Under 18 Queensland Team

[1910]

• Queensland Under 18s
(Team named alphabetically – numbers TBA)
McKenzie Baker - Sydney Roosters
Tanah Boyd - Souths Logan Magpies
Geordie Brand - Sydney Roosters
Ethan Bullemor - Norths Devils
David Butler - Tweed Heads Seagulls
Blake Campbell - Tweed Heads Seagulls
Xavier Coates - Tweed Heads Seagulls
Tom Dearden - Tweed Heads Seagulls
Tino Fa'Asuamaleaui - Victoria Thunderbolts
David Fifita - Souths Logan Magpies
Thomas Gilbert - Townsville Blackhawks
Fanitesi Niu - Souths Logan Magpies
Cory Paix - Norths Devils
Jack Paterson - Norths Devils
Garrett Smith - Mackay Cutters
Jake Simpkin - South West Mustangs
Ioane Seiuli - Souths Logan Magpies
Sebastian Winters-Chang - Easts Tigers

 

[Unbreakable]

Boyd, Paix, Fifita & Niu are the only ones I've heard of. Any others worth keeping an eye out for? @1910

 

[Sproj]

McKenzie Baker - parents loving last names or naming after a shop?

 

[1910]

Boyd, Paix, Fifita & Niu are the only ones I've heard of. Any others worth keeping an eye out for? @1910

Bullemor was the best forward in MM this year.

 

[Rally Towel]

This is actual SoO Under 18's, not residents, right? So Fifita is QLD not a Blue like his cousins?

 

[Unbreakable]

This is actual SoO Under 18's, not residents, right? So Fifita is QLD not a Blue like his cousins?

He's not really a cousin, it's one of those really distant Daniel O'Dowd type of cousins. He was born in Brisbane and played his junior footy at Souths Acacia Ridge. Full blown Queenslander.

 

[1910]

This is actual SoO Under 18's, not residents, right? So Fifita is QLD not a Blue like his cousins?

Under 16's captain two years ago and Emerging 18's camp this year now Under 18's. He's a Souths junior and played CC, MM and ISC for them.

Lives in Ipswich. Been through every QRL system there is to go through.

He missed 18's last year because of two injuries same ones that kept him out of the MM state final.

 

[Viti]

Does anyone have any thoughts on Tino FaAsuamaleui from the Thunderbolts. I’ve heard a fair bit about him but never actually seen him go around.

 

[1910]

Does anyone have any thoughts on Tino FaAsuamaleui from the Thunderbolts. I’ve heard a fair bit about him but never actually seen him go around.

He's played off the bench for two games for the Falcons this year and gone pretty well just easing him in.

https://www.qrl.com.au/news/20182/05/30/just-call-me-tino/

If he proves as difficult to tackle as his surname, then Queensland Under 18 representative Tino Fa'asuamaleaui could well have a big future ahead in the NRL with the Melbourne Storm.
"It's funny, I saw his name on the board the other day and asked a few of the coaching staff: 'How do you pronounce that?'," Storm coach Craig Bellamy told QRL Media when asked about Fa'asuamaleaui's development.
"I couldn't pronounce it and neither could they, but we all agree he is a good kid, extremely passionate about his footy and like a sponge when he's around the club's senior players."
Fa'asuamaleaui will make his third appearance for Queensland in next week's Under 18s interstate challenge, after playing for the Under 16s in 2016 and the U18s last year as well.
He was recommended to the Melbourne club by former long-time Brisbane Broncos player recruitment scout, Paul Bunn.
Fa'asuamaleaui had been part of Brisbane's development program from the age of 12.
Born in Orange in New South Wales, he then moved to the small rural country town of Widgee, west of Gympie, which has a population of less than 1000,
He regularly trains with the Storm while playing for the club's feeder club, Sunshine Coast Falcons, in Queensland's Intrust Super Cup.
As a kid growing up he watched State of Origin in the family loungeroom with his younger brother Iszac, his sister Olivia, mother Dianne and father Fereti.
In 1995 Fereti - a more than handy rugby union player in Samoa until switching over to rugby league - became good friends with the late Arthur Beetson when Beetson was visiting the Pacific Islands.
Beetson saw potential and invited Fereti to the Roosters, where he played some reserve grade.
They even lived together for some months in Bondi.
Fa'asuamaleaui's mother, Dianne, recalled seeing Beetson about a year or so before he died on the Gold Coast.

