#40 - BONUS EP; My SG ball & Harold Matthews POTY & TOTY

Announcing my team of the year in NSWRL junior reps, and my players of the year after my 3-2-1 count throughout the seasons. 

Im also joined by my sg ball player of the year to talk about his season so far, some of his experiences over the last 12 months, and his goals into the future 

IG - theshortball_ & jacobtyson__

TikTok - Theshortball._ & jacobtyson_

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Gentlemen, welcome back to the short ball podcast on a Friday today because we've got a bonus episode announcing my SG Ball player of the year, my Howard Matthews player of the year, and the teams of the year in both of those competitions. A super exciting episode coming your way, and I'm gonna chat to a special guest as well later in this episode. Um so stay tuned for all of that. Uh as most of you should know, through the SG Born Howard Matthews season and you know, through the New South Wales Cup and our LQ seasons now as well, I've been doing a 3-2-1 like medal tally system uh to determine my SG Born Harold Matthews player of the year. These aren't the official players of the year, it has nothing to do with New South Wales rugby league, just my own sort of tally system, bit of uh fun, bit of content and all that sort of thing, and just something for everyone to follow throughout the year. Um, and then you know, my own personal teams of the year as well, sort of based on that, and just some judgment calls as well from myself. So, you know, obviously players that tallied high are going to be the first looked at in certain positions, and then you know, if I feel that another player was better over the course of the season, I'll I picked them. So um that's sort of how I worked it out. Um, but we'll start off with the Harold Matthews player of the year, and this should come as zero surprise to anyone. I think he'll be the official player of the year as well. Uh I've been saying it all year. Peyton Taro is from the how from the South Sydney Rabbito's, holy stumble over the words from the South Sydney Rabidos, Peyton Taro, the halfback there, he's had an incredible season. He topped my leaderboard with 18 points, so 18 points from eight games. So a maximum total points of 24, he's collected 18. Um, so yeah, he's only missed out on six points throughout the course of the entire year. He had an incredible season. Second on the leaderboard, who was four points behind, but again had an awesome season. Riley Rostran, he ended up on 14, Oliver Burton ended up on 13, Hayden Bell also ended up on 13, Charlie Webb on 12, Laura Masius on 10, Ryan Chloe on 10, Asher Chapman 9, Billy Miller, 9, Charlie Bate up 9. So there was a good little spreading of players. Um, you know, between that sort of even that 8 to 14 range. There's a lot of players ended up on eight and and seven as well. Um, but yeah, it was a clear top selection for mine, and that is Peyton Tadau. The team of the year, we're gonna start just from top to bottom at fullback, Oliver Burton from the Steelers. He had an incredible season. He was awesome last year as well in uh in Howard Matthews, and he's backed it up again this season. He's a very promising young player. He's a standout performance as include against the Bulldogs um earlier in the year. Go back and watch my post about his game from from that week. So um, yeah, he he's he was awesome this year, and you know, he was a third on he was third on the um leaderboard as well. He he was right up there with one of the premier players in the competition. Our two wingers, Zach Fitzgerald from the Panthers and Benji Thompson from the Knights. I think Benji Thompson's been the premier outside back in the competition this year. Early doors awesome. He he maintained that form throughout the whole year in the best side in the competition, undefeated Newcastle Knights. And Zach Fitzgerald, every single time he got his hands on the ball, he just looked damaging all year. Um part of a really stacked um Panthers back line. He played centre, he played wing. Um, and you know, with my team of the year selections, you had to have played at least half the season, and you could get picked in whatever position you'd have played throughout the year. So for Zach Fitzgerald, he played a lot of centre, um, but he's also played a fair bit of wing as well, and I selected him in the wing spot because I wanted these two centres in. Lorima Sioux from the Eels and Age Up has been probably the best centre in the competition. And Kingston Finnow from the Magpies, he had an awesome year as well. Um it was a really stacked, um, really stacked debate at centre for mine. I thought it was probably the most difficult position to pick, hence why, you know, Zach Fitzgerald and Benji Thompson, who have both played centre this year, are out on the wing because they've also played wing. Um but yeah, centre was a super stacked position at Howard Matthews this year. A lot of top-class players in the competition, you know, from the Baumane Tigers, Zach Bachara, um, from the from the Raiders, you know, Nate Stokes and Altasa Talua, you could make cases for for them. Uh, yeah, there was a lot of really, really good years from from centres in this competition, but I have gone with Lorimasiu Sioux and Kingston Final on top. Um, in the halves, uh, I thought this was a pretty easy pick for mine. They're the top two on my uh player of the year leaderboard. It was Riley Rostran and Peyton Tattoo. Rostran from the Knights and Peyton Tattoo from the Rabidos. Not much more needs to be said about those two. Um, in the front row, this guy came swooping from the clouds late. Um, you know, he started the season off good, but uh he's had some unreal performances over the last couple of weeks as well. And that will be Billy Miller from the Manly Seagulls. He claims that uh first prop position. And Cordell Orama as well from the Panthers. He's probably the best prop in the competition. Really big body, Ken Ball played, damaging as anything. Um those are my two middles, Billy Miller and Cordell Orama. At nine, this was another really tough pick. Some of my favourite plays in the competition, playing at nine throughout the most of the year. But