The Newcastle Knights junior representative teams kicked off 2014 in style with impressive trial results last Saturday.
Played in hot conditions at Neville Thompson Field in Dora Creek, the 15s and 17s recorded wins over Wests and the 16s and 18s were too good for Manly.
The day started with the 15s running out comprehensive winners over Wests seven tries to nil, while the 17s also excelled against the Magpies with a 10 tries to two victory.
Harold Matthews continued the Club's charge with an 11 tries to five triumph over Manly, before the SG Ball outfit rounded out the day with an 11 tries to five win against the Sea Eagles.
Knights' Community Development Manager Matt Lantry says the Club's impressive results across all four age groups proves Newcastle has plenty of talent in the junior ranks.
The Club will now select their Harold Matthews and SG Ball squads for 2014 and Lantry admits it won't be an easy process given the weekend's success across the board.
"The one thing we could take out of the weekend is that is highlights the depth of player talent within our region," Lantry enthuses.
"To be dominate in all four ages is going to make it extremely difficult for the coaches to now narrow it down to our final squads going forward.
"It will be a really tough process with how well everyone trialled on the weekend, so we will take some time to make sure we get the right squad of 20-25 players to take forward for both.
"While our 15s and 17s will continue their development programs going through to mid-February.
"But from all reports it was a really high standard across the board, so it was quite impressive.
"They are in the system now and it's an educational one and hopefully we can get plenty of players out the other end in the coming years.
"There is no reason why our Harold Matthews and SG Ball sides won't be really successful this year and hopefully we'll get both sides into the top eight."
The Knights’ Harold Matthews and SG Ball outfits will play inter-club trials against the Under 17s and NYC squads at St John Oval in Charlestown on Friday, kicking off at 5pm and 6.30pm respectively.
