Rookie to face down Folau
RUNAWAY Bay will call up a 19-year-old A Grade debutant to stand opposite his idol Israel Folau in the highest profile Rugby League Gold Coast match in memory.
The eyes of the nation will be on Saturday’s Southport Tigers-Runaway Bay clash at Owen Park, where teenager Carn Connell – called up from Runaway Bay’s under-20s team as the Seagulls’ fifth-choice fullback – will play the biggest 80 minutes of his life. While Folau stands to earn more than $20,000 for taking the field, Connell will take home his first ever rugby league pay cheque, less than $400. But his opponent’s big name and salary don’t intimidate him a bit.
“I don’t really look into that stuff,” Connell said.
“I’m just playing for the footy. I don’t care about money.” The Mackay-born product has scored six tries in five games for Runaway Bay’s under-20s in his comeback season from a major knee injury that derailed his final two years at Keebra Park in 2019 and 2020. The loss of starting fullback Jack Mackin to an ACL injury in round one, the injury to skipper Jimmy Poland that forced second-string Tevin Arona into the halves, and the call-ups of Joe Joshua (PNG Hunters) and Tyler Han (Tweed under-21s) have handed Connell the most remarkable debut he could have imagined.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.
“I think it will be a massive opportunity. Definitely a big step up vs. one of my idols. I’ll be nervous when I run out but more excited than anything. I’m ready, I’m confident.” Connell will play in front of the biggest audience of his life but coach Nick Gleeson said the youngster wouldn’t have been picked if he wasn’t mentally up to the task. “He’s slotted straight in, he knows our system and he knows what to do,” Gleeson said. “He’s a pretty cool kid. When I told him he’d be making his debut he wasn’t jumping out of his skin, he was pretty casual about it all.”