Latest news with #Howarth
The Advertiser
18 hours ago
- General
- The Advertiser
How Grant helped Howarth storm into Maroons plans
Melbourne centre Jack Howarth admits he had a lot to learn about being an NRL player at the Storm until club captain Harry Grant explained a few home truths to him. The 22-year-old is regarded by Queensland and Storm legend Cooper Cronk as a Maroons player of the near future but that only became abundantly clear last year in Howarth's breakout season on the way to the grand final. Howarth, a former Australian Schoolboys league gun and Brisbane Boys Colleges (BBC) rugby star, signed a five-year contract with the Storm in January, 2022. It took him until 2024 to get a regular gig with the Storm but now the former Queensland under 19s league rep has his sights set on a Maroons debut. "I lived with Harry Grant for a year and he would cut clips up for me and tell me what I was doing right and what I needed to do better to be in the team," Howarth told AAP. "Harry had explained to me a few things I had to change because what I thought was important is a lot different to what (Storm coach) Craig Bellamy thinks is important. "Craig is a very effort area type of person and I was always more concerned with how I went in attack. That is what I would base my game off, whereas he based a good game off defence and effort so I realised that and switched my mentality. "My dream is to play for Queensland. It is the pinnacle of rugby league, especially coming from Rockhampton and doing all my schooling in Brisbane. "Just being amongst all the Origins in Brisbane growing up was crazy. Hopefully I do get the opportunity." Howarth is a huge young man with ball skills, speed and genuine oomph. He has only just returned to the Storm side after missing six weeks with a shoulder dislocation. He will line up in the centres against North Queensland at AAMI Park on Friday night. Selection in this year's Origin series may appear a bridge too far but Howarth knows what Maroons coach Billy Slater, who helps out the Storm, wants from him. 'Billy does show me a few clips from games," Howarth said. "He is very similar to Craig. It is the effort areas that he wants me to do well in." Howarth starred in a 36-20 win by the Australian Schoolboys rugby league side over the Junior Kiwis while playing as a tall, rangy, wide-running back-rower. At the Storm he has found his niche at centre. "When I first came down I trained in the centres and I struggled defensively there because there was a lot of decision making, whereas back-row is more putting pressure on opponents," he said. "Craig said that the opportunity was in the centres so I had to knuckle down. I was lucky I got a whole (2024) pre-season in and he was happy with how I went, so he gave me a crack. "At the Storm, even though it is a competitive environment, people are willing to help. When Juzzy (Justin Olam) was here he was helping with my defence. Now it's Nick Meaney. "At the moment I have (club legend) Will Chambers who is coming into the club and he is working with me on the mental side as well with my defence and attack." Melbourne centre Jack Howarth admits he had a lot to learn about being an NRL player at the Storm until club captain Harry Grant explained a few home truths to him. The 22-year-old is regarded by Queensland and Storm legend Cooper Cronk as a Maroons player of the near future but that only became abundantly clear last year in Howarth's breakout season on the way to the grand final. Howarth, a former Australian Schoolboys league gun and Brisbane Boys Colleges (BBC) rugby star, signed a five-year contract with the Storm in January, 2022. It took him until 2024 to get a regular gig with the Storm but now the former Queensland under 19s league rep has his sights set on a Maroons debut. "I lived with Harry Grant for a year and he would cut clips up for me and tell me what I was doing right and what I needed to do better to be in the team," Howarth told AAP. "Harry had explained to me a few things I had to change because what I thought was important is a lot different to what (Storm coach) Craig Bellamy thinks is important. "Craig is a very effort area type of person and I was always more concerned with how I went in attack. That is what I would base my game off, whereas he based a good game off defence and effort so I realised that and switched my mentality. "My dream is to play for Queensland. It is the pinnacle of rugby league, especially coming from Rockhampton and doing all my schooling in Brisbane. "Just being amongst all the Origins in Brisbane growing up was crazy. Hopefully I do get the opportunity." Howarth is a huge young man with ball skills, speed and genuine oomph. He has only just returned to the Storm side after missing six weeks with a shoulder dislocation. He will line up in the centres against North Queensland at AAMI Park on Friday night. Selection in this year's Origin series may appear a bridge too far but Howarth knows what Maroons coach Billy Slater, who helps out the Storm, wants from him. 