Junior rep games

Yesterday my wife & I went to watch the 2 junior rep games at Wyong, with both eels teams winning their respective games, along the way we were also pleased to meet up with 3 others from 1eeyedeels.

The early game of Mathews Cup was very much a one sided game with the eels running out 54 6 winners. The score indicated just how one sided the game was, & it was hard to be other than excited for a great bunch of young players, in saying that the two halves were stand outs & with the big prop Stefano Utoikomamanuu knocking the opponents over in almost every hit up. While only young, & some very yound, there is a bright future for some of these kids.

SG Ball Cup. While this was another win to the young, but older eels it was a much harder fought win with the Central Coast team having some big boppa's in their side & they played with aggression.Which was a handfull for the eels at times, in the first half & early second the match see sawed until the eels got the upper hand & ran out winners 40 -28, with goal kicking letting us down as the team pressed in with tries.

The SG Ball was played under very trying conditions as the temperature rose during the game, 35minutes each half with only a few stops in play to give the players a water refreshment really played havoc as in the last 10 minutes as many went down with cramps from both sides.

The CC sides each had a player the son of old foe Mark O'Melley. & both were very much look alikes in build of their dad. One player in the Ball team of ours was quite impressive, tall & rangy & played prop (my notes are missing so I do not want to make an incorrect naming) he never let up & created havic with some very strong runs that belied his actual size, one to watch & again so too the halves.

If you want to see some great football with players of the future, get out & watch these teams where you can, you will not be dissapointed with what you see.

It has to be discussed dosnt it. Now that Zac can't play NRL for the next 2 years, unless the Eels are compensated, I'd like to move on and discuss the elephant in the room.By all accounts the Eels have tried just about everything in the last 2…

"It's also interesting Paul Crawley stopped writing about this for Foxsport (he was voraciously pro-Eels, anti-Lomax) as soon as V'landys broke his two-week plus silence. After that, they all were written by Steve Zemek or the generic Foxsport team…"

Replies

Cumberland Oval February 14, 2016 at 9:01am

I agree Colin, I also was lucky enough to see our young Eels in action on what was a beautiful Central Coast morning. The defence from our Harold Matthews side in the 2nd half was outstanding, cc having had consecutive sets still found it hard to get over the line. The oval looked in great shape with a decent crowd. Excellent footy, very enjoyable.
Robert Lloyd February 14, 2016 at 9:07am

ColinHussey: More good footy news for this week! (juniors only) You are spoiling us! Thanks for the good report.
sixtiesboy February 14, 2016 at 9:14am

Hi Colin. I believe that you spoke to Forty who was filming there. Expect some footage on TCT of our young reps in action. Also, the NYC and NSW Cup trials were live streamed by Forty yesterday. The NYC scored a six tries to one victory, whilst the Wenty team, with only Wenty contracted players (most of whom will play RM Cup) defeated a strong Knights NSW Cup team on the bell, 16 to 14! Forty (along with Ham and Joe) did the coast pilgrimage yesterday, going to Central Coast for Junior reps then up to Newcastle. Legend!
1ee February 14, 2016 at 9:16am

Thanks for posting, I enjoyed reading it.
Ham Sammich February 14, 2016 at 10:22am

It was great meeting up with you yesterday mate. And what 2 great games we were able to watch. Was the prop you're talking about the one that started the match with blonde hair? If so that would have been Sean Keppie. He appeared to be the tallest player on the park, he threw some nice offloads in heavy traffic.
Kramerica February 14, 2016 at 10:44am

Thanks for the great write up Col - really good stuff and a nice read. It's starting to feel like footy season :)))

Just out of interest mate - when you met Ham, was he wearing a shirt or was he just getting around tanned and bare chested. This is how you know the footy season is nearing - the weather starts to cool, the days start to shorten, and Ham puts his shirt back on :)
- sixtiesboy > Kramerica February 14, 2016 at 10:58am
  
  Ham with his shirt on? He wouldn't dare deny the world!
- Bert de Naturál✌️™ > Kramerica February 14, 2016 at 1:52pm
  
  I hear ya Kram, Ham was spotted last year at Ringrose park, shirtless of course...that's a given, fluro green Launa Jane shorts and brown sandals. God love him.
Mitchy February 14, 2016 at 11:58am

Good post Col. Yes I was there too. On the western side near the sheds. V warm day.i noticed the lack of size in the CC boys in 16's but the size was the same in SG Ball. Was good to watch. The half in Ball Travis I think, is very quick and I think he's a QLDer. Good decent player IMO. I was told that the Ball team had 10 players from last years Harold Matts playing yesterday. So they're a young squad.
colin hussey February 14, 2016 at 1:47pm

I cannot lie, Ham did have a shirt on, as did all of us, but had the game gone much longer & the shaded terrace seating got into the sun, it may have been different.

I have to continue with being thankful for the time I was with the 3 of them, 40's Ham & Joe, some good confabs, & Joe & I were able to reminise a fair bit, & one thing with them all, top eels supporters & a wealth of info on our juniors,

As I indicated our future looks good. Would love to see them playing up here every week.

Also, thanks for all the replies & yes its great to be talking football again.