2011 Official Thread + Signing news

[Michael :P]

Thats good to see.

Interesting too, obviously well thought of by people in high places.

[storming]

just looking on nrl.com and come across this for us:

Additions: Adam Woolnough (Out of retirement), Troy Thompson (Canberra Raiders), Elijah Niko (New Zealand Warriors NYC), Jaiman Lowe (South Sydney Rabbitohs), Maurice Blair (Penrith Panthers), Beau Champion (South Sydney Rabbitohs).
Losses: Aiden Tolman (Canterbury Bulldogs), Jeff Lima (Wigan Warriors, ESL), Ryan Hoffman (Wigan Warriors, ESL), Brett Finch (Wigan Warriors, ESL), Brett White (Canberra Raiders), Greg Inglis (South Sydney Rabbitohs), Maipele Morseau (Newcastle Knights), Blake Leary (North Queensland Cowboys).
Signed On Again: Bryan Norrie, Justin O'Neill, Dane Nielsen, Rory Kostjasyn.
Off Contract: Brett Anderson, Ryan Hinchcliffe, Kevin Proctor, Luke MacDougall.
2011 Coach: Craig Bellamy

whats the story with hinchy n proctor not being signed yet?

[Ice]

They're both signed until the end of this year so not sure what they're going on about there.

[The Mauritian]

So have we signed Sisa Waqa yet? Because he is still training with us. Looks like a monster in this photo

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/b ... 5998340726

[sallymay]

Yeah i spoke to him on Facebook about a week ago he said he has signed with the storm but most likely will only be playing reserves which he is happy with

[Michael :P]

So have we signed Sisa Waqa yet? Because he is still training with us. Looks like a monster in this photo

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/b ... 5998340726

Thats Ronnnie Coleman, not Sisa Waqa

[The Mauritian]

So have we signed Sisa Waqa yet? Because he is still training with us. Looks like a monster in this photo

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/b ... 5998340726

Thats Ronnnie Coleman, not Sisa Waqa

Classic! Sisa "Ronnie" Waqa

[nacho]

yeah just saw him in a photo in the herald sun with billy pulling him back as sisa ran.

hes got incredible vascularity! hes just shredded and legs as big as a horses.

they said he was potentially a falou and inglis type player when he was signed at the roosters.

i want to see him play!!!

[bula]

He's got raw talent, probably best at the club, but he needs to learn the game.
You guys should see how fast he can run.

[The Mauritian]

Going by this Sisa is still playing for contract, and not signed yet

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=165747

[storma01]

there is no sound on this video but it shows sisa waqa's speed as he runs down cooper vuna..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXvnWI_nesQ

[sallymay]

wooooow that is crazy fast

[Michael :P]

The boy who made good
JO GILBERT Last updated 05:00 18/02/2011

At the age of nine, Josh Siu was into drugs and had been thrown out of two schools for violence.

Five years later the Rangiora 14-year-old has turned his life around and has been selected for a training camp with National Rugby League club the Melbourne Storm.

It will see him spend his holidays in Melbourne training with other teenagers and being groomed for a shot at a professional career.

"I'm happy as," Josh told The Press. "I have never been this happy."

Josh's half-sister, Tash Thomas, said he and his brother Jordan, 13, were "broken" when she took custody of them in 2007.

With drug, alcohol and mental health problems in their upbringing, the boys had been in and out of foster homes and at Cholmondeley Home.

"I was nine and I was into drugs and I'd been kicked out of two [Christchurch] schools for physical abuse as I had chucked a chair at a teacher and hit the principal," Josh said.

When Thomas, 34, took sole care of her half-brothers alongside her own three children, she said she provided boundaries, rules, consistency and love, as well as getting outside help.

"For some reason or another I was the only one they seemed to have any respect for, so I realised I had to do it," she said.

Her parenting and work by Josh's Methodist Mission mentor Matt Williams eventually led to Josh's "lightbulb moment". He realised he did not want to follow a destructive path.

"I've had to put heaps of effort and commitment in and I've given my life to God," the Rangiora High School pupil said. "I learnt you don't give up because whatever you put your mind to, you can accomplish. You've still got a future out there and you can't use your past as your excuse."

Josh only got into rugby league in 2008. A centre of the Northern Bulldogs club, he was soon playing for Canterbury age-group teams. At a trial in Christchurch late last month he was picked for the Storm's camp.

"I thought they were calling out the wrong name," he said. "I was so shocked, but I'm just so stoked.

"[And this is all] because my sister has supported me, taken me in and changed my life around and my mentor Matt has stood by me and help me choose what road to go down.

"They've been huge."

Thomas said she was very proud of her brother.

"All that's happening is that he's becoming the man he was always destined to be, but unfortunately because of the circumstances he was in he was probably never going to get there.

"I feel blessed and humbled to be a part of it really, but it's him doing the hard work," Thomas said.

Josh follows in the footsteps of fellow Northern Bulldogs club player Michael Butson, who turned his life of drugs, alcohol and youth offending around and last year signed a five-year contract with the Storm, aged just 15.

[sallymay]

I can see this guy ending as a first grader being celebrated by the storm faithful just by turning his life around after joining the storm

[nacho]

awesome we signed an ex drug abuser