Yass brothers Jarrad and Ryan Forlonge far exceeded their own expectations at last weekend's touch football National Youth Championships in Queensland.
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Jarrad, playing in his third championships with the NSW Development squad, came agonisingly close to a semi-final berth, after his team came third in their pool and lost the semi-final qualifier 5-3 to NSW CCC. Ryan on the other hand, playing in his first national competition, finished in 11th place out of 18 teams, with an ACT Pirates squad full of 16-year-olds.
It was a marked improvement for the NSW Development team, who in the last two years had finished 12th and 10th respectively and in Jarrad's own words "were more focussed on bonding than touch". This year, he explained there was a better balance, which was reflected in their results. Aside from the nailbiting loss to CCC, his side also drew with NSW CHS, who finished second overall.
Asked about his personal performance, and Jarrad said he felt a lot more relaxed over the four days of competition.
"Yeah I went well I think, I was much more confident this year because I had the experience under my belt but I was playing with a great bunch of guys and our overall performance made it that much more enjoyable," he told the Tribune.
It was a lot more daunting for Ryan, who trialled with the Pirates prior to the tournament and had not met any of his teammates.
"Meeting everyone was the best part," he said.
"I didn't think we'd do too well but it was good to come 11th and hopefully we can build as a team over the next couple of years."
The siblings didn't get to play each other and Ryan said that was fortunate for his older brother.
"Yeah we would've beaten them without a doubt," he laughed.
2013 champions NSWCHS, who Yass' Ben Wylie was a part of, were unable to defend their title going down 8-5 to Queensland Secondary Schools (QSS). In the girls, it was reversed with NSWCHS defeating QSS 4-3 in the final.
