Eight Northland boys travelled down with Swords Coaches, Jim Larkin and Benson Selwyn to trial for the Stacey Jones’ 2014 Holden Cup Warriors 20’s team. Over 250 players travelled from Kaitaia to Invercargill to put themselves on display.
Benson Selwyn commented on how great an experience it was for all the players. “It was pretty tough for the guys to really show what they had with each player getting only 15 – 20 minutes, but they loved the experience.”
“When they first got there, they thought they were out of their depth, when they saw the size of the players from Auckland, but when they got on the field, they grew in confidence and realised that there is no difference between them and us. It was an awesome day with Tumoana Halkyard and Kahi Harawira getting to play in the main trial with the Possibles v Probables.”
Rugby League Northland is working with the Warriors to help develop pathways, with four of the best Northland players from the Swords 15s and 17s, being invited to attend a pre-season training camp in December. Players to attend will be confirmed in the next couple of weeks.
Players who attend the trial were:
- Tumoana Halkyard, Swords 17s and Muriwhenua 18s
- 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
