Beale Jr

[Burke's Boot]

My Joeys spy, one of the most astute rugby persons ive met and would be good enough to coach the 1st XV if it wasn't for the politics there, told me that William Beale was an even better young rugby player than his older brother Kurtley. However he left Joeys after a year or so and the last i heard of him in the news was this article a few years back:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/the-beale-thing/story-e6frexnr-1111113033944

Anyone knows what happened to him as the last i heard was that he was dumped by the Panthers jr sides for poor behaviour and ended up at the Bulldogs which is the last place any kid with personal issues should be. In fact someone like this is much better off in a rugby enviro as opposed to being in tawdry, vile & incorrigible sport like Loig. A club like Students Corp aka Sydney Uni should give him free uni entry/fees etc to help him on his way.

 

[qwerty51]

My Joeys spy, one of the most astute rugby persons ive met and would be good enough to coach the 1st XV if it wasn't for the politics there, told me that William Beale was an even better young rugby player than his older brother Kurtley. However he left Joeys after a year or so and the last i heard of him in the news was this article a few years back:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/the-beale-thing/story-e6frexnr-1111113033944

Anyone knows what happened to him as the last i heard was that he was dumped by the Panthers jr sides for poor behaviour and ended up at the Bulldogs which is the last place any kid with personal issues should be. In fact someone like this is much better off in a rugby enviro as opposed to being in tawdry, vile & incorrigible sport like Loig. A club like Students Corp aka Sydney Uni should give him free uni entry/fees etc to help him on his way.

I know he's only a schoolboy (or was) but he was no where near the level of Beale. I don't know who told you that but it's rubbish.

 

[en_force_er]

It frustrates me to see unheralded brother's of stars (Pocock and O'Connor in particular) get free rides to academy set-ups.

If he is good he should work his way through the Sydney club ranks like every other later bloomer.

 

[Lee Grant]

I know he's only a schoolboy (or was) but he was no where near the level of Beale. I don't know who told you that but it's rubbish.

Wrong - at the same age as Kurtley was at Joeys Will was the better player, bigger too. I know because he was in the same A team as my nephew who I saw play just about every game, so I saw Will at the same time. Dillon Walford and Corey Ashby were in the same team.

Once at Rushcutters Bay when they were in the 13As or 14 As and playing against Grammar my nephew was running in support of Will but there were 2 Grammar lads in between them. Will was about to be challenged but couldn't pass the ball to him, nor was a kick the right option so he put on a spurt and dived forward. As he dived he lifted his hand high and bounced the ball into my nephew's hands. (He was a good basketball player too). I have never seen anything like it before or since.

After the game I overheard a Grammar parent talking to another parent who asked him about the match because he had just arrived. The first guy said that they would have won except for one Joeys boy who should have been playing where he belonged: in 16s.

That was Will. He never had the discipline of KB (Kurtley Beale) at school and didn't like boarding so he left the school early. I am sorry to see that he had trouble in the Penrith system and hope he gets some mentor to help him out, as his upbringing was not standard.


PS qwerty - if you mean that when both boys left Joeys KB (Kurtley Beale) was better, you are right as Will left there about age 14 and Kurtley was 17 and had 3 years in the Ones.

 

[en_force_er]

Well in that case perhaps I should change "unheralded" to "unproven" talent despite potential there is certainly no proof.

I certainly wish the boy luck, kids who are off the rails in their early teens always face a difficult road ahead. Hope he sorts it out, whether he ends up in our code or in any other walk of life.

 

[Albert]

There was also an Ali Beale at Joeys for a short time, in the same age group as Will, or a year older maybe? Pretty sure he was a cousin of KB (Kurtley Beale). Could also play, pretty much anywhere from half to fullback. Not sure if he ended up back in league or where he finished school.

 

[Groucho]

I also heard a lot about Will when Kurtley was starring at Joeys, and I was in London at the time!

My Sydney contacts said the same thing: that he was better than Kurtley at the same age.

en_force_er, I have to disagree. If academy schemes aren't for prodigiously gifted youngsters, then who are they for? I'm not sure what ranks he should have to work his way through in order to get into an academy. Is there a special reason Beale junior should be excluded? Behavior I guess... but again, that is one of things junior academies and schemes set out to achieve.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Ali Beale popped up in the Toyota Cup this year. He's good but not anywhere near KB (Kurtley Beale) from what I have seen.

 

[waratahjesus]

met will a few times, he pops up to watch kurts every now and then, will ask him for you next time i see him.

 

[jay-c]

i heard he was the goods in school too
tahs should academy him> i know of one bloke who would be a pretty good mentor

 

[Joe Mac]

How old would he be now Lee Grant?

 

[Lee Grant]

He would have been in the Joeys Ones this year with the other lads from the 13As and 14As - so 17 or 18.

 

[observer]

I've seen this bloke play rugby league many times over the last three years. I believe his form peaked in 2007 where he represented the Australian Indigenous Under 16s, NSWCHS under 15's, Penrith's Harold Matthews team (under 16) and made the Australian Schools under 15 merit team. Since then he has not recaptured that form and has played some time at the Bulldogs but was unable to crack their main rep team (SG Ball). He spent most of his time in 2009 in their under 17 development team.

However, he made it back as the starting half back in Penrith's SG Ball later this season and went ok. But he is not the same player he was a few years ago. As we know this situation is very common with junior players.

 

[Burke's Boot]

I've seen this bloke play rugby league many times over the last three years. I believe his form peaked in 2007 where he represented the Australian Indigenous Under 16s, NSWCHS under 15's, Penrith's Harold Matthews team (under 16) and made the Australian Schools under 15 merit team. Since then he has not recaptured that form and has played some time at the Bulldogs but was unable to crack their main rep team (SG Ball). He spent most of his time in 2009 in their under 17 development team.

However, he made it back as the starting half back in Penrith's SG Ball later this season and went ok. But he is not the same player he was a few years ago. As we know this situation is very common with junior players.

Thanks for the info Ob. Is that because some players hit puberty a bit earlier and are bigger then the other boys catch up?

 

[observer]

Thanks for the info Ob. Is that because some players hit puberty a bit earlier and are bigger then the other boys catch up?

I think it is more to do with attitude. He put a lot of weight on and his fitness and speed suffered. In league he had a tendency to run sideways and pick up outside runners with good balls. Teams wised up to this and his runners started to get smacked. There didn't seem to be a plan B

 

[Lee Grant]

Thanks for that observer. Not a good news story for young Will but let's hope he comes though his setback and not just in a sporting sense.

 

[Reddy!]

No real surpises in this story, sad however.

Observer is right - attitude is key. You always hear about young prodigious sporting talents who once of a certain age lose interest, party too much, make a million distractions for themselves. So it therefore makes it all the more impressive what Kurtley has done given his family background.

 

[en_force_er]

I think the key thing to remember with athletes is most kids don't start seriously working towards their career till at least their early-mid 20s whereas athletes can start as young as 16, earlier in some sports.

Who knows how many 17 year old stock brokers would make it, haha.

 

[Mullos]

I'm the OP of this thread but lost my password and iinet email account connected to it. What's young Beale up to now?