The Youth Are Getting Restless
The 2021 men’s Rugby League World Cup kicks off in 10 days with 384 players about to descend on England for the tournament.
40 of them are under the age of 21 and I’m going to tell you about all of them.
Why under-21s? That’s the final year of age-based competitions for professional/semi-professional clubs in Australia.
Other countries have different age formats (eg. the under-18 English Academy competition and under-20 Ruben Wiki Cup in New Zealand) but under-21 is the system currently used in Australia, which I cover and where the majority of players compete, so I’ll be using that.
That number of 40 under-21s is up from the 2017 tournament, which featured 34.
2013 had 43 under that age, while 2008 had 33. The 2000 edition had 42 but keep in mind there are no ages available anywhere for a lot of players who took part. Same for 1995, which had 26.Lebanon will take seven under-21s into the tournament, the most, followed by Samoa and Tonga with five. New Zealand has the lowest amount, with none named.
Tongan halfback Isaiya Katoa is the youngest player named, having turned 18 just this year, while Lebanon’s Jaxson Rahme will turn 19 in December.
Group A
England
Kai Pearce Paul (Wigan, aged 21), Jack Welsby (St Helens, 21), Dominic Young (Newcastle, 21)
The hosts have selected three under-21s in their squad, with Dominic Young being the most familiar to NRL fans. Young had a bright season with the Knights scoring 14 tries, which included a hat-trick against the Titans in Round 16, and averaging 134 run metres a game.
He’ll be joined in Newcastle by teammate Kai Pearce-Paul, who will move to the club in 2024. Pearce-Paul, a 196cm centre/edge forward, played 18 games for Wigan this year.
St Helens’ fullback/half Jack Welsby is coming off another premiership-winning season with the Merseyside club. Welsby played five-eighth in their Grand Final win over Leeds and finished the season with 27 try assists, the third-highest in the Super League. He famously scored the match-winning try in the 2020 decider.
France
César Rougé (Catalans, aged 20)
The lone under-21 player in the French squad is 20-year-old Catalans’ half César Rougé. Signed in 2020 from Limoux, Rougé played four games for the Dragons in 2022 before spending some time with Whitehaven on loan. In June, he made his Test debut for France, starting at halfback in their win over Wales in Albi.
Greece
Chaise Robinson (South Sydney Rabbitohs, aged 21), Peter Mamouzelos (South Sydney Rabbitohs, 21)
Despite being 21, South Sydney hooker Peter Mamouzelos will be one of Greece’s most important players in England. The Maroubra junior has already represented his nation 10 times, helping them qualify for the World Cup back in 2019 as an 18-year-old.
His Rabbitohs teammate Chaise Robinson is also a Greek international, scoring a hat-trick in qualifying against Serbia in 2019. A speedy fullback, he played five Jersey Flegg Cup games for the club in 2022.
Samoa
Mathew Feagai (St George Illawarra, aged 21), Taylan May (Penrith, 21), Joseph Sua’ali’i (Sydney, 19), Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (North Queensland, 21), Izack Tago (Penrith, 20)
Samoa’s under-21s contingent consists of five outside backs with plenty of NRL experience already, with the quintet having scored 50 tries between them in 2022.
Penrith duo Taylan May and Izack Tago both made their Test debuts for Samoa in June’s win over the Cook Islands. May scored 16 tries from 21 games in his rookie season with Penrith, missing the Grand Final through injury, while Tago scored 13 tries from 26 starts at centre.
Roosters sensation Joseph Sua’ali’i was in the middle of a well-publicised tug-of-war between Samoa and Australia before choosing to represent the former. The 19-year-old was named in the Dally M Team of the Year on the wing and scored 15 tries in 19 games.
Another in the news recently is now former Cowboys fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, who will join the newly-established Dolphins in 2023 after gaining an early release. The Queensland Origin representative began 2022 as North Queensland’s starting fullback before an injury saw Scott Drinkwater claim the role.
Mathew Feagai was the Dragons’ top try scorer this past season with 10, starting 18 of his 20 games on the wing for the Red V, averaging 111 run metres and 3.2 tackle breaks a game.