'Billy does show me a few clips from games," Howarth said. "He is very similar to Craig. It is the effort areas that he wants me to do well in." Howarth starred in a 36-20 win by the Australian Schoolboys rugby league side over the Junior Kiwis while playing as a tall, rangy, wide-running back-rower. At the Storm he has found his niche at centre. "When I first came down I trained in the centres and I struggled defensively there because there was a lot of decision making, whereas back-row is more putting pressure on opponents," he said. "Craig said that the opportunity was in the centres so I had to knuckle down. I was lucky I got a whole (2024) pre-season in and he was happy with how I went, so he gave me a crack. "At the Storm, even though it is a competitive environment, people are willing to help. When Juzzy (Justin Olam) was here he was helping with my defence. Now it's Nick Meaney. "At the moment I have (club legend) Will Chambers who is coming into the club and he is working with me on the mental side as well with my defence and attack." Melbourne centre Jack Howarth admits he had a lot to learn about being an NRL player at the Storm until club captain Harry Grant explained a few home truths to him. The 22-year-old is regarded by Queensland and Storm legend Cooper Cronk as a Maroons player of the near future but that only became abundantly clear last year in Howarth's breakout season on the way to the grand final. Howarth, a former Australian Schoolboys league gun and Brisbane Boys Colleges (BBC) rugby star, signed a five-year contract with the Storm in January, 2022. It took him until 2024 to get a regular gig with the Storm but now the former Queensland under 19s league rep has his sights set on a Maroons debut. "I lived with Harry Grant for a year and he would cut clips up for me and tell me what I was doing right and what I needed to do better to be in the team," Howarth told AAP. "Harry had explained to me a few things I had to change because what I thought was important is a lot different to what (Storm coach) Craig Bellamy thinks is important. "Craig is a very effort area type of person and I was always more concerned with how I went in attack. That is what I would base my game off, whereas he based a good game off defence and effort so I realised that and switched my mentality. "My dream is to play for Queensland. It is the pinnacle of rugby league, especially coming from Rockhampton and doing all my schooling in Brisbane. "Just being amongst all the Origins in Brisbane growing up was crazy. Hopefully I do get the opportunity." Howarth is a huge young man with ball skills, speed and genuine oomph. He has only just returned to the Storm side after missing six weeks with a shoulder dislocation. He will line up in the centres against North Queensland at AAMI Park on Friday night. Selection in this year's Origin series may appear a bridge too far but Howarth knows what Maroons coach Billy Slater, who helps out the Storm, wants from him. 'Billy does show me a few clips from games," Howarth said. "He is very similar to Craig. It is the effort areas that he wants me to do well in." Howarth starred in a 36-20 win by the Australian Schoolboys rugby league side over the Junior Kiwis while playing as a tall, rangy, wide-running back-rower. At the Storm he has found his niche at centre. "When I first came down I trained in the centres and I struggled defensively there because there was a lot of decision making, whereas back-row is more putting pressure on opponents," he said. "Craig said that the opportunity was in the centres so I had to knuckle down. I was lucky I got a whole (2024) pre-season in and he was happy with how I went, so he gave me a crack. "At the Storm, even though it is a competitive environment, people are willing to help. When Juzzy (Justin Olam) was here he was helping with my defence. Now it's Nick Meaney. "At the moment I have (club legend) Will Chambers who is coming into the club and he is working with me on the mental side as well with my defence and attack."
