Queensland coach Les Kiss says he isn’t worried about an avalanche of headlines and Wallabies chatter overwhelming his young winger Tim Ryan, and will encourage the 20-year-old to keep backing his instincts against the Waratahs on Friday in Sydney. When you’re talking about a kid who has scored nine tries in four starts, what other choice is there? Unknown to most outside of Brisbane club football at the start of the year, Ryan has emerged as the hottest rookie prospect in Australia in the last three months, via scintillating form for the Reds. The mayhem started with a memorable hat-trick in his starting debut against the Blues in round 10, and Ryan has not stopped scoring since.
He crossed twice against the Crusaders a week later, then once against the Rebels and after a tryless game off the bench against Fiji, bagged another hat-trick against the Force. Ryan is the first Reds player in the professional era to score two hat-tricks in a season, and the first to do it since Brendan Moon in 1978. The only thing matching Ryan’s try-scoring rate is his growing status as an old-fashioned cult hero.
Tim Ryan became just the second Reds player to score a hat-trick when he made his starting debut against the Blues. Credit: Getty Nicknamed the “Junkyard Dog” by teammates, the rangy winger from the Brothers club has amassed a growing army of supporters; many of whom are seen at Reds games decked out in Junkyard Dog T-shirts. Ryan’s form even has prompted speculation Joe Sc.