Tino's father Fereti pictured in the back row, third from right.
"He asked me about the boys (Iszac and Tino) and when could he could get them down to the Roosters.
"He often said to me if they were anything like their dad, they'd be pretty good.
"I told Artie: 'Leave them alone they're too young'."
Tino never went to an Origin game growing up.
"I used to sit in front of the television with my family but I remember how excited I was, wishing that I could have been there."
He loved watching Greg Inglis, Israel Folau and Billy Slater, the entertainers.
But he had another favourite, the 'Raging Bull', Gorden Tallis, because of the way he played the game.
"I always liked his aggression when I was growing up. I try and play that way, I like to play with aggression I guess," he said.
"I want to come off the field knowing I have given it everything I've got, that I have competed 100 per cent to the last breath and done everything I could to beat my opponent."
His biggest inspiration and influence growing up on his football and his life were his parents.
"As kids we used to mow the lawns and do the little things around the house. Our parents gave us humble beginnings and I would not be where I am today if it were not for their love and support," he said.
"They would drive miles to get me to games and make the effort to be at my games. They supported my brother and sister the same way.
"We a very close family. We keep in contact every day even when we are miles apart."
Bellamy has been impressed with the 18-year-old's development in the short time and his attitude since he linking with the Storm late last year.
He signed a contract earlier this year.
"He did our full pre-season with us and he still does a lot of our (training) sessions," said the Storm coach.
"He's a really good kid.
"He's a good size, he is quite mobile and he is aggressive.
"The other thing I really like about him is he is very inquisitive, he's always asking questions of the senior players and I really like the passion he has for the game.
"He still has to learn to run the lines and to get his timing right in different situations but I am sure he won't be too far away from playing an NRL game."
Tino admits to having a good laugh when people try to pronounce his name for the first time.
"People just call me Tino or Tino F, but it is funny listening to some of the pronunciations," he said.
If the kid from Widgee with four of the five vowels in his name continues to improve and lives up to Bellamy's expectations - it could be a name that rugby league commentators will be saying quite a lot in years to come.

 

[1910]

Great young forward- I keep saying he's smart football smart and life smart.


It is no surprise young Queensland under 18s enforcer and OP1 student Ethan Bullemor has tried to model his game around Brisbane's workaholic forward Matt Gillett.
Bullemor, 18, is such a big fan of Gillett's high work ethic, he has adopted a similar mentality of doing the one-percenters just like the Queensland and Australian back-rower.
"There are people who are naturally brighter than me but I am prepared to do a lot of hard work (academically). It's similar to how I approach my footy," Bullemor told QRL Media.
On Wednesday night at Melbourne's famous MCG, Bullemor will put those principles into practice, doing everything he can to make sure Queensland win their interstate clash against NSW under 18s.
Like the senior Queensland Origin players, Bullemor - who hails from Springsure in the Central Highlands region south of Emerald - says he understands what it means to wear a maroon jumper.
"It's a credit to Queensland how they filter down the pride and passion to us juniors," said Bullemor, now on contract to the Brisbane Broncos.
Origin debutants often talk about how fast and furious Origin is, how the 80 minutes is gone before they know it and how it leaves them totally drained, emotionally, not just physically.
Bullemor says the experience is similar for the young players when they first wear a maroon jumper.
"It's an unreal feeling," he said.
"I played the under 16s and from memory I played the whole 80 minutes in the middle. When the adrenalin kicks in you don't want to let down your state.
"It's massive to me.
"It's a step up from anything else you have played or experienced."
Bullemor will definitely be on a Maroon mission at the MCG after losing his previous representative clash to the Blues by just two points playing U-16s two years ago.
"It was a very fast and heated game. We went down by two points which was pretty tough to swallow" he said.
"Obviously the coaches feed that rivalry into us in a good way and while we (players) all get together after the game, you know when you are on the field it is war."
Bullemor is not your typical front-rower.
For a start, he finished high school at Brisbane's exclusive Nudgee College with an OP 1 -- putting him in the top 15 percent of students in Queensland.
There's a saying in rugby league that wingers are just people who hang around rugby league players, which these days, with all the spectacular aerial tries they score, is obviously outdated.
Now Bullemor, with his high academic ranking, is changing the image that front-rowers are just the brawn and not the brains of the team.
Bullemor splits his time between classes at the University of Queensland (UQ) where he is doing a newly introduced Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics degree and training with the Brisbane Broncos at Red Hill.
"It (studies) is really hard to be honest. It is definitely challenging, but I enjoy it," he said.
While Bullemor wants to achieve his goal of being a professional sportsman he realises the importance of planning for the future and for life after football because he knows, anything can happen.
"I give them equal weight in a sense.
"While rugby league is my love and my passion it's not going to sustain me for the rest of my life and I have to look at life after footy."
Bullemor said his parents had raised him to love Queensland and the Broncos.
"I've been pretty obsessed with them both since I was about five, he grinned.
"I've got so many memories of Origin, it's insane. I don't think I have missed watching and Origin game since I was five years old.
Bullemor speaks highly on the influence Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett is having, not only on his budding career, but all the young hopefuls at the club.
"He gives us regular reports on our progress. He is a tough critic, tells it how it is, which I think is one of the keys to success.
"It lifts all our spirits, someone of his stature taking such an interest in us.
"He is approachable. He's got that right mix of harshness and love.
"You can ask him a question and know he is not going to reprimand you. He just wants what is best for us and our development, and sometimes you need to hear the harsh truth or what you are doing wrong."
Bullemor, who admits it costs his parents around $200 a week to feed him, copped a head knock in his last game which fractured a few of his teeth, slowing down his eating.
He is currently receiving dental treatment and is still experiencing some pain a few days out from the big game.
"It's still a little painful but it won't be a problem," he says confidently.
"Nothing is going to keep me off the field."

