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YOU can often tell in the first couple of games of a young player's NRL career if he is going to be become a superstar.
When Brad Fittler first burst onto the scene at Penrith and Laurie Daley at Canberra you almost knew straight away they would play State of Origin and Test football.
From day one you could just see it in the way they carried themselves.
It was so obvious they were something special.
Another player has burst onto the scene in the last two weeks who reminds me of them.
Jack Bird, 20, has been absolutely stunning in two games at five-eighth for the Sharks.
Twice in two weeks he's clearly outpointed two of the NRL's most experienced five-eighths, James Maloney and Jarrod Mullen.
No wonder the Sharks have already begun talks to extend his contract beyond the end of next season amid speculation rival clubs are ready to pounce.
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At the same time there is an argument that to be throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at a rookie after a couple of games is fraught with danger.
Over the weekend I went back over the records to check on previous Dally M rookie-of-the-year award winners.
Let's just say they don't all finish up like Israel Folau, Jarryd Hayne, Daly Cherry-Evans or George Burgess, all previous winners.
Do you remember Tasesa Lavea? Probably not. He was the Kiwi five-eighth who won the Dally M rookie award in 2000.
He played 44 games for Storm, five for Northern Eagles before disappearing to provincial rugby union in New Zealand for the remainder of his career.
Others, like halfbacks Mark McLinden at the Raiders and Tim Smith at Parramatta, didn't live up to the early hype after being rookie of the year.
Tim Smith was a rookie who fell off the radar. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia
It's why the Cronulla Sharks and CEO Lyall Gorman are carefully planning their next move to guarantee Bird remains in a Sharks jersey long term, but at the same time not go overboard.
"The first priority is to keep his feet on the ground and focused for the long journey." Gorman said.
"We've seen young guys before come in and have the success Jack's had then lose their way. Clearly he's a special talent and off the park he's a very level-headed boy.
"He has tremendous belief and self-confidence but it's not an arrogance or aloofness that is going to get him into trouble.
"The increased media and attention from supporters can get in player's heads but we're really pleased at his progress."
The Sharks will hold further talks with his manager in the next few weeks.
"He's a talent and we want to keep him long term," Gorman said.
"He's one of the shining stars of the NRL and if we nurture him well to create a good career pathway, we can make it attractive to him to have a long-term future at the Sharks."
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Maloney's defence ruffling feathers at Roosters
JAMES Maloney is not just struggling to make the NSW State of Origin team.
He also has to convince Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson he deserves a new contract.
Maloney's poor defence has cost the Roosters dearly in recent weeks. He missed NINE tackles against the Cronulla Sharks and EIGHT against the Broncos.
Opposition teams are aiming their big men straight at him but it's not just the forwards who are hammering him.
On Friday night he missed the tackle on Broncos halfback Ben Hunt that cost the Roosters the game in a golden point thriller at Suncorp. Last year he missed 3.1 tackles per game. This year the average is up to five per game.
Mini no minor in popularity stakes
THE popularity of retired legend Anthony Minichiello continues to amaze the Roosters camp.
To get an idea of Mini's appeal you had to be at the Roosters' open training session in Brisbane on Thursday for their Queensland-based members before the Broncos game.
"He had the longest queue for autographs," said CEO Brian Canavan. "He was the last to leave the field.
"We've always known he was popular but this was amazing."
It's another reason why there is so much talk of the Roosters chasing a superstar of the calibre of Jarryd Hayne or Israel Folau.
On Hayne, Canavan says: "There's not a coach in the game who wouldn't be interested in Jarryd, or Israel Folau for that matter. The question is who can afford them? We don't even know if Jarryd will be available yet."
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