Group B
Australia
Jeremiah Nanai (North Queensland, aged 19)
The breakout season continues into October for Cowboys backrower Jeremiah Nanai after being the youngest player selected in the Australian squad. The Dally M Rookie of the Year was a regular on his team’s right edge in 2022, scoring 17 tries. He made his State of Origin debut for Queensland in June and started in their Game III series-deciding win at Suncorp Stadium.
Fiji
Vuate Karawalevu (Sydney, aged 21), Sunia Turuva (Penrith, 20), Siua Wong (Sydney, 19)
Penrith’s Sunia Turuva had an outstanding Test debut for Fiji back in June at Campbelltown. In a losing side, the fullback scored two tries, broke seven tackles and ran for 252 metres. He enters the tournament on the back of winning New South Wales Cup and NRL State Championship finals in recent weeks.
Roosters’ gangly winger Vuate Karawalevu has been a try-scoring machine in the lower grades. Signed from the Kaiviti Silktails in 2021, Karawalevu scored 22 tries in 20 games in the Jersey Flegg over the last two years before moving up to the New South Wales Cup, where he scored seven in six this season.
Siua Wong, a 19-year-old, New Zealand-born backrower won the SG Ball Cup’s Player of the Year award before moving up to Jersey Flegg midseason. After one game (in which he scored two tries) he got the call-up to the North Sydney Bears’ NSW Cup side, where he played 10 games.
Italy
Daniel Atkinson (Sunshine Coast, aged 21), Kyle Pickering (Cronulla, 21), Jack Colovatii (Parramatta, 21)
Former Melbourne Storm player Daniel Atkinson headlines the Italian’s young brigade. The Albany Creek junior played one NRL game in 2021 before joining Sunshine Coast in the Queensland Cup. He played 22 games, mostly at halfback, racking up nine try assists and eight forced drop outs.
Jack Colovatti and Kyle Pickering both spent the majority of 2022 in the Jersey Flegg, with Colovatti playing two NSW Cup games for Parramatta earlier in the season. Pickering, a backrower and Cronulla junior, played 12 Flegg games, while Colovatti, a prop who joined the Eels from Canberra, played 18.
Scotland
Bailey Hayward (Canterbury, aged 21)
Halfback Bailey Hayward captained the Bulldogs' Jersey Flegg team in his second year at the club after joining from the Roosters in 2021. He played 14 games before moving up to the NSW Cup, where he played eight. Last month, he was named the club’s Jersey Flegg Player of the Year.
Group C
Ireland
Henry O’Kane (Wests Tigers, aged 20)
Second-rower Henry O’Kane spent the 2022 season training with the Tigers’ top squad on a development contract. A Holy Cross Rhinos junior, he played 10 Jersey Flegg games for the Tigers and later six NSW Cup games for the Western Suburbs Magpies.
Jamaica
Kieran Rush (Huddersfield, aged 20), Ajahni Wallace (Bradford, 19)
Bradford Bulls forward Ajahni “AJ” Wallace played 19 games for the club after joining them from Leeds at the start of 2022. A product of the community club Siddal, he represented England under-16s in 2019.
Huddersfield’s Kieran Rush went out on two loan spells in 2022 - first to Swinton and then to Rochdale, where he played in their preliminary finals loss to Doncaster. A hooker/half, he joined the Giants’ academy from Batley.
Lebanon
Hanna El-Nachar (Penrith, aged 21), Jacob Kiraz (Canterbury, 20), Tony Maroun (Wests Tigers, 21), Brandon Morkos (Canberra, 19), Jaxson Rahme (South Sydney, 18), Khaled Rajab (Canterbury, 20), Michael Tannous (Wests Tigers, 20)
Lebanon will have several exciting young talents to call on this month, with seven under-21s in the squad.
The biggest name is Canterbury’s Jacob Kiraz, who had a breakout year for the Dogs in 2022. A Lebanese international at 17, Kiraz played 15 games in his debut season, scoring six tries and averaging 128 run metres per game.
His Bulldogs’ teammate, five-eighth Khaled Rajab, started the season in Jersey Flegg, playing 22 games, and ended it in the NSW Cup, playing in their Grand Final loss to Penrith.
Raiders centre Brandon Morkos is another to keep an eye on. The 19-year-old, who joined the club from the Dragons this year, spent the season in the NSW Cup and represented NSW under-19s in June.
