The son of inaugural Gold Coast star Anthony Laffranchi, the teenage prop has been making waves for the Burleigh Bears under-16s side, and coach Paul Kuhnemann believes he has the makings of a future NRL sensation.

Along with fellow bookend Joshua Siulepa, Laffranchi has become a bedrock of the side’s Cyril Connell Challenge campaign.

MORE GOLD COAST SPORT

REVEALED: Every player on Southprot’s VFL primary, development lists

GALLERY: 30 records broken at Gold Coast Championships

Coast fighter reveals 10-year injury run that threatened career

While Kuhnemann said the young gun still had plenty of growing into his body to do, ultimately he had showed enough signs to suggest his performances thus far — which will continue on Sunday against Wynumm-Manly — would form the foundation for future success.

“He’s a very big body and has a lot of growing to do to get into that body … and I think given time he’s got a lot of prospect in the game,” he said.

“He’s working hard on his game, which I think is really good; he’s taken on board everything that I’m giving him and telling him.

“He’s showing signs that he’s definitely in the mix for future representative (football) or further into the NRL. He’s got a big name to live up to but he’s doing all the right things.”

Perhaps the most pleasing thing for Kuhnemann to come out of his outfit’s 20-10 triumph over Norths last week was the manner in which they learnt from past misgivings.

The week prior against Souths Logan, the Bears squandered a 22-6 lead to go down 24-22, as an inability to overturn a momentum swing cost them dearly.

However next outing, they were willing to lean into the grind of the contest and fight for every metre they gained, and no young man epitomised that more than Siulepa.

Only a desire to get more game time under his players belts caused Kuhnemann to take his barnstorming forward from the field, with the rising star’s size 16 boots proving incredibly difficult for the Devils to stop.

While the coach said there were plenty of youngsters in his squad who appeared destined for higher honours throughout their careers, there was something about Siulepa and the way he led from the front that had him tipped for the big stage:

He was already the full package.

“He’s really a giant of the game who I think who has got massive wraps on him. It’s well within his grasp to go to bigger and better things,” Kuhnemann said.

“He’s got a size 16 boot, and I don’t know what he weighs but he’d be about 110kg with not an ounce of fat on him.

“His agility and the ability to ball play is a massive thing, and that catches a few teams unaware with regards to they think he’s there just to run over the top of people.

“He enjoys his football, and when he wants to apply himself he’s one hard hombre to stop.”

UNDER 18S: EMERGING TITAN SETS THE STANDARD

Burleigh under-18s coach Michael Witt has called on his side to follow the example set by Josiah Pahulu, after the young prop came within a whisker of orchestrating a stunning comeback.

The Bears have proven they have the attacking prowess to threaten any defensive unit in the Mal Meninga Cup, however both their matches have still ended in defeat.

In both clashes with Souths Logan and Norths, Witt’s young men have been forced to fight back from hefty deficits, with Pahulu leading from the front and taking the challenge on his shoulders.

Signed to the Titans, with a pre-season at the NRL club under his belt, Pahulu forced his way off the bench and into the starting side last week, a role he will play again on Sunday against Wynumm-Manly.

Witt lauded the highly touted talent as tailor made for modern rugby league.

“He’s a great kid, a really lovely kid from a lovely family. He lives up Ipswich way, so he travels down to train with us … and he’s got a great work ethic,” Witt said.

“He’s a worker that’s for sure. It’s just his leg speed through the middle; he’s a big, strong kid but it’s his leg speed and attitude that separates from most.

“I think the way the modern game is going players who play in the middle and who have that leg speed and work ethic the game is tailor made for them.”

Witt said a huge part of the Bears’ very different passages of play in each half largely came down to momentum.

At this age group, the former NRL star said, teams have a habit of keeping that surge rolling forward, while defensive groups struggle to win it back.

That, he said, had been a massive part of his training regimen, one which he hoped at last came to fruition against the Seagulls.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into our defence at training, it just hasn’t flowed through to our games,” Witt said.

“I think it’s part of that age group, it’s going form junior footy into senior footy so there’s definitely a transition process there in getting used to having to work hard in defence with effort on effort.

“We’ve dropped a fair bit of ball that’s made it hard on us, but rest assured we’re doing everything we can (to improve).”

UNDER 19S: TITAN’S SISTERS FORGING OWN PATH

They are the counter-attacking, in-sync duo on a pathway towards rugby league’s elite, and Shane Gerrard will be calling on them to be the spark that inspires a Burleigh triumph.

Ebony and Skye Raftstrand-Smith, the younger sisters of Titans ace Tiana, have established themselves as the attacking linchpins within the Bears’ under-19s ranks, scoring five tries between them in the side’s two victorious clashes this season.

Witnessing the pair link up regularly as centre and fullback respectively has been a breathtaking sight for coach Gerrard, who sees them emulating the feats of their NRLW sibling in the years to come.

For now, however, he said their focus was on Sunday’s clash against Wynumm-Manly, a side fresh off a resounding win of their own.

“I was given a small opportunity to have something to do with Tiana a few years ago. I’ve had more to do with Ebony and Skye over the last couple of years and they’re really great girls and huge in what we’re trying to do as a team,” Gerrard said.

“I think Ebony scored three tries on the weekend and Skye gave her the final pass on two. “They have that instinct on the field. It really does make it easier, I just buzz when they trust me and trust the process I’m trying to do.”

Burleigh capitalised on an arsenal of attacking weapons within their roster to defeat Norths 48-14 last week, however Gerrard admits he was yet to be completely convinced of their credentials.

However as the group continue to build combinations, the coach is adamant they have the makings of future Titans.

Among them is Gerrard’s daughter, Sunny, who has spearheaded the team’s forward pack with hooker Lily-Rose Kolc operating with seemeless ease out of the ruck.

Gerrard admitted he tended to be a little harsher on Sunny on the training paddock, determiend to bring out the best in his daughter.

But he said along with captain Dannii Perese they had embraced the challenges he had put in front of them, and would become pillars of strenght in the Bears system moving forward.

“I’ve coached all three of my children (and) if anything I’m a lot harder on my own. They know that and it’s good to have that relationship,” Gerrard said.

“I’m lucky because she (Sunny) has got a really good footy head and we do have conversations about different things and different aspects of the game.

“She actually teaches me a few things as well as I hope to teach her. I think with a few girls on that field together they lead by example.

“They’re prepared to go to work and do the work that needs to be done to set that standard.”

nick.wright@news.com.au