Jersey Flegg Team List: Cleary and Hanson in halves
Former Penrith juniors Jett Cleary and Luke Hanson team up in the halves for the One New Zealand Warriors’ season-opening Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21) clash against Canberra at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday (12.00pm kick-off local time; 2.00pm NZT).
They both had time on the field together in the Warriors’ two NRL Preseason Challenge matches against Cronulla Sutherland and Melbourne
The 19-year-old Cleary, signed by the Warriors in April last year, experienced Jersey Flegg finals football with the Panthers last season while Hanson (21) played 18 times for the Warriors’ reserve grade side in the New South Wales and also appeared in six games for the Flegg team.
The side named is dominated by players who have come through the Warriors’ pathways programme featuring in the club’s NSW Cup, Jersey Flegg Cup or SG Ball Cup teams last season.
Fullback Motu Pasikala started in SG Ball and was also used in Jersey Flegg but he played most of his games (13) at NSW Cup level.
Hooker Jaydee Auloa, second rower Kayliss Fatialofa and prop Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea also made appearances in all three grades.
Apart from Cleary, the other new faces are centre Caelys Putoko and forwards Mitchell Bebbington, Jackson Kite and Saxon Day, all named on the extended bench.
Putoko was a schoolboy rugby union star with the Hamilton Boys’ High School First XV before a stint with the Gold Coast Titans where he played for feeder Club the Ipswich Jets in Queensland’s Mal Meninga Cup (under-18) competition.
Bebbington, Kite and Day played in the same competition for the Sunshine Coast Falcons but finished up in Auckland (along with teammate James Marriott) to try their luck at landing deals with the Warriors. Bebbington joined them later but has come through to be selected in #17 with New Zealand-born Kite and Day also named in the squad.
The Raiders will provide a difficult assignment for the Warriors. They won the minor premiership last year before finishing one win short of the grand final.
