{"id":38551,"date":"2021-02-25T05:58:30","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T06:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=38551"},"modified":"2021-02-25T11:56:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T11:56:38","slug":"nrl-greats-massive-call-on-eels-youngster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=38551","title":{"rendered":"NRL great&#039;s massive call on Eels youngster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rugby league great Laurie Daley has tipped teen Parramatta Eels star Will Penisini to be just as good as Sydney Roosters young gun Joseph Suaalii.<\/p>\n<p>Seventeen-year-old Suaalii is arguably <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/rabbitohs-coach-wayne-bennett-rips-into-unhealthy-attention-on-joseph-suaalii\/d941f73b-29ee-46d2-a512-93d467b75612\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"the most hyped schoolboy prospect in NRL history\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the most hyped schoolboy prospect in NRL history<\/a>. He had previously been at the centre of a bitter battle between rugby union and league, with <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/joseph-suaalii-rejects-south-sydney-rabbitohs-for-rugby-australia\/ebb24484-416e-4a5b-8282-5cf9200b3b91\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"multiple NRL clubs and Rugby Australia jostling to secure the young star&#x27;s signature.\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">multiple NRL clubs and Rugby Australia jostling to secure the young star&#x27;s signature<\/a> before South Sydney released him to their arch-rival.<\/p>\n<p>It&#x27;s understood Suaalii, who will turn 18 in September, <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/roosters-seek-exemption-for-joseph-suaaliis-early-debut\/6e5d5757-f8bb-40bf-aee1-3a737563d70d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" title=\"could be available as early as round one for the Roosters\">could be available as early as round one for the Roosters<\/a>, with the club requesting for the NRL to allow the teen sensation to take to the field early despite being underage.<\/p>\n<p>But as fans await the arrival of Suaalii to first-grade football, the Eels will be looking to unleash a teen freak of their own, with Penisini understood to be knocking on the door of an NRL debut.<\/p>\n<p>The 18-year-old prodigy from The King&#x27;s School, who happens to be a good friend of Suaalii, last week scored a try in the Eels&#x27; practice match against St George Illawarra.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CLjA0wcJABL\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"embed-social embed-instagram\" data-show-caption=\"true\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CLjA0wcJABL\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Penisini lined up at centre last week, which could potentially be his permanent spot down the track, with the club looking to fill the spot left by <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/peter-sterling-says-devastating-michael-jennings-news-affected-eels\/5b6ef163-83b7-4bee-bfbf-0ea168915872\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Michael Jennings who is currently being stood down due to a positive doping test\">Michael Jennings, who was stood down last year due to a positive doping test<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Daley, a Canberra Raiders legend and former Dally M Medal winner, believes Penisini isn&#x27;t &quot;far off&quot; Suaalii and said he expected the Eels young gun to be at the same level by the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I think he was just as good as Suaalii,&quot; Daley said on The Big Sports Breakfast.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Obviously everyone rates Suaalii quite highly and he is something very special, but this kid is not far off him.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;But whether he is ready to go straight away or not &#8211; I don&#x27;t think he will be. But by the end of the season, he might be.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;But with (Michael) Oldfield, Tom Opacic, Penisini and Waqa Blake you would think they would be the centres they have to choose from.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>And it&#x27;s not just Daley who&#x27;s a big fan of Penisini, with Eels captain Clint Gutherson saying his young teammate has enormous potential.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"87d7018b-d74c-4859-85f8-deecc8b83de0\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/87d7018b-d74c-4859-85f8-deecc8b83de0\" alt=\"Clinton Gutherson of the Eels scores a try \" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"785\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;Will is a great kid, he wants to learn and he&#x27;s lucky he&#x27;s got some great players out there to help him,&quot; Gutherson told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/suaalii-not-the-only-king-s-school-sensation-chasing-nrl-debut-20210223-p5753h.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Sydney Morning Herald\">Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;He&#x27;s come from King&#x27;s, which is a good rugby school, but he chose to stay with us. He&#x27;s a big boy &#8211; he&#x27;s not small for 18 &#8211; and the sky is the limit for him. You never know when the right time is to debut a kid. I&#x27;m sure if his time comes this year he&#x27;ll take it with both hands.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/login.nine.com.au\/login?client_id=wwos&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwwos.nine.com.au&amp;newsletter=true\" title=\"clicking here!\"><em><strong>clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Rugby league great Laurie Daley has tipped teen Parramatta Eels star Will Penisini to be just as good as Sydney Roosters young gun Joseph Suaalii. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=38551\" title=\"NRL great&#039;s massive call on Eels youngster\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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\/38551"}],"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=38551"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38553,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38551\/revisions\/38553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}