A tall athletic fullback playing up an age group for the Steelers, Ollie burton is scoring tries for fun this season.
It’s been a fair ole start to the year for Illawarra’s Harold Matthews Cup side, led by talented 16-year old fullback Ollie Burton.
The Steelers are undefeated heading into round six of the annual under 17s representative competition and Burton has scored a try in every match so far this season.
“We’ve got a squad of 28 this year and 26 of those boys are local Illawarra juniors who have been playing with or against one another for most of their lives,” Steelers coach Jamie Szczerbanik told Big League.
“They spend so much time together whether that be at school, playing footy or during their time off and when the season kicked off, everything seemed to click.”
Burton is one of six young men playing up an age group for the Steelers in 2025 and has impressed in wins over Melbourne, Canberra, New Zealand and Western Suburbs so far this season.
“Ollie played New South Wales CHS last year as a 15-year-old and was a standout in that competition,” Szczerbanik explained.
“Despite being one of the younger players in our squad, he’s a leader and has been one of our best in the opening few games.
“He’s a Dapto junior and just a great kid who is a real student of the game. He constantly wants to learn and seems to get better every time he plays footy.”
A tall, athletic ball runner who isn’t afraid to find contact, Burton has also had success in junior AFL programs but seems to have found his home in rugby league, while finishing his schooling at Illawarra Sports High.
“Quite a few of the Steelers boys are with us at Illawarra Sports,” Szczerbanik explained.
“We’re very conscious of managing the training loads of our players during the rep season so when it comes to his school training, he’s probably spending more time in classroom-type sessions than he is on the training field.
“These kids get enough time on the field but we want them to develop holistically and prepare them properly for their footy and their life after footy. It’s an important balance.”
This weekend, the Steelers will host the Dragons at WIN Stadium in a grudge match against their St George Illawarra counterparts.
“It’s one of those fixtures where results and positions on the ladder really don’t come into it,” Szczerbanik said.
“They are always tight matches and both sides desperately want to win every time they face the other.
“St George had a good win over the Bulldogs last week and they’ve got a lot of talent within their squad that we’ll
need to keep a close eye on.
“But more importantly, it’s going to be a huge day for the club with all the junior, male St George and Illawarra sides facing off against one another.”
