TSR
Mark Ella (57)
That’s disappointing. Do we assume that means the Rebels have targeted him?
Reds 2023
- Thread starter RugbyReg
- Start date
TSR
Mark Ella (57)
Not to take away at all from DDowns contribution to Trevor King’s development but he is a product of Onehunga Mata’auiu’s rugby skills Academy from CQ. As is Theo Fourie and pretty sure Noah Hartley. One is also Lucas Ripley’s uncle and I understand heavily involved in his development. There are also two girls from Gladstone at Downlands that One helped develop. I believe his links to Garrick Morgan have helped direct a few that way.
Edit - should clarify not all of the above are Downlands boys.
Confucius Say
Nev Cottrell (35)
Kalani Thomas?
TSR
Mark Ella (57)
Haha - harsh
liquor box
Greg Davis (50)
Is the academy made up of the same proportions of each position each year or does it change depending on future estimates of what will be required?
Marce
John Thornett (49)
Good to hear that, you need a fly-half for the future. What kind of player is he?
To be fair, we have three good ones in the system. Lynagh, Harry and Prass with Annan capable as well.
The Whisperer
Jimmy Flynn (14)
Looks like Peni Ravai. I believe he’s been playing in Clermont.
upthereds#!
Ken Catchpole (46)
Not a bad shout.
I'm think Lolo - formers reds and brumbies. Left Japanese rugby, was schooled in Brisbane. This is an old photo - perhaps training with the squad or mass gaining for a future as a prop lol
rodha
Dave Cowper (27)
Blake finding a home at Ballymore
Newly appointed defence coach Phil Blake has wasted no time making his mark at Ballymore ahead of the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season.
reds.rugby
Phil Blake was brought on as a defense coach & Australia had the best defense at the 2011 RWC.
Bizarrely the 2011 end of season review was followed by his non-renewal....
Deans doesn't play well with others who do the job better than he does.
PhilClinton
Geoff Shaw (53)
Last I had heard, Lolo stepped away from professional rugby last year and was going a bit MIA, for example being listed to play in various charity games, committing, and then not rocking up.
Happy to stand corrected if my information is out of date, but I’d be surprised if he’s back training with the Reds based on what I had heard.
upthereds#!
Ken Catchpole (46)
That's dissapointing.
This guy seems too old be any of the academy players so interesting to know who it ACTUALLY is.
Dctarget
John Eales (66)
It is Peni Ravai as the whisperer guessed correctly.
PhilClinton
Geoff Shaw (53)
Interesting, my mail I posted a few weeks ago about the Reds possibly looking at Kirwan Sanday coming back was kinda correct. They just assumed it was Kirwan as were told the Reds had been talking to an older Fijian prop who had an Australian association. Kirwan just happened to have mentioned he was going to be returning to QPR that same week.
Peni is the same age, position etc. but has a much deeper resume and obviously still currently active as a professional. Definitely a ready to go replacement for the guys out injured.
TSR
Mark Ella (57)
Doesn’t he just.
I don’t know anything about him and it’s always a mistake to get too excited about a highlight reel but he would seem to tick a lot of the right boxes -
- test rugby standard rather than a rookie
- would add some explosiveness to our pack which would provide some balance
Hopefully we’ll see some good news in this space.
Wilson
David Codey (61)
Could be a great pickup for us to cover the prop injuries we've picked up, but it's probably still a bit of a wait and see given Ravai was forced into medical retirement in France earlier this year:
Fingers crossed he's able to come good both for our season and Fiji's world cup campaign.
Fingers crossed he's able to come good both for our season and Fiji's world cup campaign.
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
I wouldn't be surprised if Lolo has moved back to Auckland to be closer to his siblings, with his older brother and sister serving lengthy sentences over NZ's largest meth importation...