I've gone with the Panthers number nine. Ryan Chloe has had an awesome year there, and I just think yeah, he he's just been probably the best in that position this year, especially in a side that's going really well. He's had some standout player of the match performances, and yeah, he he's he's the guy there for me at number nine. In the back row, Cooper Tesseriero from the Roosters. He's I've been super impressed with him. He's a he's a player of the future, I think. Very, very good back rower. And Cade McKay, he's been a guy I've rated over the last two years. I thought he was super underrated last year and age up in Harold Matthews. And this year, he's been one of the premier back rowers in the competition for sure. And that lock, I found this pretty easy as well. He finished the player of the year tally with 13 points. He was the parameterial's best, and that is the lock, Hayden Bell. He's my number 13 in Harold Matthews team of the year. And then I'll move on to the bench. Now, the bench, how I've selected it, is 14 is a utility, so a guy that can cover sort of multiple positions, um, and then the 17 is a backup dummy half, and then the 15 and 16 are two forwards, so that way I've got an even spreading uh of players. So I sort of went, you know, the 14 can play absolutely any position, like it could be could have been a winger if a winger deserved it, could have been a centre, could have been a halfback, could have been a uh a number nine. Thankfully for me in the Harold Matthews competition, there is a guy that has covered a whole heap of positions, and that is Asher Chapman from the Steelers, a genuine utility, so it is a good pick from that point of view. But generally, he genuinely he has just been one of the best uh players in the competition. Wherever he's played, he he's covered a number of positions uh with a very high skill level, a great running game, and yeah, he's my four team. The two forwards that I've gone with off the bench from the Dragons, Saluki Halengahu, a team that hasn't gone all that well this year, but he's really left his mark on this side. I think he only played five games this year, but in those five games, he was probably their best player in three or four of them at least. Um, his ability to make meters through the middle, his work rate is just yeah, he was on another level this year whenever he played for the dragons. And then my other forward is Anthony My Lungi from the Rabido's. He was stiff not to be the 13, but he had to be on my side somewhere. He's a very, very good middle forward, and I think he's been one of the rabbido's best this year in a side that's been a really good finishing in the top two. So he had to be there for mine. And then my last position on my Howard Matthews team of the year, a dummy half, a guy that I I rate super, super highly. I think he's gonna be another player of the future, Caleb Zara from the Sydney Roosters. I just think he's been, you know, a mainstay in that Rooster side all year. They've made it to the finals. He's really uh operated well with his spine, he's defensively very good, running game is top tier. So I've gone with Caleb Zara there. Now, SG Ball. What I might do for SG Ball is go from the bottom up because I sort of revealed my player of the year and then worked my way down. For SG Ball, I'm gonna work my way up. From the Panthers, Darcy Feltham ended up on seven points. He was in 10th position. Joseph Ratcliffe as well, he was tied on seven points. Um, and there was a couple others, David Bryanton, uh, there was a couple other guys. Funnily enough, a lot of fullbacks tied on seven points. Um, but yeah, Darcy Feltham in 10th, it's just a random order, really. It's just however I am put it into my sheet. So Darcy Feltham at 10th with seven points. He was awesome this year since moving to the Panthers. I think he was the Rabbidoes. Imagine if they still had him. Um the Parramatta Reels, Riley Davis. He didn't play all that many games this year, but when he did, he was one of Parramatta's best each and every single time. He ended up on seven points, he was right up there. The Rabido's Taj Alvarez ended up on eight points. I think he really would have been competing for player of the year had he not missed those games that he did. Uh, but he had an awesome year, Taj Alvarez as well. From Manley, two large brothers in uh on 10 points there in the next two positions. And I don't mean large brothers in size, I mean the large brothers. Ashton and Onatoni Large both ended up on 10 points. They're tied there around mid of that top mid the mid part of that top 10. And then from here, there's a couple of halfbacks from the Knights. Chase Butler ended up on 11 points, he's in fifth. Cardamarico ended up on 12 points, he's in fourth, but tied for second because the next couple of guys are on 12 points as well. Hayden Watson from the storm ended up on 12, and then from the Rabbitoes, Cody Hill, he ended up on 12 as well. He had an awesome year at number nine. Very, very good player. I think he'll be the New South Wales under 19s, number nine. Him and Ashton Large have been the Premier Nines in the competition, but I think Cody Hill's just been better so far. So that means the winner, and I will be joined by him, Elijah Burve from the Penrith Panthers, the halfback. He's been awesome. And I'll cut now to an interview that I did with him earlier today on Wednesday. Um, just to talk, you know, his career and um, you know, some of the experiences that he's had and and his preparation for the finals and all those sorts of things. So we'll cut to that now. All right, I'm joined today by my SG Ball player of the year. He won the 3-2-1 tally votes that I've been doing throughout the year. Uh the Panthers halfback, one of the leaders in a team that is is into the finals now of the SG Ball competition. I'm joined by Elijah Burve. Mate, how are you going? Nah, pretty good, mate. Um, yeah, it's been an awesome year. So uh how have you found the move down to to Penrith? Obviously, you know, you've been up at Queensland for sort of most of your footy career at least. Um, you know, signed earlier this year. What's what adjustments have you had to make, or has it just been pretty seamless for you?