Perth Now
21 hours ago
- General
- Perth Now
How Grant helped Howarth storm into Maroons plans
Melbourne centre Jack Howarth admits he had a lot to learn about being an NRL player at the Storm until club captain Harry Grant explained a few home truths to him. The 22-year-old is regarded by Queensland and Storm legend Cooper Cronk as a Maroons player of the near future but that only became abundantly clear last year in Howarth's breakout season on the way to the grand final. Howarth, a former Australian Schoolboys league gun and Brisbane Boys Colleges (BBC) rugby star, signed a five-year contract with the Storm in January, 2022. It took him until 2024 to get a regular gig with the Storm but now the former Queensland under 19s league rep has his sights set on a Maroons debut. "I lived with Harry Grant for a year and he would cut clips up for me and tell me what I was doing right and what I needed to do better to be in the team," Howarth told AAP. "Harry had explained to me a few things I had to change because what I thought was important is a lot different to what (Storm coach) Craig Bellamy thinks is important. "Craig is a very effort area type of person and I was always more concerned with how I went in attack. That is what I would base my game off, whereas he based a good game off defence and effort so I realised that and switched my mentality. "My dream is to play for Queensland. It is the pinnacle of rugby league, especially coming from Rockhampton and doing all my schooling in Brisbane. "Just being amongst all the Origins in Brisbane growing up was crazy. Hopefully I do get the opportunity." Howarth is a huge young man with ball skills, speed and genuine oomph. He has only just returned to the Storm side after missing six weeks with a shoulder dislocation. He will line up in the centres against North Queensland at AAMI Park on Friday night. Selection in this year's Origin series may appear a bridge too far but Howarth knows what Maroons coach Billy Slater, who helps out the Storm, wants from him. 'Billy does show me a few clips from games," Howarth said. "He is very similar to Craig. It is the effort areas that he wants me to do well in." Howarth starred in a 36-20 win by the Australian Schoolboys rugby league side over the Junior Kiwis while playing as a tall, rangy, wide-running back-rower. At the Storm he has found his niche at centre. "When I first came down I trained in the centres and I struggled defensively there because there was a lot of decision making, whereas back-row is more putting pressure on opponents," he said. "Craig said that the opportunity was in the centres so I had to knuckle down. I was lucky I got a whole (2024) pre-season in and he was happy with how I went, so he gave me a crack. "At the Storm, even though it is a competitive environment, people are willing to help. When Juzzy (Justin Olam) was here he was helping with my defence. Now it's Nick Meaney. "At the moment I have (club legend) Will Chambers who is coming into the club and he is working with me on the mental side as well with my defence and attack."
West Australian
21 hours ago
- General
- West Australian
How Grant helped Howarth storm into Maroons plans
Melbourne centre Jack Howarth admits he had a lot to learn about being an NRL player at the Storm until club captain Harry Grant explained a few home truths to him. The 22-year-old is regarded by Queensland and Storm legend Cooper Cronk as a Maroons player of the near future but that only became abundantly clear last year in Howarth's breakout season on the way to the grand final. Howarth, a former Australian Schoolboys league gun and Brisbane Boys Colleges (BBC) rugby star, signed a five-year contract with the Storm in January, 2022. It took him until 2024 to get a regular gig with the Storm but now the former Queensland under 19s league rep has his sights set on a Maroons debut. "I lived with Harry Grant for a year and he would cut clips up for me and tell me what I was doing right and what I needed to do better to be in the team," Howarth told AAP. "Harry had explained to me a few things I had to change because what I thought was important is a lot different to what (Storm coach) Craig Bellamy thinks is important. "Craig is a very effort area type of person and I was always more concerned with how I went in attack. That is what I would base my game off, whereas he based a good game off defence and effort so I realised that and switched my mentality. "My dream is to play for Queensland. It is the pinnacle of rugby league, especially coming from Rockhampton and doing all my schooling in Brisbane. "Just being amongst all the Origins in Brisbane growing up was crazy. Hopefully I do get the opportunity." Howarth is a huge young man with ball skills, speed and genuine oomph. He has only just returned to the Storm side after missing six weeks with a shoulder dislocation. He will line up in the centres against North Queensland at AAMI Park on Friday night. Selection in this year's Origin series may appear a bridge too far but Howarth knows what Maroons coach Billy Slater, who helps out the Storm, wants from him. 