By Mark Cashman

If you trawl through some of the darker depths of the rugby league chat forums the name Sam Allsopp has cropped up in recent weeks.

West Tigers fans and a few a bit further east at the Roosters say they would love to see the Shute Shield rookie of the year on their roster by the time 2025 NRL season rolls around.

Allsopp is an impressive physical specimen with low skin folds, great balls skills and good tackle technique - first impressions yell NRL athlete.

Whether that happens at some stage remains to be seen, but the former Riverview first XV star is now a stock on the rise in rugby.

Allsopp it must be said is far from the rangy backrower that many like at the moment with the increasingly significant role that the lineout plays in the modern game, but his coach at Sydney Uni Todd Louden wouldn’t swap him.

“The thing that Sam brings is the impact that he has when he is near the action,” Louden says.