The Canberra Raiders off-season is off to an exciting start, inking the signature of promising youngster James Schiller.
The 20-year-old is the nephew of Raiders great Brett Mullins. Just like his uncle, Schiller also plays fullback, centre and wing.
The Mole reported on Monday morning that he signed a two-year deal with the Raiders.
Schiller broke onto the scene with excellent form in the shortened NSW cup. He managed to play four games for the Dragons during the competition. This included scoring a try each of his final three performances.
After signing with the Raiders, Schiller will be hoping to have the same success as others in his family.
Brett managed over 200 games of first grade football and 126 tries while playing first grade football in Australia. This included premierships in 1994 for the Raiders and 2002 with the Sydney Roosters.
Bill Mullins (the father of Brett) was also an established footballer in his own right playing 190 games for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters. He was the clubs leading try-scorer by the time of retirement, with 104 tries over his career.
Brett Hetherington, the brother-in-law of Brett Mullins, was also a Raiders legend managing 142 games throughout his career (including 119 for Canberra).
Hetherington's son Jack is currently signed with the Canterbury Bulldogs, and has already played 40 games of first grade rugby.
Coming from such a strong pedigree, the Raiders will be excited about the future of their new signing. This adds to the growing list of changes at the club heading into next season. Dunamis Lui, Silvia Havili and Ryan James are three of the ten players that wont at the Raiders in 2022.
Schiller will use the offseason to train with the NRL squad, with the hope of pushing towards top-grade selection by the start of the season. While not an automatic starter, there will be opportunities for NRL experience in 2022 and beyond.
