2011 Official Thread + Signing news

[Michael :P]

Huge wrap on McGahan from Darren Bell.

Certainly puts the claims from that dude on warriors.online that he isnt much chop in the bin. Cant wait to go watch him in action in February in the SG Ball team.

Watching some footage of McGahan he looks to be the complete package as a 6.

Big left foot kick
great L > R pass - threw a couple of great cut-out balls
good R > L pass
nice offload
sound defence
organizer
good pace
great size for a 6, 182cm will be well over 90kg by the time he's matured

[Fizer]

Huge wrap on McGahan from Darren Bell.

Certainly puts the claims from that dude on warriors.online that he isnt much chop in the bin. Cant wait to go watch him in action in February in the SG Ball team.

Watching some footage of McGahan he looks to be the complete package as a 6.

Big left foot kick
great L > R pass - threw a couple of great cut-out balls
good R > L pass
nice offload
sound defence
organizer
good pace
great size for a 6, 182cm will be well over 90kg by the time he's matured

Did you watch the Mags vs Hamilton Boys game on youtube. Now his goal kicking was terrible but thought his general kicking was good and liked the distance he was getting with his kicks and liked his passing game especially his short ball. A very exciting prospect.

[Michael :P]

Dad’s a hard man; son has pedigree

By BOB FOX

Dad’s a hard man; son has pedigree

Taura Robati wonders now what’s next for his kids. He’s told them he’s going to help, now he’s got the time.

Having put son Pride Petterson- Robati on the next step of his future, he knows he must do the same for his other children. There’s Kellie, his stepson, then Danielle, Pride, Nimue, Valhalla and Rain.

For the last 10 years Tud Robati has coached his son in the skills he needs to play top level league, whether at Trentham Memorial Park or at home in the backyard with Tud’s own tackle bag, filled with road gravel.

As a five and six-year-old, even later until the tattered bag wore out, Pride hammered the bag. Sometimes it hammered back.

“He cried, once, when he hurt his shoulder,” Tud recalls. Little sympathy; “Nah, I got him mad and he just flew back into it.

“Even now, they don’t run straight at him.”

Tud’s muscles flex. He’s a hard man.

“Yep,” he says nodding his head.

“Yep.”


Tud himself played for Upper Hutt in the under-15s, then later with Marist-Northern and Petone. But he was already in trouble. The Mt Crawford prison team won their competition in 1993, and the Witako Pukekos also played well when he was in the teams.

Why Pride as a name?

“It’s a long story. My cellmate was a burner artist, on wood, and he had done one of a British bulldog, the symbol of the mob, which showed all the pugnacity, all the pride of a Winston Churchill. He had Bulldog written over the top, but it needed a name underneath. We sat in the cell and looked at it for a long time. Pride, I finally said, I’m proud to call him Pride.”

The artwork hangs on the lounge wall.

And Tud pledged to call his eldest won Pride, while daughter Valhalla picked up the Scandinavian influence of her mother, Petterson. Pride played his early league in the same team as older sister Danielle, who enjoyed the league, but not her default role as Pride’s alternate to the backyard tackle bag. It hurt.

As Pride rose through the grades, Tud took over as his coach, and he concedes he was tough on his son. “I do push him, I do. But Dads look for their mistakes, so they can be fixed. People who praise players never point out what he does wrong. “Dads look out for the little things that, when fixed, will make him a better player.

“But he doesn’t listen to me now,” he grins. “But he had better remember that if he gets up there – through the under-18s, 20s, the NRL to the Kiwis – I better hear my name.”

Pride is off to the Melbourne Storm on a six-year contract after first being noticed on a training camp as a 14-year-old. He’ll live with a family, work hard at school and on the training field, and hopefully work his way to the top. He certainly has the pedigree. Pride is the greatgrandson of 1936-37 Maori All Black lock Daniel Tuhoro, proud Ngati Porou who, with two brothers, played for the East Coast. Also from the Petterson side comes great-grandmother Grace Clark, a Christchurch 17-year-old sprinter who went home after training on the back of her boyfriend’s motorbike. They crashed, she broke her ankle, and never realised her dream of making the New Zealand team for the 1929 Empire Games.

“It’s up to him now,” says Tud. “He’s got the chance to fulfil his dream.” Dad’s dream includes one-day watching his son play his first game in the under-20s, the second level of the NRL.

Storm recruitment manager Darren Bell promised Tud they would fly him over for that, “but it would just be for the one day. Just one day.” There’s too much trouble in his past for longer.

Now he turns to Kellie, Danielle, Nimue, Valhalla and Rain, to help them achieve success in their lives. “It’s what I have to do,” Taura Robati says. “It’s a kind of redemption.”



Already in Melbourne Storm colours, Pride is with Dad, Taura and big sister Danielle at their Trentham home. Danielle, two years older, was the ‘alternate’ tackle bag for her little brother. It could hurt.

http://www.knz.org.nz/home.aspx?article=1

[Michael :P]

Huge wrap on McGahan from Darren Bell.

Certainly puts the claims from that dude on warriors.online that he isnt much chop in the bin. Cant wait to go watch him in action in February in the SG Ball team.

Watching some footage of McGahan he looks to be the complete package as a 6.

Big left foot kick
great L > R pass - threw a couple of great cut-out balls
good R > L pass
nice offload
sound defence
organizer
good pace
great size for a 6, 182cm will be well over 90kg by the time he's matured

Did you watch the Mags vs Hamilton Boys game on youtube. Now his goal kicking was terrible but thought his general kicking was good and liked the distance he was getting with his kicks and liked his passing game especially his short ball. A very exciting prospect.