 

[1910]

WHEN I asked team manager Richard Duff to find me a young player with a bit of "character" from the Queensland Under 18s team to interview, he said he knew just the player.
Several seconds later, a tall, solid-set kid with a thick, full head of wavy flame-red hair walked into the room and introduced himself as "Geordie".
He sat down, I flicked on my tape recorder and 15 minutes later I knew why Duff had picked him from all the kids who were laughing and joking and in the foyer of the Queensland Rugby League's headquarters at Milton.
"So, Geordie," I started my interview, "they tell me you are a bit of a character, why would they say that?".
With a cheeky grin he quickly responded: "Maybe because I like to have a bit of fun with the boys. Even though this is serious, you need something to make you laugh at times."
Geordie Brand is spot on.
Joker like Langer

Most teams need that practical joker, a player who can get under his teammates' skin or play a prank, break the tension.
Every coach will tell you they are important to the team harmony and for easing the tension.
Allan Langer is the best team joker I have come across and the players love him for it even if, at times, they wanted to kill him.
Brand, a Sydney Roosters signing, admits he enjoys the role within the team but knows when to put away the jokes away and get down to business.
Born where?!

Born on the NSW south coast at Moruya, Brand's family shifted to Bermagui before finally settling in the Brisbane suburb of Logan when he was aged about four.
"Should I mention I was born in NSW?" he asks with another cheeky grin.
As a young kid, Brand played his early football for the Slacks Creek Lions and Ormeau Shearers.
"I made the Queensland Under 12s Invitational side which was my taste of representative football and my first introduction to the Queensland culture," he told QRL Media.
Serious faces

He and good friend Ethan Bullemor will carry much of the responsibility of taking their team forward against the Blues at the MCG on Wednesday night.
There will definitely be no fooling around once the battle begins.
"I like to think I am tough in the position I play.
"We get taught and we learn early on that no matter what happens to you in the game, you just keep digging for the boys beside you.
"We've all been embedded with that toughness."
If it can't be with his good mate Bullemor, Brand would love nothing more than to team up in the Queensland Origin front row in the future with fellow redhead Dylan Napa.
"I'd love to play alongside of him, he is a real character as well," he said.
Childhood idol

Brand nominated tough-as-teak prop Shane Webcke as the player he most admired growing up watching Origin.
"I loved watching Shane Webcke, everything he did was about toughness.
"He played it tough, his carries were always tough and he was tough in defence, I loved everything about the guy."
Brand believes toughness is something he can contribute.
"I like to think I am tough in the position I play. You trust everyone in the team to be tough in what they do."
'Goosebumps'

He said the young players definitely felt the pressure of wearing the maroon jumper and doing it proud.
"We definitely feel it, the adrenaline and the nerves before the big game," he said.
"I still remember playing for the Under 16s at ANZ Stadium in Sydney - it was the greatest experience I've ever had.
"Just before we kicked off Tanah (teammate Tanah Boyd) gave me a high five and said, 'It's time, we're here, let's do it'."
"I've got goosebumps now just thinking about it."
They lost by two points but it has only served to make them, and others who played in that match, hungrier to get a victory on Wednesday night.
Insights

If he could pick only one former Queensland Origin player to get advice from, it would be Webcke.
"I'd ask him what he said to himself when he got tired and things got really tough in a game because it would be a great insight for young players like me when things get tough on the field," he said.
"I haven't experienced that kind of pressure and it is something I think would help me a lot."
Prop's job

He believes he and Bullemor are under the same pressure to lay the platform for a win against NSW as Napa and Jarrod Wallace are in the Origin clash.
"It's the front-rowers job and the forwards job to set the platform because, without that, halves don't have the space to move and do their job.
"We've got two dangerous halves in Tom (Dearden) and Tanah but if we don't get the go-forward for them, then there is not really much they can do.
"If we give them some room they can do some special things."
Tough taskmaster

Brand joked Boyd would quickly be on his case if he slackened off.
"Tanah and I are best mates but he is always ripping into me, making sure I am working hard."
Brand's proud parents, Alissa and Garry, whom he said had been the biggest influence on his life, plan to fly down for the Melbourne game.
"They have been supporting me all the way and it's great they will be at the game to see me play," he says in a serious moment.
Celebrate good times

His teammates know one thing if they win on Wednesday night - Brand will lead the celebrations.
"I am the worst singer and dancer in the team but I don't mind singing and dancing and lightening the mood," he laughed.

