College set to storm in

By Marc McGowan
HALLAM Senior College is on the verge of producing the first Victorian NRL player for the Melbourne Storm.
That’s the view of the Storm’s high performance manager for development Kim Williams, who doubles as the school’s high performance rugby league coach.
Seven Hallam students competed for either Victoria or the Combined Affiliated States team at last week’s Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League Championships in Newcastle.
Prop Aaron Laasia and second-rower Jerome Henry were among 12 Victorians in the Combined Affiliated States squad that competed in Pool A of the tournament.
The astounding number of Victorians in the Combined Affiliated States side makes the state’s effort to win the Pool B competition even better and illustrates the increasing depth of talent.
Laasia, Henry and front-rower Luke Waiti also helped the Storm’s under-18 SG Ball Cup team reach the final of the national competition in May.
But 16-year-old Tala Titi, who won Victoria’s most valuable player award in Pool B, might be the best of the lot.
Williams is full of praise for the school’s sports academy program, which has involved the Storm for three years.
Hallam also runs specialist Australian Rules football, basketball and netball programs.
“Their kids are really dedicated to the sport and want to pursue a career in the sport – most as players, but there are other opportunities,” Williams said.
“We also run coaching and refereeing courses down there. We’re just trying to open up opportunities for them.
“They do Certificate II and III in sport and recreation and we’re involved in some of the units for that as well.
“It’s just a good opportunity to give kids a career path in what we believe is the greatest sport of all.”
Williams would love to see a Victorian-bred rugby league player compete for the Storm and believes it could happen within three years.
“It would be a massive thing for Victorian rugby league itself, but for the school to maybe produce that first player would be extremely prestigious,” he said.
“They’ve had some players from there who competed in the SG Ball Cup this year and some of those players are being looked at as potential under-20 Toyota Cup players and potentially NRL players for the Storm.”
Williams credits Hallam for much of the students’ success.
“They’ve really taken the program on and (director of coaching) Travis (McIntosh) has been great,” he said.
“They’ve focused this year on improving the quality of the facility and the resources they’ve got and have been very successful there.
“That’s just going to enable the program to keep improving and they’ve just got some great things for kids coming into the school.”