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Uh it's been pretty easy actually. Um I was originally born up in Cairns far north and uh moved down the sunny coast when I was 13, did my or my high school there. So I think moving to Penriss was a bit easy for me because I sort of know how to transition myself. Um but yeah, no, it's been it's been great um moving down here. Um it's a good opportunity, so generally all right.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Um you've you've got you know a really strong side, obviously, with with this Penriss system, they've always sort of had um really good systems. I wanted to ask you about your your right edge, because that is something um in the trials I noticed very early. You seem to have a very good combination from the start, you know, you know, Leo, Leo Latu and um Tyler out out on the edge as well. How quickly did that combination form? Did you know any of those guys before you went down there? What was that like?

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Um, no, actually, I really didn't know anyone uh when I first moved down because I did pre-season with Flagan and um you know coming to the SG after the New Year's. Uh I didn't really know anyone. Um but I think um we all just have a similar bit of footage, we just like to play off the cuff and stuff, and I think we just kind of click in that para uh trial. And I think ever since then we've been you know quite on. So um yeah, I think yeah, it's been dangerous down our right side. So um hopefully we can keep going uh through the final series. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah, so that's gonna be something that you do you sort of game plan towards going setting up towards that right side more often, or is it just sort of like you said, whatever you see, it's just gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Uh I think we we want to try and go a little bit more to the right side a bit. Um, because I'm usually a left side player, but um trying to transition myself into a right side player. So I think um, yeah, we're trying to eye on the short side and stuff, and I think that's where we become uh more dangerous and stuff. So I think we want to work on the short side bits and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Yeah, Steph, I didn't I didn't realise you were a left side player. Obviously, I hadn't seen too much of you know up at Sunny Coast, but you know, seeing you play um Queensland uh under 18 school boys and and for PG as well. I'll ask you about those experiences in a second as well. But um yeah, what so with your transition from left side to right side, has that impacted your defence at all, or have you enjoyed it more, or what what side have you sort of preferred playing?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Uh I prefer to play on the left side. Um, I think yeah, I just want to like if I'm seeing a bit of space back on the inside stuff on my left foot. Um, but um I I don't really care about any of which sides. Um each side's fine for me, I just prefer the left side, but yeah, it's still good, it's it's been fun being on the right side certainly.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Yeah. Um you you had the awesome experience towards the back end of last year, you got to play um for that PNG side against the uh Australian school boys. What was it like when you got the the call up to play there? And then what was the overall experience like of that tour?

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Yeah, it was a uh phone call, uh text message from uh Joey Grimer, um where I was uh stoked to um be able to uh be recognized and uh get off to play against the Australian Schoolboys and overall like it was such an amazing experience. Um obviously, you know, don't know much about my PNG culture, but um I think going into there and doing that week in PNG, I've I've learned a lot. Um yeah, it was an unreal experience, and playing in front of those PNG crowds is is yeah, an amazing experience, really. Yeah, can't explain them all.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

I've got sort of one more thing to to ask you before before I let you go. Um goals for the rest of this season. Obviously, your Koreans day representative that that under 19th jersey would obviously be pretty appealing um to you. Is there any you know anybody that wants to sort of follow your career out of this SG ball competition? Um obviously you've been one of the premier players this this season so far. Um what have you got anything planned out there? Do you want to you know step up to FLEG, step up to cup throughout the rest of the year? Queensland and 19s jerseys, what what's on your goal list?

