Red Bend students Mitch Burke, Billy Burns, Daniel Jeffries and Brad Gaut will have some great holiday tales to share with their mates when school resumes in a fortnight.
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The four college students have all been named in two NSW Country rugby league squads for a tour of New Zealand, starting this Saturday.
Apart from the opportunities the tour will present for their football careers, the travellers will also spend some time sightseeing in the ‘Shaky Isles’ including jet boating on one of New Zealand’s famous canyons and visiting the home ground of the NRL’s NZ Warriors.
Burke, Burns and Jeffries, who play for Forbes Magpies, Parkes and Cowra respectively, were named in the NSW Country 18s, while Gaut (Red Bend Blues) was selected in the Country 16s, who will also follow the same itinerary.
Western Rams 18s did not qualify for the recent NSW Country Championship finals, held at Mudgee’s Willow Complex last weekend, but did take consolation from the fact their only defeat was a two point loss to eventual champions Bidgee Bulls.
The two NSW Country teams will next week play matches against Auckland and the Otahuhu Leopards, where current or former NRL players such as Manu Vatuvei, Cooper Vuna and Sam Kasiano all spent time as juniors.
The Red Bend boys will learn more about the tour once they arrive in Sydney tomorrow for initiation, but are looking forward to the games and the trip more broadly.
“It’s a good opportunity,” said Burke, who has been named as starting five-eighth.
“You get to put yourself on show to the scouts. We also get to see some new scenery and see the world,” said Burns.
The Parkes second-row is the only one of the older trio to have played for NSW Country before, having been selected in the 16s squad that toured Queensland last year.
Occasional rivals in weekend league, Burke, Burns and Jeffries said they are pretty familiar with each other’s game, having played for Red Bend, Group 11, Western Rams and now NSW Country together.
“We usually play touch and school footy together anyway so we’re pretty familiar [with each other],” Burke said.
The Country 16s and 18s will assemble in Sydney tomorrow before boarding a 7am flight to Auckland on Saturday.
The tourists will arrive back in Sydney on Saturday, July 4.
