Newsletter-”Pass It On” Edition 29 Friday 6th December 2013

In this issue: Bureta Faraimo signs with the Eels, Paul Ulberg signs with the Warriors, Congratulations to our Wellington nominees-NZRL awards, raffle winners, Warriors v Tigers at Westpac 2014 confirmed, AGM Thursday 3rd April

Bureta Faraimo signs with the Eels

BURETA Faraimo moved to Mackay from his birthplace in 2011 with a dream of playing in the NRL. Half a season with Mackay and two and a half seasons with the later, and Faraimo’s life has taken a dramatic turn in the right direction. Faraimo has signed a two-year deal with the , just weeks after he scored USA’s first Rugby League World Cup try, and just a couple of months after he helped the Cutters to its first Intrust Super Cup premiership. “I got a phone call from (Eels coach) one morning and he just (asked) me if I was keen, and I said yeah,” Faraimo said. “The opportunity was there, I grabbed it with two hands and it’ll just be moving forward from now on. “I’m just happy I can get a start somewhere, hopefully, and hopefully things will change down there as well.” He said he was still reeling from his World Cup experience. “It was awesome, actually, to represent USA and to experience the whole World Cup, playing in front of not just a couple of hundred but a couple of million around the world,” he said. “We went over there with the expectations to lose from everyone else, and we sort of took it upon ourselves to raise the bar for the people that didn’t expect us to do good and that’s what made our team stronger.” Cutters coach Kim Williams said he was proud to see the Cutters’ 2013 Players’ Player moving on. “It is one of our aims here to get players where they want to go,” he said. “I’m really proud of him. I think he had a great tournament over in the World Cup and I think he deserves that thoroughly.” In Wellington Bureta played for Porirua College, St George Dragons as a Junior & Wainuiomata Lions Premiers.

Credits-: Kris Dando Kapi-Mana News Wellington & Daily Mercury Australia

Visit us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wellington-Rugby-League/149807975039915 LIKE US ON FACEBOOK Well when push came to shove the Kangaroos kept shoving and unfortunately the Kiwis fell over. It was always going to be a big ask for the Kiwis to win against what is being lauded as the greatest ever Kangaroos team. Featuring some once in a generation players playing at their best the Australians were simply superb in the final. The biggest disappointment was where we thought the Kiwis could dominate in the forwards they didn’t fire a shot. Looking more closely at the difference between these two teams one thing that is glaringly obvious is the depth of talent the Australians have in the key positions in what is commonly referred to as “the spine” , , 5/8, halfback and . There are only really 3 Kiwi players that hold down regular starting spots for their NRL clubs across these positions. Luke at hooker, Johnson at half and Foran at 5/8. So we have just 1 player in each of those positions and no one at fullback. Locke and Hoffman are good fullbacks but neither currently would rate in the top 5 in the NRL and whilst Luke and Foran are definitely top 3 in their positions Johnson needs to be more Thanks for your support of the Melbourne consistent to be top 5 at halfback. Storm Jersey Raffle My point is if we lose any of those 3 where do we go? Where are the next halves, hookers and 5/8s. Congratulations to the winners Maybe a 2nd NRL team in New Zealand could help. This Monday night we head to for the NZRL Awards and Jim Jones- Signed Storm Jersey with a few Wellingtonian’s making the finalists we hope to bring home some silverware. Elan Tautuhi- Storm Polo Enjoy your weekend. Shirley Hay- Storm cap

DINGO Alex Smits- Storm cap Victor Shelford- Storm cap

Phil Roache- Storm cap Plate & Cup Finals Eddie Jansen- Storm cap

We have found our Paul Rauhihi Plate and Cup finalists. With Leon Downes- Storm cap Postgate Panthers narrowly beating Corinna Cowboys by 2 points to come up against Titahi Bay Titans in the Plate final Conan Burke- Storm cap which doubles as a show down between the Akavi’s, as Steve and Antz come up against each other as the coaches of each Troy Clark- Storm cap team.

The Windley Warriors edged out the inform Tairangi Tigers in the first semi – final to take on Brandon Bulldogs who beat Bishop Broncos in the second semi – final in next week’s 2013 Paul Rauhihi Cup Grand – Final. NOTICE

Both finals will be played at Brandon Intermediate on Wed 11th of December with the Plate Final kicking off at 4pm and ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING the Cup Final kicking off at 5pm.

PAUL RAUHIHI CUP-10th December-Brandon Intermediate THURSDAY 3rd APRIL 7pm 4.00pm Postgate V Titahi Bay -Plate Final PELORUS TRUST SPORTS HOUSE 5.00pm Windley V Brandon - Cup Final Congratulations to all of our Wellington Nominees at the NZRL

On Monday evening the NZRL awards will take place in Auckland. We wish all of our Wellington nominees the best of luck in their categories.

* Kenny O’Brien (Volunteer Of The Year)

* Brenda Collins (Women’s Player Of The Year)

* Paul Ulberg (18’s Player Of The Year)

* Jon Masaga & Saimon Lomaloma (Residents Premier Player Of The Year)

Paul Ulberg signs with the Warriors

Another Wellington Rugby League player signs with an NRL club. Paul Ulberg signs 3 year deal with the Vodafone Warriors. Ulberg who was named 2013 College Sport Wellington Rugby League Player of the Year played 2 matches for the NZRL U18s against the Australian Schoolboys where he played in the centres against the Australian captain. Paul had a stellar season for the Porirua Vikings premiers in his first year out of juniors and was rewarded with a spot on the wing for the WRL Orcas premiers in the NZRL Pirtek National Championship. The accolades for Ulberg may still be coming in 2013 as he is a finalist for the NZRL U18 Player of the Year award which will be named on Monday night at the NZRL Awards. Ulberg is another of the success stories to come from the highly regarded WRL EPoD (Elite Players on Development) program funded by Wellington City Council’s Talent ID Fund. Paul was sponsored to the NZRL Performance Camp by Pirtek Wellington Ltd. A big thankyou to John Withers (Manager Pirtek Wellington)

Warriors return to Westpac in 2014 The will play the Wests Tigers at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium on March 30 in round four of the NRL next year. The game will kick off at 2pm on a Sunday. The Warriors have decided to return to Wellington following the success of the game against the Bulldogs in May this year. A bumper crowd of 30,112 watched the Bulldogs win 24-16. The Warriors open their 2014 campaign away to the Parramatta Eels on March 9. The announcement of the draw sees the biggest spread of NRL games around New Zealand yet. The Bulldogs will also play the Warriors in Hamilton on May 10, while three games will be played at .