Like a Tiger: Satterthwaite's best is yet to come in the Holden Cup

ORANGE CYMS product Tom Satterthwaite is the first to admit his 2015 season hasn’t gone exactly to plan.

After undergoing shoulder surgery throughout the off-season, the Wests Tigers Holden Cup gun made his return from injury against the Raiders in round seven before again succumbing to injury, this time his knee, forcing him to sit through another torturous seven-week stint on the sidelines.

Now, Satterthwaite is back.

And Tigers Holden Cup coach Brett Kimmorley couldn’t be happier.

Returning on the flank and scoring the winning try in a massive 10-6 upset of the ladder-leading Penrith Panthers in round 16, Satterthwaite and the Tigers are now in the Holden Cup top eight and, with five rounds to go, seem destined to again qualify for the under-20 premiership semi-finals.

And, as the Tigers continue to improve, after a somewhat shaky start to 2015, so too does Satterthwaite.

“I do think we haven’t seen the best of Tom yet, and the more footy he players the more likely we are of seeing him continue to improve,” Kimmorley said.

“He’s got the chance to do that now at the end of the year; eight, nine, 10 games in a row, which will be good for him.”

Kimmorley should know. 

The veteran pivot played for a throng of NRL clubs, NSW and Australia, and said the work the 20-year-old was getting through on the wing was up there with the best in the Holden Cup - Satterthwaite averaging over 100 metres per game with the ball.

“He’s a great athlete. He jumps well, catches really well and he’s been a consistent performer for us since coming back,” Kimmorley said, Satterthwaite’s measurements reading 93kg and 186cm on the Tigers website.

“He’s coachable, which you don’t see from some guys.

“He’s willing to learn, he asks questions and he handles criticisms well.

“[The size of the outside backs] hasn’t worried him at all. He’s got great leg speed and I think last week he was third or fourth for us in running metres.”

The Tigers tackle the Raiders at Canberra Stadium this weekend, and Kimmorley said the match would hold massive semi-final consequences for his outfit, with the Green Machine fifth and one of the form teams of the under 20s.

Kimmorley, though, is confident.

“I’ve got no drama with the way we’re playing. We just need to work on not shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said.

“If we can do that then we’ll be there or thereabouts. We’ve been really consistent, which you can’t say about a lot of NYC teams.

“If we keep winning we’ll be there, it’s that simple for us.”

TOM Satterthwaite isn’t the only Orange CYMS young gun making waves in the Holden Cup in 2015.

After beginning his junior representative commitments with the Sydney Roosters, prop Harrison Muller has been a mainstay in Cronulla’s pack throughout the 2015 under-20 competition, starting 15 games for the 13th-placed Sharks.

Scoring one try and running for a whopping 1967 metres this season - an impressive average of 131 per game - Muller has progressed from a destructive edge forward in the Group 10 junior system to one of the most consistent props in the national youth competition.

Despite the tradesman-like stats, Muller’s efforts appear unlikely to be able to lift the Sharks into the competition’s top eight.

They play the top-four bound Cowboys at Remondis Stadium this weekend.

And, barring injury, Muller will tackle Satterthwaite at Cronulla’s home ground in round 24.