Australia shocked New Zealand Schools last week

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Heamasi Makasini’s decision to re-sign with the Wests Tigers instead of switching permanently to Australian rugby went down like a lead balloon on Monday.

Indeed, what should have been a cause for celebration after a famous win by the Australia Under-18s over New Zealand Schools rivals across the ditch only 24 hours earlier suddenly descended into another opportunity to kick the game down.

In reality, the 17-year-old Tigers junior had confirmed to the NRL club months earlier his intention to join full-time after finishing his schooling.

“We’re always going to have kids who choose another code over rugby, right?” Rugby Australia’s general manager of men’s high performance and competitions Ben Whitaker told The Roar.

“It’s written that the world ends because one player [goes]. We’ve had players do it since like Dally Messenger in 1907, right?

“What we are doing far better today than we were doing some time ago is we’re engaging with these kids and their family early.

“The known potential consequence of actually looking to formally engage these players is that they could make the decision to go the other way.

“And then how do you then deal with any sort of criticism that, ‘oh, you lost another player?’ No, we’re in the mix to actually retain or recruit a player – sometimes it doesn’t fall your way.”

Australia line up ahead of their breakthrough win over New Zealand Schools at FMG Stadium Waikato on October 06, 2024 in Hamilton. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)

The 38-31 victory over New Zealand Schools was Australia’s first in five years.

Back in 2019, Peter Hewat’s coached side upset their trans-Tasman opponents as future Wallabies Josh Flook, Billy Pollard and Zane Nonggorr arrived on the scene.

Others like Joseph Suaalii and Tolu Koula did, too. Both took the path to the NRL.

Suaalii, 21, will return to the XV-person game in the coming days as Australian rugby’s most expensive player.

It’s a contract that has divided the Australian sporting landscape, with most accepting that Suaalii will succeed as a Wallaby but even more rolling their eyes at why Rugby Australia has forked out so much on one player when 15 juniors could be signed on $100,000 deals for the same amount each year for at least the next three seasons.

So how is Rugby Australia faring in capturing Australia’s current schoolboy stars?

On the whole, well.

But given 14 out of the 26 in the current squad are under 17, the path they all take won’t be known for some time.

At present, three players are at the most risk of joining NRL clubs.

Fullback Rex Bassingthwaighte is expected to join the Sydney Roosters long-term, No.8 Heinz Lemoto is considered more likely to stay at the Penrith Panthers, and fellow back-rower TJ Lalaileva is also favoured to remain at the Newcastle Knights after school.

Australian Under-18s star No.8 Heinz Lemoto is a Penrith Panthers junior. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)

But they are the exception, not the norm.

The majority of players are however already embedded into the four remaining Super Rugby academies across the country.

It’s a factor Whitaker believes will pay dividends in the years to come.

“I reckon what we’ve done over the last five years is we’ve now got some legitimate quality competition structures,” he said.

“That’s from under 14s right through to 19s into 20s that exposes the talent, obviously to higher levels of footy, but also into sort of those professional environments around Super Rugby.

“You can see now what that 16s in particular is doing. So that’s a valuable addition.

“I reckon we are definitely formally engaging players and their families earlier.

“Part of that is obviously you need the resources to do it, both financial and human. It doesn’t sit well with most sports where you have to basically have them make a choice at 14, 15, 16. But that’s the world we live in. So that’s definitely shifted and changed.

“Someone like Kingley [Uys], who is a front-rower, was contracted before he’s 16 because he’s seen as a talent and we want to foster that.

“And the third one I reckon is we continue to invest strongly in how we best develop this young talent. That includes working with schools and clubs from 14-15 years of age because they’re obviously a really important part of the system.

“If you look at the work that say Paul Carozza in Queensland, Andrew Cleverley [NSW], Dan Hooper down in Canberra, and now Damian Steele at the Force, that’s a real key part of their role. We’ve got to make sure that all these players that we bring into the system that we develop them to the highest quality. That’s the expectation.”

Kingsley Uys is one of Australian rugby’s most exciting young prospects. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)

Accused in the past of not doing enough to ensure the likes of Angus Crichton, Cameron Murray, Kayln Ponga, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Suia Wong and, indeed, Suaalii come or, at least, strongly consider rugby union, Whitaker insisted that it wasn’t as simple as saying the cream of talent picks one code over another.

“Most of those guys they keep advertising in articles and stuff were actually pretty much league kids,” Whitaker said.

“They grew up playing it, parents involved in it, got access to maybe playing some rugby through club or school. Most of them love playing rugby, and why wouldn’t you? A different game, different attributes get to use your skills. But it’s very hard to move away from something that you’ve known all your life.

“There are some that obviously do both all the way through and they may be a bit more torn.

“I’ve got no doubt that we understand that we need to engage earlier because if you look at all those players, and I’ve been here a long time, those players are engaged by the league clubs very, very young. They’ve got some rules in place now, but they’ve got a lot of resource, their net is very wide, and that’s the way they’ve operated and, to their credit, probably successfully over many years.

“But we’re looking for less numbers, but just as high quality. You can see in some of those names there, some of those performances during the week, we’ve got talent.”

One of those emerging stars is second-rower Will Ross, who is currently with the Reds and is likely to be locked up long-term.

“This is where you can tell stories if you want and we can too. That performance of that 17-year-old in both those games last week was as good as I’ve seen from a 17-year-old lock,” Whitaker said.

“They don’t grow on trees, mate.

“Like we’re looking for stuff that the other codes aren’t looking for, right? And they’re rare. Look, he’s 17, so he’s a long, long way to go, but excellent signs.”

Sam Blank celebrates Australia’s U18s win over New Zealand Schools at FMG Stadium Waikato on October 06, 2024 in Hamilton. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)

He’s by no means alone either, with Uys blowing the minds of many after his destructive performance up front.

Others like injured pair Toby Brial and Leo Jaques didn’t take the field last weekend but have observers licking their lips about their long-term prospect.

Here is the current status of the Australian Schoolboys team:

Kingsley Uys – Reds Academy

John Grenfell – Reds Academy

Edwin Langi – Waratahs Academy

William Ross – Reds Academy

Isaac Fonua – Tahs Academy

Eli Lagni – TBC

Tom Robinson – Reds Academy

Heinz Lemoto – TBC; favoured to head to Penrith in rugby league

Angus Grover – Tahs Academy

Jonty Fowler – TBC; expected to remain in Australian rugby but not necessarily at the Waratahs

Heamasi Makasini – Wests Tigers