The Club would like to congratulate Alex Tong and Ryan Cunanan for reaching their 100 games played for the Club in May this season.
100 Games
Ryan “Rhyno” or “Rambo” Cunanan
Ryan started his rugby league journey in U6’s in 2012. All decked out in his new head gear, skins and footy boots, so excited to play.
He has been lucky enough to play with his favourite cousin Lachlan. But even luckier to have his uncle Rusty coaching. Having that familiar face and mentor has meant a lot to Ryan. He has grown so much as a player. His skills have improved since U6’s where he was helping in tackles and running the ball weaving in and out to get to the try line. To now, making tackles and finishing them all by himself. And running hard and straight with a look of determination on his face that must be intimidating.
Ryan is known for his hard hitting tackles. To him –“The bigger the better.” He is a very passionate player and loves all of his team mates.
Ryan is very proud to achieve 100 games, but prouder to call himself a Valley Dragon.
- What year did you start playing with the dragons? 2012
- What is your favourite Dragon’s memory? Bega carnival trip.
- Who is your favourite NRL team? Rabbitohs
- Who is your favourite player and why? Greg Inglis and Josh Jackson. Both hard runners and do great hits.
- What do you love most about being a valley dragon? Playing with my team mates.
Alex “Big Al”, ”Al”
Alex Tong reached his 100th game on Sunday 13 May having been in the club and the same team (now Under 12’s) since joining the Dragons Under 6’s in 2012.
At the time of joining the Under 6’s, Alex’s parents were contemplating his introduction into football as he was showing a bit of interest, particularly through his avid pursuit of kicking the footy around the backyard with dad and his big brother which quite often would extend to the ball ending up on the roof, in the neighbours yards if not in a tree! Al funnily enough has become quite good at tree climbing and scaling fences!
Al’s introduction to the Dragons and footy itself is a bit of a story. He was at his mates place (Lachie) who remains one of Alex’s mates and teammates when his dad asked him if he would be interested in playing for the team. That dad happened to be Rusty Cununan, the coach of the side as he remains looking after today. Having donned his red and whites for the very first time and taking to the field for Game 1 at a mini carnival at Gowrie, he caught the ball off the kick-off, powered straight up the middle and scored his first try. Many more were to follow.
Al loves his footy and is thriving in his current team where over the years, they have been a formidable crew bringing home the medals from carnivals and recently featuring in finals battles. The coaching and playing with the team has seen Al develop his skills with perhaps his notable style including a very effective palm (which sometimes earn the odd accidental penalty!), a general preference to run straight up the middle and a keenness to administer fairly effective tackles no matter the size or speed of the opposing player as well as to support his team mates throughout the game generally.
One day on a return road trip a few years ago, Al decided that it would be good to guess who would be picked in the NSW State of Origin side and in what positions. Not being satisfied with that, the next step was to go through the process of picking a Seconds side (even though there isn’t one!), demonstrating his love of the game including a deep knowledge of his heroes who play it.
Al’s greatest joy is playing and training with his team and dissecting the game afterwards (in some detail!!) and another passion is to sit down and watch if not commentate the “Big Dragons” NRL clashes. Al has big ambitions for footy and hopefully they come true in one way or another.
Some questions posed to Al and his responses:
Why do you like playing footy?
Because I’ve been brought up around footy. Good team sport and I like running straight. I love my teammates and the coach.
Why do you like playing in the Dragons team?
All players are nice and caring and I have the best coach ever!
What is one of your best memories so far?
Making the grand final last year even though we didn’t win it and bringing home lots of medals from carnivals is a great bunch of memories.
If not playing footy, what else do you love doing?
Fishing and going to the coast doing lots of fun things. I also really love doing the scooter thing too.
Who is the hardest person to tackle on your team at training and why?
Dom! Whenever I go low on him he puts all his weight on my back and I have to work out a way to sort him out.
Who is the coolest NRL player and why?
David Klemmer! He is solid and he runs it straight.
Why do you think NSW will win the State of Origin this year?
There is a better coach, better selection of players and I would like to see things change as they have only won once since I was born!