Under-16 Kiwi earns a contract with Parramatta

His part in the recent under-16s Kiwis rugby league tour to Australia was cut short due to injury, but big prop Ryan Fish is not too upset - he'll be back across the Tasman before long to take up where he left off.

Fish took an elbow to the face in the opening match of the Kiwis' recent two-match tour against the Gold Coast development team, earning him more than 30 stitches and sidelining him for the second game.
"I saw it on screen when we watched the DVD of the game and it looked a lot worse than it was.
"My face and jersey were covered with blood but it was disappointing enough anyway," Fish said.

The Whangarei Boys' High School fifth former was gutted over the injury because it meant he could take no further part in the game.

But what made it worse for Fish was he thinks the injury was caused deliberately.

"I think that taking out our props was in their game plan and when we watched it later, we saw him come in with a flying elbow," he said.

The subsequent injury of fellow Kiwi prop Sepeti Afu added to the team's suspicions as they lost their go-forward in the second spell, fading slightly to lose the game 24-30.

Disappointment turned into frustration as the injury left Fish as a spectator for the team's final match against the Australian Aboriginal under-16 team. He had to watch as the team went down by four points.

At least Fish didn't have to worry about catching the eye of the scouts - he has already signed a holding contract with NRL club the Parramatta Eels.

The 15-year-old travelled to Australia last year to play in the national age group competition, taken over by former Northland development officer Damon Rudolph.

"I played in the under-18 grade, that's three or four grades up on where I normally play, and a few of the clubs noticed that I was playing well and were surprised at my age, I think."

The contract means Fish will probably head back to Sydney in July to play in the under-16, Harold Matthews competition. He will return to complete his school year before going back in December to enter the Parramatta development programme fulltime.

At 115kg and 1.9 metres tall, Fish is already the right size for an NRL prop, and he expects his fitness to improve immeasurably once he gets into training with Parramatta.

"Hopefully just getting into the environment is going to help ... you just live rugby league over there, it's awesome, you get to do whatever you want as a league player, you get free tickets to all of the games and the best coaching there is," he said.