Rugby league’s generation next: The young guns to watch at every NRL club
Some you know, others are yet to debut, but all are expected to make an impact in 2022. Check out how your team’s young talent fared at the selection table.
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The Round 1 teams are in and a host of opportunities have been handed out to rising talent around the NRL.
From Penrith centre Izack Tago to Manly speedster Tolu Koula and Newcastle debutant prop Leo Thompson, the next generation has arrived.
So while, over this past year, rugby league has said goodbye to more greats than anyone wanted. — think Cameron Smith, Benji Marshall, Boyd Cordner, the Morris twins — with loss, comes opportunity.
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Especially in the NRL.
Which is why Nick Walshaw has nominated those youngsters he expects will step up for your team in 2022, even if they aren’t in your opening-round teams.
Some, you will already know.
Others are yet to debut.
Regardless, the promise on this list is staggering.
The nominees are …
Broncos: Selwyn Cobbo
How good is this kid going to be? Well, Broncos management are already discussing a $1 million deal to prevent rivals poaching the would-be fullback described as Queensland’s answer to Latrell Mitchell. Or lightning in a bottle. Something. Named on the wing for Brisbane’s clash with South Sydney, it says all you need to know about the ongoing rise of a 19-year-old Indigenous flyer on $60K just 12 months ago.
Bulldogs: Joshua Cook
Unlike other Canterbury signings, you aren’t going to see Cook doing commercials on horseback any time soon. Which is a shame. Especially given at 22, this South Sydney recruit looms as a genuine smokey to appear in the Dogs No.9 jersey at some point this season, especially given the question marks coach Trent Barrett still has regarding his spine. Better, Cook has also spent the past two years learning off Kangaroos namesake, Damien Cook. He missed out on the starting hooker role to Jeremy Marshall-King, and Bailey Biondi-Odi has won the No.14 spot for Round 1, but don’t think he’ll be kept out of first grade for long.
Cowboys: Jeremiah Nanai
While he may still be only 19, this New Zealand-born backrower is already being tipped to become a mainstay of the Cowboys pack this year. Making his NRL debut in 2021, Nanai was outstanding in his four appearances — which is some yarn considering the Kirwan State High product didn’t even start the year as a Cowboys Development Player. We’re now tipping a similar rise again in ’22 for the player being chased by a host of clubs and named to start on the edge against Canterbury on Sunday.
Dragons: Tyrell Sloan
One of those kids who just knows where the ball is going to be — then gets himself there. Outstanding in St George Illawarra’s two trial matches, Sloan gives the Dragons a completely new attacking dynamic from fullback, where’s he’s been named to start. While some improvements are still needed defensively, at 19 he looks every inch a breakout star.
Eels: Will Penisini
One of the most exciting Parramatta juniors in years. Still only 19, Penisini has already spent five years inside the Eels system and has several good judges, including NSW Origin great Laurie Daley, tipping him to be the equal of fellow Kings School alumni Joseph Suaallii. If Mitch Moses and Dylan Brown have the type of year we’re expecting, this bloke will explode in tandem with Eels jersey sales at Peter Wynn’s Score, starting with the Gold Coast in Round 1. Fellow young gun Sean Russell has snared a spot on the wing in place of the injured Haze Dunster.
Knights: Dom Young
All the talk out of Knights HQ over summer has surrounded the big improvements this young English recruit is making in the gym, out on the training field, everywhere. Combine that with his dreadlocked look and now he’s earned a starting role, we’re tipping the 20-year-old to join that long list of Knights cult wingers including Ross Dog, Mad Dog, and perhaps best of all … the Knight Ryder.
Knights coach Adam O’Brien didn’t stop with Young, naming debutant Leo Young on his bench following an injury to co-captain Daniel Saifiti. The former rugby union talent left Canberra for Newcastle and has leapfrogged Pasami Saulo into the top 17.
