{"id":370588,"date":"2024-02-25T18:33:20","date_gmt":"2024-02-25T19:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370588"},"modified":"2024-02-25T21:03:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-25T21:03:04","slug":"rookies-admission-as-race-to-replace-wighton-heats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370588","title":{"rendered":"Rookie's admission as race to replace Wighton heats up"},"content":{"rendered":"

R\ufeffaiders<\/a> rookie Ethan Strange showed every bit of his talent in the side's second trial on Sunday afternoon as he battles to replace Jack Wighton<\/a> in the halves.<\/p>\n

Strange is the man likely to wear the No.6 at the Raiders, having made his debut against Melbourne last year in round 24.<\/p>\n

The youngster announced himself in July last year \ufeffwhen he scored a hat-trick at centre for NSW in the under 19s State of Origin.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Cowboys star set for scans over knee injury<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Raiders rookie in strife for dangerous throw sin bin<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> \ufeff'I had tears': Matildas hero's admission over World Cup glory<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Strange put forward one of his best performances in a green jersey on Sunday against the Cowboys<\/a>, scoring a brilliant individual try on the 10-minute mark.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, the most impressive aspect of his match may have been his defence\ufeff, particularly a moment with 12 minutes left in the first half.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys attacked the line on the last tackle, with opposition half Tom Dearden getting his big second-rower Heilum Luki one-on-one with Strange.<\/p>\n

Despite the mismatch, Strange cut the 195cm, 103kg giant in half.<\/p>\n

"Small man on big man, and he's absolutely just cut him down," league great Corey Parker said on Fox League.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The half's performance no doubt would have impressed coach Ricky Stuart with Strange and Kaeo Weekes believed to be battling it out for the five-eighth jersey.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Wide World of Sports before trials began, Strange admitted he'd been given no guarantees around the position.<\/p>\n

"No definitely not, I've got to put my best foot forward, I've got to earn that jumper and I'm not up to it, I won't get it," he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the competition for spots, Strange said it's all been "healthy". \ufeff<\/p>\n

"It's good competition, we're pushing (each other), me and the boys competing," he said.<\/p>\n

"It's healthy competition as well, there's no malice in it, we're all friends, obviously we're trying to achieve the same things but we're all helping each other out along the way."<\/p>\n

Strange's debut last year was a baptism of fire for the young gun, coming up against a strong Melbourne side.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The result ended 48-2 in the Storm's favour with Strange playing the full game at centre.<\/p>\n

\ufeffDespite the disappointment of defeat, the 19-year-old still saw an opportunity out of it.<\/p>\n

"It was amazing, obviously not the dream game but that's alright I learned a lot from it and I'm sure I'll benefit from the experience," he said.<\/p>\n

"It was very fast, more fast than anything I've played, you have to nail all the little details otherwise you'll get found out. I might have got found out a little bit but I really enjoyed it."<\/p>\n

While Strange did impress in the trial match, he'll have to wait for the judiciary's report around his dangerous throw after he was sin binned in the second half<\/a>. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

R\ufeffaiders rookie Ethan Strange showed every bit of his talent in the side's second trial on Sunday afternoon as he battles to replace Jack Wighton […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":370593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370588"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=370588"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370597,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370588\/revisions\/370597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/370593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}