Yep, thats the game I watched. I thought he controlled the it beautifully, lots of very positive signs for the future.

I wonder who'll take control of the team in 11, seems as though it comes easier`and more naturally to Matt then Ben

[Fizer]

Yep, thats the game I watched. I thought he controlled the it beautifully, lots of very positive signs for the future.

I wonder who'll take control of the team in 11, seems as though it comes easier`and more naturally to Matt then Ben

Who knows. I thought Morseau would start this year in NYC once it started and he was left in SG Ball till it finished, Then you have Williame who never played in SG Ball when I thought he would.

[Fizer]

Dad’s a hard man; son has pedigree

By BOB FOX

Dad’s a hard man; son has pedigree

Taura Robati wonders now what’s next for his kids. He’s told them he’s going to help, now he’s got the time.

Having put son Pride Petterson- Robati on the next step of his future, he knows he must do the same for his other children. There’s Kellie, his stepson, then Danielle, Pride, Nimue, Valhalla and Rain.

For the last 10 years Tud Robati has coached his son in the skills he needs to play top level league, whether at Trentham Memorial Park or at home in the backyard with Tud’s own tackle bag, filled with road gravel.

As a five and six-year-old, even later until the tattered bag wore out, Pride hammered the bag. Sometimes it hammered back.

“He cried, once, when he hurt his shoulder,” Tud recalls. Little sympathy; “Nah, I got him mad and he just flew back into it.

“Even now, they don’t run straight at him.”

Tud’s muscles flex. He’s a hard man.

“Yep,” he says nodding his head.

“Yep.”


Tud himself played for Upper Hutt in the under-15s, then later with Marist-Northern and Petone. But he was already in trouble. The Mt Crawford prison team won their competition in 1993, and the Witako Pukekos also played well when he was in the teams.

Why Pride as a name?

“It’s a long story. My cellmate was a burner artist, on wood, and he had done one of a British bulldog, the symbol of the mob, which showed all the pugnacity, all the pride of a Winston Churchill. He had Bulldog written over the top, but it needed a name underneath. We sat in the cell and looked at it for a long time. Pride, I finally said, I’m proud to call him Pride.”

The artwork hangs on the lounge wall.

And Tud pledged to call his eldest won Pride, while daughter Valhalla picked up the Scandinavian influence of her mother, Petterson. Pride played his early league in the same team as older sister Danielle, who enjoyed the league, but not her default role as Pride’s alternate to the backyard tackle bag. It hurt.

As Pride rose through the grades, Tud took over as his coach, and he concedes he was tough on his son. “I do push him, I do. But Dads look for their mistakes, so they can be fixed. People who praise players never point out what he does wrong. “Dads look out for the little things that, when fixed, will make him a better player.

“But he doesn’t listen to me now,” he grins. “But he had better remember that if he gets up there – through the under-18s, 20s, the NRL to the Kiwis – I better hear my name.”

Pride is off to the Melbourne Storm on a six-year contract after first being noticed on a training camp as a 14-year-old. He’ll live with a family, work hard at school and on the training field, and hopefully work his way to the top. He certainly has the pedigree. Pride is the greatgrandson of 1936-37 Maori All Black lock Daniel Tuhoro, proud Ngati Porou who, with two brothers, played for the East Coast. Also from the Petterson side comes great-grandmother Grace Clark, a Christchurch 17-year-old sprinter who went home after training on the back of her boyfriend’s motorbike. They crashed, she broke her ankle, and never realised her dream of making the New Zealand team for the 1929 Empire Games.

“It’s up to him now,” says Tud. “He’s got the chance to fulfil his dream.” Dad’s dream includes one-day watching his son play his first game in the under-20s, the second level of the NRL.

Storm recruitment manager Darren Bell promised Tud they would fly him over for that, “but it would just be for the one day. Just one day.” There’s too much trouble in his past for longer.

Now he turns to Kellie, Danielle, Nimue, Valhalla and Rain, to help them achieve success in their lives. “It’s what I have to do,” Taura Robati says. “It’s a kind of redemption.”



Already in Melbourne Storm colours, Pride is with Dad, Taura and big sister Danielle at their Trentham home. Danielle, two years older, was the ‘alternate’ tackle bag for her little brother. It could hurt.

http://www.knz.org.nz/home.aspx?article=1

Thanks for all the stories on Pride.

[sallymay]

six years.....wow

[sallymay]

I have just been told that we have signed SISA waqa (not stanley) for 2 years not sure how true it is but apprently he is down in melbourne training with all our other guys

[1999]

sisa signed a 2 year contract last month to play rugby in france for Tarbes Pyrénées in the local 2 division.

[sallymay]

apprently not cause he is in melbourne with his wife training with the storm

[Freshy]

I have just been told that we have signed SISA waqa (not stanley) for 2 years not sure how true it is but apprently he is down in melbourne training with all our other guys

This is indeed correct. Sisa signed with us last week.

[1999]

Fantastic news, sisa is a huge signing, he is good enough to go all the way, in late 08 when poached from union (26 tries in 18 chute shield games) the roosters crowed they had the next inglis/folau signing, sadly injury cruelled his time there, but i still remember when he mowed down cooper vuna, and he did impress with limited chances. I think under bellamy and an injury free period, we might just have our next star.

[scriptyx]

Is he a winger?

[storming]

is waqa a front rower or a winger?

[storming]

so sisa waqa is the guy who chased down cooper vuna over 80m after giving away a 10m start? thats speed! which is exactly what we need out wide!

whats the word on stanley waqa then? wasnt he training with us too? be good to get a big (110+kg) strong frontrower aswell