The members of the Newtown Jets SG Ball Cup and the Eastern Suburbs Junior League Harold Matthews Shield squads had their 2009 jerseys presented to them at the Sydney Football Stadium on Tuesday evening, 10 February.
Sydney Roosters NRL squad members Mitch Aubusson and Anthony Cherrington, as well as the former Roosters and Australian Test player Brian Fletcher, were on hand to present the jerseys to the young men who are embarking on their junior representative careers.
Both Mitch Aubusson and Anthony Cherrington have risen through the path of progression from the Roosters junior representative teams, then with the Newtown Jets, and then onwards and upwards into the Sydney Roosters NRL ranks.
Sydney Roosters CEO Steve Noyce, Newtown Jets President Barry Vining and Roosters Recruitment Manager Peter O'Sullivan were in attendance to meet with the players, along with team officials from the ESJL and Jets squads as well as a large number of proud fathers watching their sons accept their junior rep team jerseys.
The SG Ball and Harold Matthews squads had trained earlier in the evening in Moore Park with the Sydney Roosters Toyota Cup team members, with the training hit-out being followed by an excellent barbecue capably prepared by Roosters officials Brian Sinclair and Bobby Jones.
Veteran official Bobby Jones remarked that the lads had swarmed over the barbecue "like a plague of locusts" and that "if these young blokes can play as well as they can eat, they'll be undefeated in every grade!"
Both teams play the Bulldogs at The Crest Stadium, Bass Hill, in the opening round of the 2009 junior rep competitions this Saturday, 14 February 2009
Harold Matthews - ESJL v Bulldogs, kickoff at 4.00pm
SG Ball - Newtown Jets v Bulldogs, kickoff at 5.30pm.