A group of promising young Northland players has had an eye-opening experience taking part in trials for the Warriors 20s team at Cornwall Park in Auckland.
Eight teenagers travelled down with Swords coaches, Jim Larkin (prems) and Benson Selwyn (17s), to trial for the Stacey Jones-coached 2014 Holden Cup Warriors 20s team - which plays in the Toyota Cup competition - where they found themselves thrown in a pool of more than 250 players from Kaitaia to Invercargill, all harbouring similar ambitions.
After learning none of the Northern players eventually made the cut at the trial last weekend, Selwyn remarked that it was still a great experience for all involved. "It was pretty tough for the guys to really show what they had with each player getting only 15 to 20 minutes, but they loved the experience. When they first got there and saw the size of the players from Auckland, they thought they were out of their depth, but when they got on the field, they grew in confidence and realised that there is no difference between them and us," said Selwyn, noting Tumoana Halkyard and Kaitaia ex-pat Kahi Harawira (who returned from Australia to try out at the trials) were picked to play in the main trial match.
Players who attended the trial at Cornwall Park were: Tumoana Halkyard (from the Swords 17s and Muriwhenua 18s team), Tiano Arona (Swords Premiers and Muriwhenua 18s), Mana Taylor (Muriwhenua 18s), Sean Rawiri (Muriwhenua 18s), Allan Heighway (Muriwhenua 18s), Demrys Croft (Swords 17s and Otaua 18s), Gabe McBirney (Swords 17s and Muriwhenua 18s), Phardray Brown (Swords 17s and Moerewa 18s).
In other news, Rugby League Northland is working with the Warriors to continue to develop pathways for local talent by inviting four of the best Northland players from the Swords 15s and 17s sides to attend a pre-season training camp in December. The names of players chosen to attend will be confirmed in the next couple of weeks.