'Billy does show me a few clips from games," Howarth said. "He is very similar to Craig. It is the effort areas that he wants me to do well in." Howarth starred in a 36-20 win by the Australian Schoolboys rugby league side over the Junior Kiwis while playing as a tall, rangy, wide-running back-rower. At the Storm he has found his niche at centre. "When I first came down I trained in the centres and I struggled defensively there because there was a lot of decision making, whereas back-row is more putting pressure on opponents," he said. "Craig said that the opportunity was in the centres so I had to knuckle down. I was lucky I got a whole (2024) pre-season in and he was happy with how I went, so he gave me a crack. "At the Storm, even though it is a competitive environment, people are willing to help. When Juzzy (Justin Olam) was here he was helping with my defence. Now it's Nick Meaney. "At the moment I have (club legend) Will Chambers who is coming into the club and he is working with me on the mental side as well with my defence and attack."
Otago Daily Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Matariki extravaganza a no go
Matariki will be a lot quieter in Kaiapoi this year, with a popular festival and colourful interactive Light Path cancelled due to funding shortfalls. Karl Howarth, the co-owner of BlueSky Events, which organised the event, says it is sad news. This year Matariki falls on Friday, June 20. ''The cost to run these events is over $60,000, and as Matariki is a free community event the funding comes from grants, sponsorship, vendor fees, and by running a ticketed Lightpath event.'' He said he was trying to pull something out of the fire right up until the last minute, but nothing would work logistically. ''Everybody tried their hardest. We were talking to sponsors and they were all keen to come on board again, but we would have had to find extra sponsors which I already know is very tricky. ''The key thing for us this year was the grant funding bodies. ''We applied to a number of them, but we were only approved by a couple so we have a shortfall of around $10,000 in terms of where I would be comfortable in running the event.'' He says that is still way short of actually covering any of the costs of the event as the sponsorships and grants only cover about a third of the costs. ''The rest of it is made up with market vendor fees, and running last year's Lightpath attraction. ''The Lightpath was how we managed to get the revenue to fund the costs of the Matariki festival, but it's a commercial ticketed event and we don't know how many tickets we will sell until the week of the event. ''It's nearly a $30,000 risk hoping we will sell enough tickets from that event to cover the costs of the Matariki community festival, which we don't charge people for.'' Howarth said this year his risk levels are a little bit lower because he has to cover this himself, because BlueSky Events is not a council funded entity. ''My cafe is my only backup along with the contract work we undertake. ''It's just too great this year.'' If he had been successful with a couple more grant applications, he says he probably would have taken the risk. ''We took a big risk with it last year and we know what we could have expected from the Lightpath, but with a couple of funding bodies not approving our requests we just can't take the risk.'' He says a number of community events have struggled this year because of a lack of funding and this is no different. ''We knew that last year and this year things are a lot tighter.'' The funding bodies all say the same thing - they have more applications than they have money for. ''We have a wonderful relationship with the Waimakariri District Council, they offered us funding and we have several grants from them, but we needed more and a couple of grants didn't come through this year, which in previous years have funded Matariki.'' ''This year it put more onus on the Lightpath to fund that and I wasn't prepared to take the risk.'' Howarth says he is already planning for next year's event. ''We know the event works well, we know people love it, and we know the rural community is bouncing back a little this year and that will hopefully flow through to the general economy and then our normal sponsors will come back on board and the grant bodies won't be so overwhelmed with applications.''
