Testing times for top young hopeful

EARLY November 2019 saw the Ken Frost Northern Pride ISC Cup squad roll into preseason a little earlier than previous years.

After a tough 2019 season we needed to reset.

This included a changeover of players and bringing in some experienced players from fulltime systems as well as a group of young Far Northern footballers looking to step up.

Among this group is an 18year-old standing more than 190cm tall, weighing more than 95kg and still growing.

Heilum Luki has been in the North Queensland Cowboys system for a few years now and they would like to see him training and playing with men.

Heilum is strong, fast and athletic.

We could see he would handle the running, but how would he handle the gym and contact sessions with these experienced guys?

He walked into testing in Week 1 and kept pace with some of the fastest players in the North. He threw weights around like he owned them. He looked comfortable.

Week 2 came around and he had to wrestle some large humans repeatedly and he started to realise it is a little different to underage football.

He was seen at the back of the field losing any food and liquids he had consumed that day during a conditioning session. He was with the big boys now.

How he handles repeating this type of training each day, each week for the rest of the year will be a stepping stone for his career.

It’s up to him now.

HE WALKED INTO TESTING IN WEEK ONE AND KEPT PACE WITH SOME OF THE FASTEST PLAYERS IN THE NORTH. HE THREW WEIGHTS AROUND LIKE HE OWNED THEM. HE LOOKED COMFORTABLE. SCOTT CALLAGHAN