RLGC Transfer Centre 2020: Every player movement for season 2020
Welcome to the Gold Coast Bulletin’s Rugby League Gold Coast Player Transfer Centre. Tune in every day between now and season kick-off on July 25 to learn which players are headed where
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Welcome to the Gold Coast Bulletin’s Rugby League Gold Coast Player Transfer Centre.
Tune in every day between now and season kick-off on July 25 to learn which players are headed where.
July 17
Burleigh Bears five-eighth Conner Toia is set to turn his Midas Touch onto a third Rugby League Gold Coast A Grade club in three seasons as a top recruit for the Ormeau Shearers.
Success has stalked the 27-year-old playmaker across the Gold Coast with three Premiership wins from the last five seasons.
Burleigh and Runaway Bay can attest to the winning edge the Kiwi-born player brought to their clubs’ march to the title in 2015, 2018 and 2019.
If form holds true Toia could transform last year’s wooden spooners into finals contenders.
He’s brought help in the shape of veteran Burleigh Intrust Super Cup fullback Kurtis Rowe and Souths Magpies five-eighth Hayden O’Hara to strengthen Ormeau’s spine around him.
Waiting in the wings for a chance will be Toia’s younger brother Creedence, who joins the club from the Magpies Under-20s system.
The club is still waiting on news of a potential release for Titans development flyer Ioane Seiuli from the Gold Coast Titans’ NRL bubble.
Seiuli would form a potent outside weapon with the quality of ball supplied by an uber-talented playmaking roster.
Coach Peri Creamer said the Shearers would be something special for spectators to watch in 2020.
“It’s going to be a headache picking a 17 at the end of the day,” Creamer said.
“It’s just good when you have someone like Kurtis, who’s not far from an NRL contract, put his hand up to negotiate with us – we haven’t had to chase him.
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“Their mindset was to come to the underdogs and help us reach our goal.
“It brings a lot more to training because guys know the calibre of player that’s turning up to Ormeau now.
“Everyone has to pick up the pace to keep up with them, the game structure and style they’re bringing.
“Even if it’s just for one season rubbing shoulders with those guys will set us up so everyone can get something out of it.”
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July 14
The Burleigh Bears will call upon just one player from their state champion Intrust Super Cup roster to defend their Rugby League Gold Coast A Grade title in 2020.
Rugby League Gold Coast regulations have restricted movement from the ISC to four players per A Grade squad but the Bears plan to recast halfback Josh Rogers as the ‘Lone Ranger’ for the season ahead.
The 24-year-old Western Australian-born playmaker moved to the Gold Coast five years ago, finding a home at the Burleigh Bears as he chased a spot on an NRL roster.
After rising through the club’s Under-20s and A Grade teams Rogers enjoyed a breakout season in the Intrust Super Cup with 16 games primarily off the bench.
With no Cup season to play Rogers will return to the Bears’ A Grade squad to develop the parts of his game that could make him a starter.
Coach Matt Foster said in doing so he could help elevate the play of the young Bears squad around him.
“I think the other players will benefit massively from having Josh,” Foster said.
“One thing you get with young players is lots of energy but sometimes they don’t know where to direct it.
“Having that guy who’s been there and done it can have a reassuring effect on young players.
“Josh is fantastic at taking the ball to the line and defensively he’s really strong.
“The area we’d like to see him develop is his talk around the park.
“I’d love to see him find that voice in our shortened competition this year to develop his game ever further.
“While he’s doing that it will give others the best opportunity to develop themselves in their roles.”
The burden of mentoring the young Bears will not fall upon Rogers alone.
Fellow Intrust Super Cup players Luke Page and Jeff Lynch have returned to training with A Grade but do not plan to lace up the boots.
Coach Foster said the effect the duo, particularly club legend Page, were having on the squad was impressive.
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“Having those blokes around these younger blokes is great for them,” Foster said.
“Pagey is a legend of the game, certainly at legend at the Burleigh Bears.
“He’s a unique guy, one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet, but his desire and passion for rugby league and the Burleigh Bears is infectious.
“Having him around training you can see a lot of the fellas, young and old, see Luke Page – and he only has one pace, he can’t slow down – seeing him around the place is gold for those boys.”
Youngsters Jayden Campbell, Jayden Sharp, Regan Muir Ogle and Tyler Szepanowski will lead the charge for the Bears in the absence of RLGC Team of the Decade nominee Connor Toia.
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July 13
An off-season in the gym has helped transform Tweed Seagulls hooker Liam Hampson’s body from club footy wannabe to NRL prospect in less than six months.
The Keebra Park product’s talent has never been in doubt.
Hampson’s freewheeling running game was the adaptor that converted Moeaki Fotuaika and Payne Haas’ forward dominance into pristine service for Tanah Boyd’s backline at the school in 2016.
A sub-75 kilogram frame has held the 21-year-old back ever since.
Stints with both the Warriors and Titans Under-20s programs in 2017 were marred by injuries caused by punching above his weight defending in the frontline.
His graduation to senior football via Southport Tigers put him on the radar for Ben Woolf’s Queensland Cup side at Tweed in 2019.
Hampson carved out a niche as a specialist No.14, providing spine coverage and energy as a substitute but hungered for a starting jersey that would only be earned in the gym.
“I’m pretty confident in my game but I knew I had to put a bit of weight on this year,” Hampson said.
“When I played in last year’s Grand Final at Southport I was only 76 kilograms.
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“I’ve been knuckling down in the gym, getting a bit bigger and maintaining my speed, which is a highlight of my game, and now I’m 84 kilos.”
Six months ago Hampson would have been the smallest forward in the NRL but his physical transformation has seen him leapfrog hookers Jeremy Marshall-King, Blayke Brailey and Jake Turpin in size.
His NRL audition in the Queensland Cup will have to wait as COVID-19 forced the cancellation of Tweed’s season.
It means Hampson will return for the entirety of the Southport Tigers 2020 season, where he can learn to use his new frame to devastating effect in the RLGC A Grade competition.
Whether that return comes at hooker or at halfback remains to be seen as returning Queensland Cup players create selection headaches for coach Steve Dowd.
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