Two teens to make NRL debut
0#youngstersmaking #nrldebuts #2022
On Friday night, we'll see two youngsters fulfill a childhood dream when Kit Laulilii and Josh Feledy make their NRL debuts. Both 18-year-olds have played for Wests Tigers representative teams this season, moving up from SG Ball to Jersey Flegg and recently playing in the NSW Cup competition. Laulilii is a 100% 'home-grown' player, having started his journey with Liverpool Catholic Club Raiders at age of 5, following path of Wests Tigers in his youth. He was captain of undefeated Magpies team that won Harold Matthews Cup title last year, joining Tallyn Da Silva as second player from that team to reach NRL. "I'm so excited, lost for words and so grateful," Laulilii said after learning he would make his NRL debut. My parents were so excited after all they had done for me over the years, I could hear the joy in their voices when I told them. Laulilii was born in 2005, when another crop of young stars were claiming the Wests Tigers' first premiership. He says that he too could and would achieve great success only when he reached his early teens. “It was Wayne Lambkin at Westfields who gave me my first real chance and I fell in love with the game,” says Laulilii. I knew I had the support team around me and it shows that with hard work anything can happen.Kit Laulilii "It's crazy how successful it has been for me to play for the same club I've supported my whole life. In not too distant future Harold Matts may have a handful of teammates from the class of 22 playing NRL for Wests Tigers. Also in this side were three players selected for the Australian Schoolboys this year, including Lachlan Galvin, Heath Mason and Laulilii's younger brother Luke. Feledy is also a young boy from the northern beaches who started out as a 5-year-old. His journey to Concord started at Harbord and accelerated quickly this year. Like Laulilii, Feledy joined the club as a trainee at the end of 2022 before jumping from representative team to representative team in 2023. A powerful center with an uncanny ability to find his way to line, Feledy has scored 11 goals 16 games in the Jersey Flegg Cup this season, followed by two tries NSW Cup. Like Laulilii, Feledy is good-natured and unassuming, taking little praise for his trials this year. "If I fulfill my role in the team and that's scoring a try or two, then I feel like I've played my part," he said. And like Laulilii, Feledy is extremely grateful for the help he has been provided along the way. "It hasn't quite hit me yet, it's a dream come true and I'm so excited," he said. I owe a lot my family for this and to my aunt who came every game I played this year.Josh Feledy While Feledy hopes to celebrate his debut with another “meaty”, he is thrilled to be given this opportunity. Josh Feledy will be Wests Tigers Player #274 and Kit Laulilii will be Wests Tigers Player #275, joining Brandon Tumeth, Jahream Bula, Tallyn Da Silva, Aitasi James and Triston Reilly as first-year rookies in 2023.