Signed from Souths academy, formerly of Wakefield and hailing from Dewsbury. 19 year old outside back.
Signings galore...
New signing - Wesley Bruines
Signed from Souths academy, formerly of Wakefield and hailing from Dewsbury. 19 year old outside back.
Signings galore...
https://www.saintsrlfc.com/2022/11/0...quad-for-2023/
Interesting. Good to see we have a few different projects on the run.
I could agree with you but then we would both be wrong.
It's fabulous. Sounds like this one will be academy/reserves initially, but he obviously had something about him to make the move to Australia despite being on Wakefield's books.Originally Posted by Noel Cleal
Got the No 34 first team squad shirt.
https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/teams/j...esley-bruines/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNYWAMAAIGw
I think the rumours thread could of gotten to 1000 pages without ever pulling that name out of a hat...
Looks good, very interesting to see some new names come in
This is more like it.
A Big Quick outside back. The achilles heel of the academy in recent times.
Great to see uncoventional channels are being considered and acted on.
Welcome to Saints and good luck.
The nobody is worthy , Hopoate just needs a rest brigade will be wetting themselves no doubt.
In fairness, most (including myself), were saying there was nobody of sufficient quality worth bringing in on a proper contract ahead of Bennison. The club clearly agree, they've brought in Ritson only on loan initially and Bruines as a squad player. If they thought either were good enough to immediately take up the mantle they'd have offered much different terms.
Either way, some very good business over the past couple of days.
He could possibly be replacing Davies as back up if Wellens gives him the opportunity.
Most were just being simps and sycophantically backing whatever the club was doing at that particular point in time. The club spotted what a lot on here did, we lacked depth in the backs and have no pace, something the no signings brigade wouldn't come to terms with. They've potentially fixed both of those with these two signings. It's a survival of the fittest between Bennison, Sambou, Ritson and Bruines now over the next 12 months to see if one of them can cause us to not need to look into signing a winger next season. Hopefully this signing (If he's any good) will put a stop to the days of having to move Welsby, Bennison, Mata'utia etc around to cover outside of their best positions. It's interesting that he's got a first team squad number. Is that because of his age perhaps? Or is he thought of as first team potential, so ahead of those in the senior academy by reputation?
You've been calling for a development signing Gerry and you'd also spoken about the limitations of the production line in the academy, when it comes to the threequarters. This signing is another indication the club agree.
I support what you're saying as well, about being creative and scouring all of the markets available for talent. With 17 teams in the NRL now and likely 18 within the next 5 years, clubs in SL may very well need to do more and more of this!
The Hodgson brothers (relatives of Josh Hodgson) whom are both in the Knights system, may be others to follow over the next 12 months. Not all will make it to first grade over there.
*Not to be confused with Mike Stephenson, MBE
From the limited highlights available he seems to play full back and winger with a bit of centre. Also listed as 6’4 and seems to have good step and pace for someone that tall. Definitely one for the future but adds to the stockpile of talented backs we have coming through.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
We also have Harry Robertson progressing at a nice rate, another tall back with good footwork.
Only 16/17 though, so plenty of time for him.
4 appearances at centre and 5 on the wing for Rabbitohs last year. Seems to have a a similar running style to Welsby but is a bit bigger - looks like if he adds some bulk he could be a strike centre.
Definitely seem to be stockpiling!
Poor Jack and Sione might find themselves playing in their proper positions if we're not careful here. I'm loving these moves, adding some real depth now. Potential isn't guaranteed to be reached, so having three of four backs on the ramp like this will hopefully mean that a couple will end up establishing themselves long term (Bennison, Sambou, Bruines, Robertson etc).
New signing - Wesley Bruines
Reading Wello’s Q & A in the Star, there still seems to be worries about Percival. I can see him missing a lot of games again next season.
I wonder if with the right conditioning that Bruines may well play more games than envisaged. Hard to tell if he’s way off first team or not. The chances are he will be but we’ve seen meteoric rises to first team level before. Welsby was a similar age and frame when he first played if I remember correctly, perhaps a little bigger.
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https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/...te/?ref=twtrec
Also on Hopoate.
The physios have yet another "Baldrick cunning plan" , no indication of when he returns to training (all the other WC players specified on a staggered return) and until he went off he was "outstanding" against Samoa.
That's a bit of a stretch for me , got skinned for the first try , a forward pass for Tonga's try and then went off. Not the worst performance ever from a FB but certainly not "Outstanding".
I still cant really understand why Hopoate chose to make himself available for the World Cup. I don't suppose that Saints could tell him not to take part if he was adamant he wanted to, but some common sense has to come into it from his side.
On a side note, it looks like he has been on holiday travelling round Italy for the past week - so hopefully not exerting himself too much.
It doesn't sound great that does it. For the bone to still have not healed, it must be a big worry. It's been six months since he suffered that injury and they are talking about it still being an issue when the season starts. That would then suggest it's becoming a chronic problem and whilst he showed he can play on it at the end of last season, he possibly won't be able to play as many games as we'd like going forward. With Hopoate inevitably in a similar position and unlikely to play full games or consecutive games, we're going to be tested again next season it seems. The likes of Hurrell, Bruines and likely Ben Davies will be very important to us. Hopefully it goes well for them both, but worse case we could end up with two first team players retiring mid-season next year.
Great news on Dodd though, that's going to be like a new signing as well.
I just hope we all give him enough time to get his head around playing top level RL again.
For some players, it isn't just the physical side of things that can take time to heal.
New signing - Wesley Bruines
I think part of the problem with Percy is, the medical team don’t really know how to treat it. Wello alluded to it in the Q&A and the fact they’ve had to research similar injuries to get a steer on treatments. I’m guessing there’s been some trial and error which may be why it’s taking so long.
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