Panthers: Izack Tago
For a club that continually questions the value of developing players, Penrith sure to seem to be getting some value for developing players. Take Tago, the 19-year-old St Marys gun who is the latest talent to emerge from a production line that might just create an NRL dynasty. Despite being a backrower right throughout his juniors, Tago has now earned himself the left centre spot for a departed Matt Burton.
Rabbitohs: Lachlan Ilias
Apart from being tasked with the biggest assignment of any player on this list, Ilias must also carry my TAB ticket for Dally M Rookie of the Year. But worry? Apart from joining a spine that already includes Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker and Damien Cooks, Ilias also plays exactly like you’d expect a fella who has spent the past two years studying Adam Reynolds – right down to the way he talks — in opposed training sessions.
Raiders: Xavier Savage
Born into an imposing surname, this livewire, Indigenous fullback is quickly living up to it. Especially with ball in hand. Still only 19, Savage admits his “hands were shaking” recently when taking a phone call from Queensland Origin great Billy Slater. At least the kid now knows how defenders feel trying to stop him in full flight. Appears the future of the Raiders No.1 jersey, even if he wasn’t named there to start the season.
Former Dragons winger, and nephew of the great Brett Mullins, James Schiller gets a start in the centres, while Brad Schneider has won the No.7 jersey in the wake of Jamal Fogarty’s injury.
Roosters: Joseph Suaalii
OK, so it feels like Suaalii has been threatening to explode for longer than one of those B-Grade war movie grenades. Still, the kid is only 18. That, and one of the most exciting young athletes anywhere in Australian sport. While a foot injury will keep him out early, we’re tipping this Bondi boy wonder will be the talk of the NRL finals – and a Dally M centre contender.
Sea Eagles: Tolutau Koula
There a few things in this life travel faster than a rugby league rumour. Yet Koula, he might be one of them. Already touted as an NRL Fastest Man contender, this 19-year-old has previously clocked a GPS 100m sprint time of 10.58 secs. Elsewhere, the youngster also has fairly decent bloodlines – both parents are Olympians – and his ability to play fullback, centre or wing makes him extremely valuable to coach Des Hasler, who has named him in the No.14 jersey to take on Penrith.
Sharks: Franklin Pele
Here’s a bloke who weighs 125kg, boasts a neck tattoo and finds it so easy to get swole, he often disappears to cycle around Cronulla while the rest of his Sharkies teammates are lifting in the gym. Once an Australian schoolboy with Bradman Best and Stephen Crichton, Pele now looks set to join them full-time in the big show. While injury kept him to just that NRL debut last year, we expect Pele to become a real presence in the Sharks pack a little later this winter.
Storm: Tyran Wishart
Surprised St George Illawarra weren’t keener to keep this utility who – apart from being more versatile than a Swiss Army knife — also doubles as the offspring of Steelers favourite Rod Wishart. Regardless, Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy is said to be more than a little impressed with a 22-year-old who has now won the right to Nicho Hynes’ utility role.
Tigers: Kelma Tuilagi
At 23, the oldest pick in this group. Yet we’re tipping a breakout season for the Samoan-born backrower who started last year as a Tigers Development Player, finished it with five NRL games, is starting on the edge against Melbourne and apparently joining the Manly Sea Eagles from 2023.
Titans: Toby Sexton & Jayden Campbell
We’re grouping these two young guns together because that’s exactly how they will light up the NRL this season – in tandem. Wonderfully, coach Justin Holbrook has gone all in on this halfback-fullback pairing, who suddenly loom as the Gold Coast’s most exciting partnership since Warwick Capper became the city’s first male Meter Maid. Sexton and the son of Preston Campbell will be in for a big year.
Warriors: Taniela Otukolo
Apparently, this kid is why the Warriors never went hard at Hectic Cheese, aka Brandon Smith, when he went to market. At 19, the Tongan-born hooker is highly rated by club management and played solidly in his first three NRL games last year. We’re expecting to see heaps more of him again this year, even though he was only named on an extended bench for Round 1.
Exciting young centre Viliami Vailea emerged as a bolter, locking in a centre spot for Round 1.
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Originally published as Rugby league’s generation next: The young guns to watch at every NRL club
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