Penrith’s Hanna El-Nachar and the Tigers’ Michael Tannous both made their Test debuts for Lebanon against Malta in June this year. A prop, El-Nachar played 11 Jersey Flegg games in 2022, scoring a hat-trick against Victoria in Round 6, while Tannous, a dummy half, scored nine tries in 18 games for the Tigers.
Tannous’ Tigers teammate Tony Maroun played one Flegg game this season, starting on the wing in Round 1.
Balmain junior Jaxson Rahme joined the Rabbitohs in 2022 after being selected for the Australian Schoolboys last year. The middle forward progressed from SG Ball to Jersey Flegg to NSW Cup this year, making his debut in the final game of the season.
Group D
Cook Islands
Davvy Moale (South Sydney, aged 19), Brendan Piakura (Brisbane, 20)
Davvy Moale and Brendan Piakura both represented the Kukis in their June loss to Samoa, with Moale crossing for a try.
The New Zealand-born Moale was selected to represent NSW under-19s but instead chose the Test cap. After making his NRL for the Rabbitohs in 2021, he played 12 games in 2022, starting three.
Piakura, like in 2021, played a single game of first grade for the Broncos in 2022. He spent his season with the Norths Devils in the Queensland Cup, starting at second row in their Grand Final win over Redcliffe.
Papua New Guinea
Xavier Coates (Melbourne, aged 21), Sherwin Tanabi (PNG Hunters, 21)
Xavier Coates, who just completed his fourth season of first grade, is somehow still only 21. Already capped by the Kumuls, he scored 16 tries in his first season with the Storm and once again represented Queensland in State of Origin, playing in their Game I win.
Backrower Sherwin Tanabi, who played for the Prime Minister’s XIII a few weeks ago, will be looking for his first Test jersey at the tournament. The 21-year-old played in a trial for the Cowboys in February before returning to the Hunters, where he played 15 games.
Tonga
Talatau Amone (St George Illawarra, aged 20), Isaiya Katoa (Penrith, 18), Tolutau Koula (Manly, 20), Tesi Niu (Brisbane 21), Will Penisini (Parramatta, 20)
Tonga, like their rivals Samoa, feature a strong group of under-21s in their squad.
Centre Will Penisini, who represented Tonga in June, is coming off a Grand Final appearance with the Eels. The 20-year-old started all 28 of the club’s games at centre, scoring 10 tries.
Talatau Amone and Tolutau Koula also made their Test debuts in June, with both enjoying their first full seasons of NRL in 2022. Amone was the Dragons’ five-eighth in all their games, recording 13 try assists, while speedster Koula played 20 games for Manly, scoring six tries.
Tesi Niu last represented Tonga in 2019, starting at halfback in their win over Great Britain. He endured an up-and-down 2022, starting the year as Brisbane’s first-choice fullback before losing out to Te Maire Martin. He played just 10 games.
Penrith’s Isaiya Katoa is, as mentioned earlier, the youngest player in the tournament. The 18-year-old halfback, who recently graduated from Barker College, played in the Panthers’ SG Ball Grand Final win in April. He popped up again in September, making his NSW Cup debut in a finals win over North Sydney. A week later he made his Jersey Flegg debut in a semi-final and then kicked the Grand Final-winning field goal the week after that. Impressive. He’ll join the Dolphins in 2023.
Wales
Will Evans (Whitehaven, aged 21), Luis Roberts (Leigh, 20)
Whitehaven centre Will Evans has had an interesting journey to the World Cup. A Gold Coast junior, he represented Queensland under-16 in 2017 before moving through the ranks at Burleigh, where he played Queensland Cup in 2021. He then made the jump to the English Second Division in 2022, scoring eight tries for Whitehaven and making his Test debut for Wales in June.
His centre partner for that game was Leigh’s Luis Roberts. The 194cm back spent time with Salford and Swinton before joining the Centurions this year. He played six games for the club before finishing the season with Widnes on loan. In 2020, he played a game on loan for the Spanish club Valencia Huracanes against Featherstone.
According to my research. Not all player ages are available online but I’ve done my best and managed to find most of them.
The youngest was Scotland’s Will Oakes, who was 18.
The ever-reliable Rugby League Project has missing ages for 90 players from 2000. A lot who just played one international and nothing more.