Over the last 12 weeks, our RISE ROOKIE Academy has been taking place, with our below groups partaking in the RISE ROOKIE program –
- MALE 16-18
- FEMALE 17+
Incorporating rugby league specific skills, strength and conditioning, life fit skills and a raft of other initiatives, the RISE ROOKIE program delivered some amazing results.
The program has been run by Head Coaches John Hough & Martin Collis, under the guidance of S&C Coaches Travis Haney and Evan Stacey. With S&C primarily being held at Travis gym facility, SPARQ Fitness, it all came to a climax with a final testing session last week, with everyone being amazed by the results.
In the “Bronco” Test, all athletes recorded a better time, the average improvement across the board was 30 seconds. And it was Leevye George who recorded the biggest improvement, by a massive 78 seconds, to record a 5min 14second Bronco.
Lincoln Williams recorded the fastest Bronco, with a lightning 4mins and 37 seconds, just in front of Taniela Te Rauna and Billy Woolmer, who were also extremely quick at 4mins and 47 seconds.
Every single participant in the RISE ROOKIE program saw an improvement to their Broad Jump. Tyson Parker showed a huge upside with an increase of 30 centimeters.
But Tadgh McNamara was exceptional with a 2.9m Broad Jump to lead all comers, with Tane Dodunski close behind him at 2.8m. Tiari Thompson was also impressive, increasing her broad jump by 20 centimeters in the female category.
In the 3kg med ball toss the results were mixed. With a great test of strength and technique, again close to 70% of the participants managed to better their testing from 12 weeks ago.
The great improver was youngster TiakiTutengaehe “Formby” Turner who improved his medicine ball by over a metre and a half form his previous throw. But the biggest throw belongs to Brodie Dunn, who threw an impressive 10.7m, with pocket power dynamo Taniela Te Rauna the next best with 10.2m.
Lastly. Speed. The 20 metre sprint. And with our S&C Blocks incorporating an element of sprinting all the participants were keen and ready to improve. Every single athlete improved in an amazing result for the program.
5 players came up with a quick 2.84 secs, to really test the stopwatch, with Elias Tsalakos, Leevye George, Norman Hayes, Tane Dodunski and Tadgh McNamara beating out a swath of other players who ran under 3 seconds.
With the CAS Selection being selected from this process, we thank all the players for their commitment and look forward to seeing them succeed in all their endeavours.
Lastly thank you to all the coaches, staff and parents who helped over the course of the 12 weeks. We really appreciate everything that they contributed!
If anyone wants any more information from the program, please feel free to email gthomas@nrl.com.au
