The son of legendary Melbourne Storm fullback Billy Slater will pick up a position in the club's pathway in 2027.
The Storm has offered Jake, 16 years old, a Harold Matthews position for the chance to progress through the Melbourne grades and reach NRL level, as per reports by nine.com.au.
Jake's old man will go down as one of the best Storm players of all time, and sits firmly at the top of the NRL's most influential players in rugby league history.
Arguably, Slater altered the way modern-day fullbacks play, implementing additional levels of ball playing and elite pass selection during his playing days in the 2000s and 2010s, proving to be highly prevalent in today's game.
Jake will join the Storm's growing list of native Victorian players through its pathways, and will join the Harold Matthews squad next season to push for a spot in the halves in the Under-17s competition.
Slater has already represented Victoria at the ASSRL National Championships this year.
“He's a local Melbourne lad obviously, and we have been watching him,” Melbourne's recruitment manager Paul Bunn told nine.com.au.
“We have made an offer for Jake in our Junior Academy.”
Slater played 319 NRL games in Storm colours, scoring a prolific 190 tries during his career, which is the highest in club history.
His impact was so strong he dominated selection above other fullback candidates in every representative side he played in, including 31 matches for the QLD Maroons and 30 Tests for Australia.
Slater's prime was so dominant he locked down the green and gold fullback jersey for long periods of time, forcing other incredible players to either play out of position or miss out on selection, including Brett Stewart, Anthony Minichello, Matt Bowen and Jarryd Hayne.
Jake still has plenty of hard work in front of him, but it will excite many Storm fans knowing legendary rugby league pedigree is set to progress through the club's ranks.
