Queensland rookies set for NRL takeoff in 2022

We reveal 13 ripper Queensland rugby league talent set for NRL takeoff in 2022.

Andrew Dawson

4 min read

January 21, 2022 - 1:30AM

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Here are 13 Queensland rugby league youngsters who will push hard for their NRL debuts in 2022.

Most anticipated is Sunshine Coast product Jack Howarth (Melbourne Storm) whose explosive pace will see him used as a centre or edge forward in 2022.

But there are others, including a son of a Queensland Origin gun, a Gold Coast speed merchant and a thrilling graduate of Kirwan State High School.

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13 Jack Howarth scores for BBC in 2020. (Image Sarah Marshall)

JACK HOWARTH

Howarth is a schoolboy prodigy who lit up the GPS First XV rugby competition playing with Brisbane Boys College when the team snapped a 54 year premiership drought in 2020. His progress was halted last season by injury, but watch for this tall, powerful edge backrower or centre to debut in 2022. A rookie with blinding acceleration, he was named by this writer as the No.1 schooboy player in either league or union in 2020.

Broncos

EZRA MAM

An Ambrose Treacy College alumni, Mam made a stunning Super Cup debut for Souths Logan last season when he scored three tries after being promoted from the Meninga Cup. A halfback with untapped skill, Mam is a Goodna kid and Souths junior who will learn his craft behind Adam Reynolds at the Broncos.

Ttians winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira is the fastest player in club history, with a recorded top speed of 36.5km/h. Picture Glenn Hampson

ALOFI’ANA KHAN-PEREIRA (Gold Coast)

Khan-Pereira has been promoted from a 2021 development contract to a full contract with the Titans which highlights what the club thinks of the kid. A winger, he is a Keebra Park SHS and Burleigh Bears product who has serious pace.

JACK MARTIN (Cronulla)

Martin is an Ipswich Jets junior who is a Queensland State of Origin under 18 front row representative. Previously contracted to the Broncos whose work rate and effort is renowned, Martin is on a development contract with the Sharks.

Ryan Rivett typically holding the ball in two hands. Picture: Alix Sweeney

RYAN RIVETT (Cronulla)

Rivett hails from the Palm Beach Currumbin SHS stable where he partnered Tom Weaver (see below) to pilot the red and whites through a sensational 2020 schoolboy season in the Langer Trophy. A ball-playing halve with great vision, he was one of our top players of the season in 2020.

PBC SHS’s alumni Tom Weaver Picture: Liam Kidston

TOM WEAVER (Gold Coast)

Weaver is first year out of school after helping PBC SHS to last season’s Phil Hall Cup state schoolboy championship victory. A Mal Meninga Cup premiership winner with Tweed Seagulls, the goalkicking halfback reads the play expertly and has a killer short kicking game. He is on a development contract but will be hot on the heels of another PBC SHS alumni and No. 7, Toby Sexton.

JORDAN LIPP (North Queensland)

Lipp is from the famous St Mary’s College and Toowoomba district breeding ground where he learned his trade at the Southern Suburbs club. A halfback or five-eight, he helped St Mary’s – Johnathan Thurston’s old school – to the 2018 Confraternity Shield title. He is a former Western Mustangs captain who likes to go fishing.

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TONY FRANCIS (Gold Coast)

Francis is an edge forward or centre powerhouse who has trained his way onto the Titans development contract list. Originally from Sydney, Francis was a star of Marsden SHS’s Langer Trophy squad and his aggressive running and hard work off the ball is impressing.

Cowboys young gun Tyreece Woods has stepped up into the club's development list. Picture: Cowboys Media

TYREECE WOODS (North Queensland)

A former teammate of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow at Kirwan SHS, the long striding Woods was a part of his old school’s drive to 2020 schoolboy glory. A fullback, the rookie has earned a development contract with the Cowboys.

North Queensland Cowboys’s Riley Price. Picture: Evan Morgan

RILEY PRICE (North Queensland)

Price is the son of an Origin gun, ex-Queensland prop Steve Price, who can play edge or middle forward. A fan of the cracking action movie John Wick and an admirer of Kobe Bryant, Price is on a development contract and was blooded by the Blackhawks in Super Cup action during 2021.

Shallin Fuller of the Burleigh Bears. Picture: QRL Media / Jorja Brinums

SHALLIN FULLER (Gold Coast)

The Gold Coast Titans were rebuilding their club from the ground up and Fuller is part of an impressive junior talent base being developed behind the scenes. A Burleigh Bears junior via Kyogle Turkeys and Beaudesert, he is a brilliant half.

Logan Bayliss in action during a Brisbane Broncos NRL training session. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

LOGAN BAYLISS (Broncos)

A Nambour-born front rower and Queensland under 20 representative, the towering Bayliss has earned a development contract after impressing playing against the men for Souths Logan in the 2021 Super Cup season.

Isaiah Tass as a junior in Mackay..

ISAIAH TASS (South Sydney)

From the fertile rugby league region of Mackay, 22-year-old Tass is coming off a bumper Super Cup season with Souths Logan where he scored nine tries. A tall, goalkicking outside back, Tass is a Mackay State High School graduate who has previously been in the Canterbury and Broncos’ feeder systems.

Adrian Trevilyan. Picture: Evan Morgan

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ADRIAN TREVILYAN (Raiders)

Trevilyan is another Kirwan SHS prospect who is an outside chance of progressing into the NRL in 2022. Watch for his name to bubble to the surface either this season or next year. He is one of three young guns to progress out of either the Payne Cup and Langer Trophy competitions. The others are 2021 school leavers Keebra Park SHS alumni Blake Mozer (Broncos) and PBC SHS’s Oskar Bryant (Gold Coast).

XAVIER STOWERS (Gold Coast)

The 2021 NRL season may come too soon for Stowers, but put him on rookie wildcard list for later in the decade. At 194cm in height, the Marsden SHS alumni is physically impressive but will spend large parts of this season learning to play front row against men after emerging from a rugby union background.