tall, gifted hooker with size, vision and pace. He reads the game amazingly and the Broncos have a good one here. Watch for this head gear wearing rookie to make his NRL debut for Brisbane sometime this season.
Seth Nikotemo (Gold Coast Titans)
Nikotemo was slightly in the shadow of his Keebra Park SHS teammate Hau (see above), but is an elite edge forward in his own right who helped Queensland win the schoolboy nationals in 2022. A natural leader, he is tall and athletic and a grand prospect.
Karl Oloapu (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Now the tug of war for hss signature is over, we expect Oloapu to generate headlines now for his on field efforts.
From suburban Redcliffe, the Wavell SHS grew up admiring the great Benji Marshall which is ironic because he has a mid-air skip not unlike the one Marshall used to generate. Oloapu is an explosive ball runner who can also undress a team’s defence with short balls, long balls or deft kicks. He shared the 2022 Justin Hodges Medal for Langer player of the Year with New Zealand eligible Keano Kini (Titans, PBC SHS).
Josiah Pahulu (Gold Coast Titans)
The Springfield Panthers junior captained Ipswich through its unbeaten 2022 season. It is difficult to put into words the impact his Australian schoolboys No. 13 had on the competition with his high work rate, strength, pace and power. There is a hint of Reuben Cotter (Cowboys champion) about him.
Gabriel Satrick (Melbourne Storm)
Hooker Satrick was the discovery player of 2022. Completely unheard of before the start of the season, the boy from Yarrabah lit up the Queensland schoolboys trial, coming from the clouds to make the side. So well did he play, he was man of the match in the grand final, using his electric speed to great effort from the ruck.
Tim Sielaff-Burns (Penrith Panthers)
The tall, long striding fullback Sielaff-Burns was another to enjoy premiership glory last season when he helped Souths Logan to the Meninga Cup title. From Coombabah SHS, Sielaff-Burns is a grand athlete who covers the ground with ease, a little like when Justin Hodges played fullback as a teenager.
Elekana Suavai (NQ Cowboys)
Suavai is another athletic specimen of special quality. A block busting centre, he is one of the impact players in his age group, a prime mover who has enormous potential. He was a member of the successful Queensland schoolboys last season. In the Meninga Cup last season, he scored tries and created tries like no one else in the competition.
Tyreece Tait (Brisbane Broncos)
Those that saw Darius Boyd as a child will see a smattering of him in Tait. From Brisbane’s southside, but a Wavell SHS alumni, Tait was the fastest winger in the Langer Trophy last season. Gosh he can move, using a long stride to gather pace with ease. He is a pretty special talent.
Ben Te Kura (Brisbane Broncos)
Yet another Redcliffe junior, Big Ben is a man mountain, a towering human from the Redcliffe region who went to school at Wavell SHS. A middle forward, he has plenty of agility and mobility for a big man and is a great athlete.
Robert Toia (Sydney Roosters)
If Mozer was the best forward in this squad, then Toia is the best back. From North Lakes, Toia is a centre sensation who was snapped up by the Roosters when he was in nappies – well, almost. They knew a good thing when they saw it, and believe me, this dynamic centre is a good thing.
De La Salle Va’a (Sydney Roosters)
If you think back to Queensland’s disappointing under 19 match against NSW last season, you will remember one of the team’s best players was a headgear wearing prop called Xavier Va’a. Well this is his brother. The boys come from good stock – Carl Webb country – Dalby.
Like Webb, they have been youth boxers and now they are both at the Roosters as rising middle forwards. Both boys come from JT’s old school of St Mary’s College, Toowoomba.
Michael Waqa (The Dolphins)
Here’s the wildcard of the pack. We have been waiting for someone to sign this Albany Creek Crushers junior and it is the Dolphins who have shown their hand. He is hit in defence and carries strongly in the middle, and the fitter he gets, the better he will be. He was not at peak fitness for Wavell SHS last season and we expect to see him perform closer to his potential in 2023.
Kallum Weatherall-Stacey (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Blink and you will miss this bloke. Yet another Wavell SHS product, Weatherall-Stacey has been a national standard sprinter during his school years. He can run, don’t worry. He is certainly a kid who could go to the next level because he is so damn fast. Do you get the picture – he is quick. Kallum plays wing.
Mitchell Jennings (Melbourne Storm)
The Beerwah Bulldogs junior has been under the nose of the Storm staff playing for the Sunshine Coast Falcons, and they have swooped to sign this exciting outside back prospect. The Falcons have not set the world on fire but that never stopped Jennings from impressing.
Del Wigmore (Penrith Panthers)
You know you are a good player if Penrith want you. The yard stick of the NRL have the biggest junior base in the league, yet they wanted Del Wigmore. Wigmore is a graduate of the class of 2021 where he was a dynamic mobile forward for Keebra Park SHS.
Originally published as Qld’s next Origin stars? All 30 teens named in this Qld Emerging under-19s squad
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