Bad luck for Adam Henry

Spare a thought today for former Vodafone Junior Warrior Adam Henry.

If all had gone according to plan, the Mount Albert Grammar School old boy would have been making his second consecutive appearance in a grand final at ANZ Stadium, turning out for the Newtown Jets in their New South Wales Cup grand final against Balmain Ryde Eastwood.

Instead a combination of end of season wrist surgery and a family illness meant he wouldn’t be lining up for the Jets today.

He was there on the wing for the Vodafone Junior Warriors on October 2 last year, scoring a try to help the side to a 31-30 extra-time victory over North Queensland, so clinching a second successive NYC premiership.

Ineligible for the NYC this year, the 20-year-old Henry signed with the Sydney Roosters and broke through to make his NRL debut this season. For most of the year, though, he has been plying his trade with the Roosters’ feeder club Newtown in the NSW Cup. Indeed, last weekend he scored two tries as the Jets upset Canterbury-Bankstown 34-6 to reach the grand final.

Three other former Vodafone Warriors players still feature in the Newtown squad, ex-Vodafone Junior Warriors Kurt Kara and Nafe Seluini as well as Saulala Houma, who was in the Vodafone Warriors’ NRL squad last year but spent the season playing for the Auckland Vulcans. Kara was the NYC clubman of the year in 2008 while Seluini was in the winning NYC side in 2010 before linking with Penrith, then joining the Roosters midway through this season.

Henry’s absence means only three players will be making repeat grand final appearances today after experiencing grand final day in one of the three grades last year.

They’re all playing for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL grand final – Krisnan Inu, Josh Reynolds and Jonathan Wright. Inu was in the centres for the Vodafone Warriors in their NRL grand final loss to Manly last year while Reynolds and Wright were in the Bulldogs’ NSW Cup premiership-winning team that faced the Auckland Vulcans.

Teams for today’s New South Wales Cup grand final are:

NEWTOWN

1 Alofa Alofa
2 Daniel Tupou
3 Peni Tagive
4 Francis Vaiotu
5 Justin Carney
6 Kurt Kara
7 Daniel Mortimer
8 Mose Masoe
9 Isaac Liu
10 Josh Ailaomai
11 Jack Bosden
12 Brad Barrett
13 Ahmad Ellaz
Interchange:
9 Nafe Seluini
14 Andrew Pearn
16 Anthony Cherrington
17 Saulala Houma

COACH: Greg Matterson

BALMAIN RYDE EASTWOOD

1 Sean Meaney
2 Jake Clarke
3 Josh Davis
4 Tim Simona
5 Gus Agia
6 Tom Humble
7 Nathan Waters
8 Junior Moors
9 Masada Iosefa
10 Ray Cashmere
11 Jarrod Farlow
12 David Harris
13 Rhys Curren
Interchange:
14 Ava Seumanufagai
15 Taqele Naiyaravaro
18 Pat Politoni
20 Dane Chisholm

COACH: Paul Fletcher