NELSON Bay Junior Rugby Club is proving a healthy breeding ground for the NSW Waratahs and Hunter Wildfires junior representative squads.

Six of the Gropers’ emerging female juniors Mayli Campbell, Zoe Smith, Annabelle Brown, Milly Cashen, Luca Stewart and Jayda Stanley have gained selection for the Junior Waratahs in 2025.

Campbell and Smith were named in the Under 14s squad with Brown, Cashen, Stewart and Stanley to feature in the Under 16s Waratahs outfit.

An impressive list of 27 young Gropers have also gained selection into the Wildfires’ representative rugby squads for the 2025 campaign.

Outstanding prospect and dual NSW Primary Schools forward Mason Kelman will line up in the Under 13 Boys squad along with Gropers’ club mates Logan Jarvis and Levi Slade.

Emerging juniors Axel Kelman, Baelin Scully, Kade Lawson and Ollie Hoffman were named in the Under 14 Boys squad with Amelia Lauti and Stella Lawson to line up for the Under 14 Girls.

Josh Perry, Lachlan Dunning, Zeke Hay and local Nelson Bay products Flynn Squires and Matthew Green (Singleton) gained selection in the Under 15 Boys squad with Abdul Kareem and Nuka Takarua chosen in the Under 16 Boys team.

Promising female juniors Annabelle Brown, Isabella Gamgee, Jada Stanley, Mayli Campbell and Zoe Smith are featured in a powerful Under 16 Girls squad.

Top prospects Bastiaan Osborne-Zorbas, Darcy Lawson, Jake Affleck and Nash Campbell, who starred for the Under 18 premiership-winning Gropers, will spearhead a strong Wildfires Under 18 Boys squad while the gifted Chiara Gamgee and Luca Stewart are trump cards for the Under 18 Girls outfit.

By Chris KARAS