It may not have been the ending everyone involved was hoping for, however there is no doubt a number of stars of the future were unearthed during the just-completed NYC season.
Record point-scorers, the leading try scorer, six players in the NYC Team of the Year, there was an abundance of talent in the Sharks 20’s squad in 2017.
And one of the most talented, the man to walk away with the Gavin Miller NYC Player of the Year award, was lock Billy Magoulias, a tireless worker and a more-than-worthy recipient of the award named after the legendary Sharks immortal.
Magoulias beat out a strong field of candidates, including Kyle Flanagan, now the record holder for the most points ever-recorded in an NYC season, Sione Katoa, the competition’s leading try scorer, as well as fellow team of the year selections Blayke Brailey, Briton Nikora and Jesse Ramien.
“I knew I was in the mix, but didn’t think I was going to get it. We had a few good players,” Magoulias said in something of an understatement.
In fact the Sharks had enough ‘good players’ as described by Magoulias to finish the home and away season seven-points clear of their nearest rivals.
From there the season somewhat self-destructed, with the young Sharks bundled out of the finals with two straight losses, but despite their inglorious exit from the competition, Magoulias found some positives in his teams’ season.
“You see blokes developing and to see blokes push on and get better is an achievement in itself,” Magoulias said. “We didn’t win the comp but a lot of blokes through the coaching of John Morris and Daniel Holdsworth got better and better and will get opportunities in the future.”
As for Magoulias, he will graduate into the Sharks NRL squad this summer and is ready for the challenges that await.
“I’m in the Sharks fulltime squad next year, looking forward to getting into the pre-season, working hard and hoping a few opportunities crop up,” he said.
In other NYC awards, Sione Katoa was named the Greg Pierce Player’s Player, while Aperramo Lualua received a Wellbeing and Education Excellence Award.
Shortly after accepting his award Magoulias spoke to Sharks TV.