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Perth - The Western Force have announced the addition of Perth-born hooker Harry Scoble to their senior squad for the 2017 season.
Scoble is the second Future Force Foundation member to sign
with the club in the past month, after Richard Hardwick also committed to the
club for next season.
The recently turned 22-year-old has had a meteoric rise this
year; heading into his third year in the Future Force program and playing for
UWA in the Pindan Premier Grade, before being thrusted into the Force squad,
scoring a try in his Super Rugby debut against the Waratahs in Round nine of
Super Rugby and adding a further seven caps to his name.
The former Australia U20 representative reflects on this
year as a dream come true, but says he still has a lot of work ahead of him.
“I’m just really happy to be elevated to the senior list and
to have the opportunity to train and play with these guys,” he said.
“It’s going to be a tough pre-season for us and there will
be plenty of competition for positions come Round One next year, but it’s a
challenge I’m really looking forward to.”
Scoble says the form that the Perth Spirit showed in this
years’ National Rugby Championship is definitely positive signs for the team
and provides confidence for the team heading into a long pre-season.
“In what was a really successful season for the [Perth]
Spirit, we really want to keep that rolling into pre-season and then into the
Super Rugby season next year,” he added.
With new head coach Dave Wessels at the helm, Scoble says he
is looking forward to working with him and believes he is the right man for the
job.
“Dave has been really excellent so far and we as a playing
group think he has the right strategies in place to take this team forward,” he
said.
Wessels says that Harry’s progression has been exciting to
watch and is thrilled to see him elevated to the senior squad.
“It’s a great wrap for our Future Force Program and also
club rugby within Western Australia,” he said.
“We’re starting to see the fruits of a lot of people’s hard
work with a number of players starting to come through. As you know Harry ended
up playing half the season for the Force this year, he was thrown in the deep
end, but he took the opportunity and really proved that he’s a Super Rugby
quality player. I think his game grew and he really grew as a person in that
time, so we’re very fortunate to have him for another year.”
With the likes Heath Tessmann, Pek Cowan and now Tatafu
Polota-Nau in the squad, Wessels said Scoble has a great opportunity to not
only learn from these players but also to challenge them.
“I think ‘Tess’ in particular demands pretty high standards of the guys and it’s a good lesson for a young hooker to play in behind someone like that," he added. ‘Rusty’ should come into this year fully expecting to be the starting hooker. What we want from every player in this squad is to put their best foot forward and want to be in the starting jersey, and I think competition like that is good for everybody.”