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Demand for Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, A'ja Wilson, Paige Bueckers WNBA cards continues to grow
The WNBA season is underway, and fans and card collectors are excited for what's to come. With the likes of Caitlin Clark, A'Ja Wilson and newcomer Paige Bueckers, collectors are waiting for the first cards of the season to drop. The good news is with Panini Instant, fans can grab cards of big moments as they happen. Panini's on-demand offering features highlights and big moments from throughout the season, which started with the WNBA Draft. Panini America saw big success with Instant last season, Clark's first year in the league. Not only was it a popular card release, but a Draft Night Clark 1-of-1 autographed parallel sold for $84,000 in September. The Panini Instant cards are important for WNBA — maybe even more so than in other sports. In women's basketball, the players go from college into the WNBA without much of a break in between. This doesn't give Panini a lot of time to get new products on the shelves because of the time needed to create a new card release. 'Panini Instant was so important because for us, it gave us the ability to get consumers into collecting 'W' products and getting excited for the W product,' said Jason Howarth, Panini's senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations. 'When we finally released that first product in August last year, people were ready to go for it.' Top of their class ☝️2025 #PaniniInstant WNBA Draft Night Trading Cards, including Autographs and Numbered Parallels, will be available for a limited time beginning tomorrow, Thursday April 17 at 2pm CT here: — Panini America (@PaniniAmerica) April 17, 2025 This season, collectors won't have to wait as long for the first WNBA card product. There are five WNBA sets scheduled for this season — an all-time high for the league. The newest entry will be Donruss WNBA, which is scheduled for July. Donruss has made a name for itself in the modern collecting space, especially in football, where the popular Downtown inserts can be found. Downtown inserts will soon feature WNBA stars with this summer's release. 'Donruss will be awesome from a Downtown point of view,' Howarth said. Panini has built WNBA collecting since it took over the card license in 2019. Before that, there may have been one product a year and it often came as a complete factory set with a chance of autographs. That product made about $50,000 in sales a year, according to Howarth. Panini has revamped the WNBA card collecting space by making more traditional pack products, giving collectors a chase with parallels, rare inserts and autographs. As the WNBA has grown in popularity, so has the demand for cards, especially over the last year with Clark becoming the face of the league. 'I think you think there was a point in time where WNBA Prizm costs more on the secondary market than NBA Prizm,' Howarth said. 'I think that probably tells you the story about demand more than anything else. I think it always had a place in the category, but I think you saw a lot more migration and transition from other collectors of other core sports into the 'W,' and it is now viewed in that group of core sports. You've got the NFL, NBA, MLB, and now you've got the WNBA.' This year's offerings will look different again. There are five WNBA products scheduled, up from three last season, which was also up from two the year before. WNBA stars shine brightest in #PaniniPrizm WNBA White Sparkle ⚪ ✨ Available Monday April 7 at 11am CT here: — Panini America (@PaniniAmerica) April 7, 2025 Last year saw the release of Panini Prizm (and the Monopoly version), Origins and Select. Previously, Panini also put out Revolutions. The release calendar is always a work in progress as the brand team finds the right pieces for the season. One thing they knew they needed for Clark's rookie season was Prizm to make its way to the WNBA. Prizm has become a staple for Panini and one of the most highly sought-after rookie cards. 'To have the class that we had last year and not have Prizm would have been a complete miss for us and collectors,' Howarth said. 'It would be one of those things that you look back on and wonder why Caitlin [Clark] doesn't have a rookie Prizm card or Angel [Reese] doesn't have a rookie Prizm card.' As the WNBA continues to grow, creating household names and superstars, the league continues to leave its mark. From the NCAA tournament, right into the WNBA Draft and then the start of the WNBA season. While big names like Clark and Reese created a buzz last season, there is no slowing down. 'This class is equally as exciting,' Howarth said. 'We've seen that both from a collectible point of view just off of the Draft Night cards that we released here a few weeks ago. Lots of excitement around the product and lots of excitement and anticipation for more 'W' products.'
