Canberra Raiders recruitment guru Peter Mulholland is looking to make up for lost time.
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He's organising a lightning carnival for the under-21s - involving eight clubs, in two groups of four, across one weekend in late January - as a warm up for the Jersey Flegg Cup.
It could potentially involve Sydney clubs like the Roosters, Canterbury, Penrith and Parramatta.
The coronavirus pandemic's kiboshed the Jersey Flegg the past two seasons, hurting the development of the next generation of NRL stars.
But Mulholland's looking to get it back on track and had a phone hook up on Wednesday to start doing exactly that.
"Most of these kids have missed out on a whole year. It's been difficult," he said.
"The local football's saved us and a lot of other clubs have had no football for 18 months for their kids.
"I'd like to get something done so you've got the opportunity to get these kids some grinding football before [the season starts]."
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The Canberra Times revealed North Queensland prop Peter Hola was on the Raiders' radar on Tuesday and Mulholland's lured him to Canberra until at least the end of 2023 - with an option for '24 as well.
Hola was contracted to the Cowboys for next season, but the 22-year-old has been released from the final year of his contract.
He's played 12 NRL games since making his debut in 2019 and his former coach Paul Green said he was a skilful middle forward who had the potential to develop into an edge player.
Canberra have two spots left in their top 30 and they've been linked with Cronulla forward Billy Magoulias, but it's believed they're not interested.
Green said Hola would thrive playing under Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.
"Good young kid, big physical kid. He's a player with plenty of potential," Green said.
"He's a big middle forward. I thought he had the potential to develop into an edge backrower as he got older and got a bit fitter.
"He's got good skills, good offload, good footwork - good player."