The final batch of junior representative trials took place on Saturday with Dragons, Steelers, and ISC Dragons teams taking to the field.
11 men’s and women’s teams enjoyed a hit-out over the weekend including SG Ball Cup, Harold Matthews Cup, Tarsha Gale Cup, Lisa Fiaola Cup, Andrew Johns Cup, Laurie Daley Cup and under-16s development squads.
The Dragons sides faced off against the Sea Eagles at Narrabeen on Saturday as the Steelers and Illawarra South Coast Dragons took on the Sydney and Central Coast Roosters respectively at Albion Park.
The Dragons SG Ball side continued their strong trial form with a handy win over the Sea Eagles.
NRL trainees Finau Latu and Loko Pasifiki Tonga both proved handfuls in their limited minutes with the duo combining to lay on a first-half four-pointer.
Australian Schoolboys representative Jacob Halangahu made his presence known along with tearaway prop Ryan Hutchinson and outside backs Tyler Peckham-Harris and Jesse Williams.
The Dragons Harold Matthews outfit also finished atop the Sea Eagles whilst the Tarsha Gale and Lisa Fiaola squads went down.
Down in Albion Park, the Steelers SG Ball unit paid the price for a slow start compounded by poor handling and went down to the Roosters in a high-scoring affair.
NRL trainees Hayden Buchanan, Lyhkan King-Togia, and Kade Reed all impressed in limited minutes with Buchanan nabbing a try and King-Togia laying a couple on.
Daniel Meafou put together a workhorse performance whilst winger Tom Kirk threatened on multiple occasions.
SG Ball Trials Highlights
Head coach Shaun Timmins concedes that defence will be the side's focus heading into Round 1 after a substandard performance on Saturday.
“It was pretty disappointing, obviously; we’d had a couple of good weeks at training, and we had a good trial against the Raiders the week before,” Timmins said.
“Defensively, we were a bit disappointing. We’d done well to hang in there and we can score some points in our side. We’ve just got to learn how to defend better, so that’ll be our main focus over the next two weeks heading into Round 1.”
An experimenting and understrength Tarsha Gale outfit went down narrowly to the Roosters despite a strong finish whilst the Steelers Harold Matthews and Lisa Fiaola squads were both defeated.
NRLW standout Ella Koster played limited minutes in the loss whilst fellow NRLW hopefuls Charlotte Basham, Bronte Wilson, and Kasey Reh also saw some action.
The Illawarra South Coast Dragons took on the Central Coast Roosters in both Andrew Johns Cup and Laurie Daley Cup with the Roosters grinding out narrow wins in both meetings.
With the trial period now in the rearview mirror, the focus of the sides will shift to the season kick-off on Saturday, February 3rd.
The Dragons outfits begin their season against the Panthers at BlueBet Stadium whilst the Steelers will be at Figtree’s Collegians Sporting Complex to face the Rabbitohs and the ISC Dragons take on Riverina at Shellharbour’s Ron Costello Oval.