 

[1910]

Up until last weekend, Queensland Under 18 captain David Fifita had never met Greg Inglis.
But he was left humbled when the State of Origin captain and NRL great delivered some advice and encouragement ahead of Wednesday night's big MCG clash in Melbourne with NSW Under 18.
The 107kg Fifita attracted considerable attention from NRL clubs scrambling for his signature before signing with the Brisbane Broncos until 2020.
He is still earning rave reviews playing with Souths Logan Magpies - the Brisbane club which produced a galaxy of stars headed by Mal Meninga, Peter Jackson, Bob Lindner, Gary Belcher, Greg and Mick Veivers - and the game's most successful coach, Wayne Bennett.
Asked what advice he would advise young Fifita, Queensland's new captain said: "He should shut out all the hype and just enjoy his football and have fun".
"Put the raps aside, play his own brand of football – the type of football he likes to play.
And his final tip: "Listen to your coach."
Like Inglis, Fifita is very proud of his Indigenous heritage.

He is also immensely honoured to be captain of the Queensland Under 18 side, which is seeking revenge following a narrow two- point loss last year to the Blues.
Inglis and Fifita matched up on the same side of the field at Sunday's opposed session on the Gold Coast, the last run before both representative teams headed south to Melbourne.
The young buck was blown away that Inglis would offer advice to him.
"I am a softie on the inside sometimes," the powerfully built forward said.
"It's great that Greg would take the time out to pass on that advice and I appreciate it a lot.
"It (captaincy) means a lot to me. It's something I have always wanted to do, lead the boys out for Queensland."
"We have heaps of leaders in this team and they could have picked any one of them to be captain.
"Richo (coach Kurt Richards) telephoned me and spoke to me about the group of players and staff and what we could do.
"He offered me the captaincy. I thanked him and assured him I wouldn't let him down.
"It (captaincy) hasn't really sunk in yet, that will probably happen once we start training
"But to represent my family and my culture is a massive honour for me and an experience I will cherish forever."

A resident of Bellbird Park near Ipswich, but graduate of the highly successful Keebra Park High system, Fifita has been playing league since he was five.
But until a few years ago when he played for Queensland Under16s he had not experienced the adrenalin-pumping excitement of being at an Origin game live.
Representing the Australian Schoolboys last year and winning both Test matches in New Zealand against the Kiwis (he scored three tries) has been the highlight of his career so far.
In a few short years, representing Queensland and the Australian Schoolboys at international level, Fifita has become one of most exciting young teenage talents going around.
He was chased by NRL clubs who saw him as a future star, including Cronulla.
However, he elected to stay with the Broncos in honour of his grandad, William Waria, born in the Torres Strait.
"Unfortunately Grandad passed away last year and never got the chance to see me play for Broncos, but he loved the club and always wanted me to play for them," Fifita said.
Fifita belives there may be a distant family connection with Cronulla twins Andrew and David Fifita, who had become good friends in recent years.
The first thing you notice about Fifita is his impressive physique
He starred for South Logan Magpies in the club's win over the previously unbeaten Norths Devils in the grand final of the Mal Meninga Colts Cup last month.
Despite all the hype coming his way, young Fifita has managed to keep his considerably large feet on the ground, focusing on getting his mind and body where they need to be to play NRL football.
"I'm in no rush, I just want to get my body right," he said.
"I'm still only 18 and my body is still growing.
"I don't want to play NRL before I am ready and end up like Payne (18-year-old Broncos Payne Haas, who suffered a serious shoulder injury) after playing a few games."
Look out when he gets there, because this kid is special

 

[1910]

Captain's run now on the MCG- guys are loving it.

 

[1910]

Parker gave the boys their jumpers last night.

They're ready to go.

 

[ZTop]

Ol mate Tino just scored a cracking try to kick things off in the under 20.
6-0 Qld

 

[ZTop]

Number 4. for the blues looks a very likely prospect, is just a beast.
Contracted with Sharks

 

[ZTop]

Corey Parker running drinks

 

[Super Freak]

The ground looks good.