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Yeah, definitely. I think um you know, go after FLEG, uh get a couple games there. Um yeah, to try and see if I can get a cracking cup as well. Um but yeah, I think the uh main one was you know just to um you know get a hold of a Queensland jersey for that under 9 squad and stuff, so yeah, I think uh yeah, just about that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

You played a little bit with um Hayden Watson or with and against Hayden Watson across your career. Have you been sort of following the rest of the competition, SG Bourne, seeing how they're going down there?

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Uh yeah, definitely. Um, you know, you when the teams you've used up and coming throughout the round, you know, you do a bit of beer on them, and yeah, look, um, you know, Hayden Watson's a gun, bro. Like I play with him uh not just in rugby league, but touch free and stuff, and yeah, just uh just the gun bro.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Yeah, so you you would you be keen to sort of pull on a jersey next to him? Obviously, he made the side last year. He's you know, probably one of the front rounds he's he got named in that emergence squad, and that would would you be keen to form a halves combination with him potentially, you know, you as a six, him as a seven, or vice versa?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yeah, definitely. Um I think yeah, we're all uh half combinations when I come on off the bench at the National School Boys, and you know, yeah, just partnering with him. Like um, you know, we just play a lot of footy together. He's like he's kind of the same off the cuff as well. Um, so yeah, it'll be pretty, pretty cool to play with him again and yeah, put him equivalent joys with him as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

