One of my favourite events each and every NRL season is seeing young stars emerge.
Whether they be rookies who catch the attention of fans right away, like a Sam Walker or Reece Walsh, or a player who finally delivered on their promise, it never fails to bring a smile to fans' faces.
2022 looks like a season where a huge crop of talent see their stocks rise in a big way.
I'm going to look into my crystal ball and try to predict ten such players.
Players who will enjoy a Will Kennedy 2021-like season. Kennedy went from a handy fringe first grader to the star of the team over the course of this past year.
Players like Reece Walsh, Jayden Campbell and Sam Walker will be better at the end of 2022 than they are now, but their stocks are already sky high.
Much like past lists, this is purely for fun and not to be taken overly seriously. There will be misses on the below but if you asked me now; "Hey Dan, name 10 players you want to buy stock in now, to cash in end of season," these are those 10.
2. Blake Taaffe
Latrell Mitchell's moment of madness meant that we were treated to an earlier glimpse of what young Blake Taaffe has to offer.
My guess is that he will fill the number seven role next to Cody Walker with Mitchell returning to the fullback role.
Taaffe is a freakish talent. He had five try assists, six line-break assists and a try in his eight NRL games. Even more impressive is that three of those games came in the finals, including a decider.
At 22 he is at his physical peak. With a brilliant supporting cast, I expect brilliant things from the Bunnies' youngster in 2022.
