Townsville's Tom Duffy thrilled to be learning from the best

This weekend, Duffy and his side will be in action again, taking on Western Clydesdales in their postponed Round 6 match, and he said he had been enjoying the way the club embraced everyone training together.

“(I have been) playing for the Under 21s for Colts in the Blackhawks, it’s going alright, I played the first two games and then went down with COVID so that put me out for two weeks and I am slowly getting back into it now and looking to put some consistent games together,” Duffy said.

“It’s good, all the (Hostplus) Cup and the (Auswide Bank) Mal (Meninga Cup) boys and even the 16s, we all run the same sort of shapes, so whether you are playing 21s or if you go up to Cup if you get lucky, we are all running the same shapes, same processes.

“It’s a really unified club and that’s the really good thing about it. We are all pretty tight and… we’re a bit like a family I guess, it’s a bit cliché, but it is pretty close up there.”

The Central Tigers junior said he first started playing rugby league “because my brother played and I just wanted to play like him and so started playing under 8s”.

He has been making a name for himself and was recently in Brisbane as part of the extended Queensland Under 19 squad.

“It’s been good, just seeing all the boys, lots of fresh faces,” Duffy said of the training camp.

“These first few days, it’s just getting to know everyone, lots of bonding which is really good and our first session was really high intensity, which was good, the boys are looking good.

“All these mentors here, we have ex-players coming to chat to us (so it is about) just being a big sponge and getting every you can out of the camp.”

Duffy, who is studying engineering at university, will continue to work hard on the field to press his claims for selection in final team for the upcoming representative fixture.

The date and venue for the Queensland Under 19 representative clash against New South Wales will be announced in coming weeks.