All right, awesome. Thanks for your time today, brother. Good luck for the uh rest of the final series and and good luck for the rest of your career as well. Cheers, brother. Thanks a lot. Right, a massive thank you to Elijah Burbe for his time. Appreciate him coming on. Very an incredible season. Like you know, we talked about in the interview. An instinctual footballer, um, he's formed a really good combination with his right edge. Just I don't know how far Panthers go this season without him. He's had such a huge impact on that side. So um, very good season from Elijah Burbank, and I think he will be the SG ball player of the year. He's been the clear standout. Team of the year. Now I've gone for with a Warriors player, they didn't go all that well this season. But Joseph Ratcliffe, I thought he was awesome every time he took the field for the Warriors. He's my fullback of the year on the wing. Uh Bastion Armstrong, he was one of the top try-scorers this season. He had an unbelievable year for the Roosters. He was the beneficiary of a lot of um really good attack inside him, but just generally, like he's been really strong with ball in hand, defensively been sound. He he's you know put together a really strong season for the Roosters uh on that uh wing position. And then Mel Nonu from the Knights, he's come up with some huge highlights. He was my first picked winger in this side. I just thought he was so hard to look past. Um, yeah, he he's come up with some huge highlights, scored heaps of tries, and just you know, played really, really well this year. In the centres, I actually picked this very quickly. Uh, Dane Jennings, I thought he was the clear best centre in the competition this year. He's an unbelievable year, highlights freak, and he's just rounded out his game so well this year. And Joseph Lidadamu from the storm, he was my other centre. Uh, an insane year from him in terms of he's come up with a few really big plays in big moments. Uh, I think he'll be doing that a lot in the finals this year as well. Um, you know, game-winning tries against the Roosters last week, and then you know, he had a game winner as well earlier in the year, I think, against the Raiders. Finds himself in the right spot at the right time. His ball carrying is really strong, good out of yardage, defensively, really good as well. So, yeah, that that um those are my two centres, Dane Jennings and Joseph Lidadamu. In the halves, the player of the year, Elijah Berve, uh, obvious pick there. And then Ona Tony Large was my six. He's been awesome for Manley this year, and I thought he was, you know, not a clear pick because you had, you know, the likes of Taj Alvarez there that you could have had as well. But um, yeah, he was my pick for the six jersey on a Tony Large. In the front row, this one was the most difficult spot to pick for me by far because there's been a lot of huge performances. I think there's a couple of guys that are going to be stiff not to beat in this side based on the way that they've played this year, but I couldn't look past Phil Lavaciaho. I think he's been the best prop in the competition this year, and a guy that started off the season on fire and has sort of maintained his form as well. Charleston Torore, he's been awesome this year. Um, you know, I think going a little bit under the radar at the Roosters there, but you know, he he's been awesome. And um, yeah, I think he's been a big part of everything that that the Roosters have done well. Him and Atula Seve have formed a really lethal combination there. Um I do think he's missed a few games, Charleston Toro, but he has met that um, you know, he's played more than half of the season, so he's got to be there for mine. Um but you know, Christian Tupper Moore's stiff to miss out on that position. Um, you know, there was a couple of of really strong uh middle forward performances that those two were just out on well. Phil Avachiajo had to be there for mine, and then I could have picked from a number of guys for that second front row spot. And number nine, the guy who I think will be the New South Wales 19s hooker, that is Cody Hill from the Rabbitos in the back row. Uh Leo Steepelatu and Darcy Smith. I think Darcy Smith is going to be a clear pick for most people. Leo Stepe Latu, I I'm not sure if he's still underrated or not, but and I've really liked what he's done. And he's had Elijah Berbay inside of him, and they've formed a lethal combination out on that right edge. He's just played really, really good footy throughout the course of the season, so he had to be there for mine. Um couple of other guys could have gone in there, but um Leo Steppe Latu was my pick. Um Eddie Kalis at 13. I thought that sort of spoke for itself, to be honest. Uh, the way he's gone at the Roosters there. Again, a team that's going really well, but and he's had an awesome season there. At 14, another guy who can play utility was a 14 for the Queens and the 19s last year. That was Hayden Watson from the storm. He's had a really good year. He'd probably be the you know starting most years if it wasn't for the performances of Elijah Bervo this year. You know, he was in the top two or tied for second anyway, um, in that player of the year leaderboard. He had an awesome season, so he had to go in my 14. My two uh bench middles or bench forwards. Uh the I found this, like I said, there's a lot of guys that could have gone positions. I've gone with two locks or lockslash slash front rowers that I thought have been really good this year. Mason Andrews from the Steelers. He He's in a side that is struggling. He's been consistently one of their best week in, week out. He started the year on fire. And I think just about everybody who watched the Steelers for the first couple of weeks would agree that he was one of the form locks in the competition or four middles in the competition. He made a lot of my early team of the weeks. He did still maintain that form. Didn't, you know, it wasn't the heights of the first couple of weeks, but he still had some really good games along the way. Um and very consistent performer and just top uh top tier in a in a Steelers side that you know struggled to get wins on the board. And then from the Parramatta Reels, Jackson Coiner, he was clearly the best lock in the competition early days. He did get injured, missed a chunk of the season. He did pass that over the half um over half of the season mark that I was looking for. And you know, he came back against the Bulldogs. Uh he came back to starting against the Bulldogs and was awesome in that game. His first four weeks were awesome. I just had to pick him there. I think he's he's the guy in this SG ball competition that I can see going the furthest. I've already said it. He's down now at first grader. He'll be a 10-year first grader. I'm very, very keen on Jackson Coiner. Um, and then my last position, the backup dummy half, obvious pick, Ashton Large from the Manley Seagull. Uh, I don't need to go too much more into that. His defence has been awesome, he's running game elite. Very, very happy with the season that him and Tony Larger put together at Manley. And yeah, I had to go with him as my backup dummy half. So that's it. Another season done and dusted now. I will say this right now. This is the last year that I cover Howard Matthews in this same level of detail. Just so much is on, and I'm looking to do so much that I need to cut something out. And you know, this is the the first year. Last year, I didn't really know any. This is the first year that I I haven't really got too much connections to to the Howard Matthews competition. It is under 17, so they're still a few years away from first grade. I want to sort of pivot to catering towards that enter all audience. Um, so yeah, I Harold Matthews is out of everything that I'm covering at the moment, I had to choose one that had to go, and it is Howard Matthews just not also enjoying it as much as probably I used to. And yeah, I just needed to find something to sort of to lighten that load off a little bit for me. So I will still be covering SG Ball every single game and doing all the player of the year, teams of the year, and all that. Howard Matthews I'll still be covering, but I just won't be covering every single game and doing my team of the weeks and teams of the year and all that sort of stuff. I am, you know, the other thing too is uh, you know, I've thought about the whole pressure argument. Look, I think people that were saying to me, oh, you know, you put too much pressure on the tip, blah blah blah, like that's nonsense to me. Um, but I do think about it a lot in terms of what how my content um can affect people coming through the grades. In my opinion, I'm just an independent creator doing what mainstream journalists have been doing for the last 20, 30, 40 years, whatever. Um, and I do think that I, you know, cover with a level head and I like to give everyone as much praise as possible. But you know, at the end of the day, it can have an effect. Um, but I, you know, I it's not the main it's it's far from the main reason I'm not doing it, it's just another added thing. Um just another addition to reasons why I won't be doing the week to week coverage of Howard Matthews in terms of watching every single game. We'll still be watching games, we'll still be covering it, we'll still be doing all that, just not to the same detail and extent as what I have been. Um, yeah, so that'll be it. See you on the next one. As usual, go follow all my socials and all that. Bye bye.