RUGBY LEAGUE
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HE spent his formative years wearing the blue and white of St Pat’s, but now Cody Bryant has progressed from the ranks of Group 10 to be part of the Newcastle Knights club.
A talented hooker, Bryant is poised for a breakthrough season with the NRL club.
He will play for the Knights in the Harold Matthews competition, a league which sees the best under 16s talent from both NRL clubs and strong metropolitan outfits pitted against each other.
Bryant has already had a taste of what the year will offer, having played a pre-season trial against Western Academy at Mudgee back in January. He scored a try in his team’s 24-8 win.
Being the starting number nine for the Knights Harold Matthews side is the next step for the former Saint, who was selected as part of a targeted rugby league program at Hunter Sports High School two years ago.
He has certainly come a long way since his first taste of football with St Pat’s in 2006.
After moving to Newcastle the he made a name for himself as a hooker, one of his biggest moments coming when he won the Newcastle Schoolboys Representative Player of the Year award last season.
His mother Kelly - a single parent - couldn’t be prouder of what he has achieved at his time with the Knights.
“He’s unbelievable. He’s a tough kid. To do what he’s done without his dad there is massive, having no male role model around him. He’s really looked up to his coaches and players around him,” she said.
“A lot of what he has achieved has had a lot to do with his belief in himself. He just exploded onto the scene last year.
“[But] He still talks about St Pat’s and loves telling everyone that that was his first club.”
Such has been Bryant’s influence on his team and his ability to control the game that he has already been touted for bigger junior representative honours.
“They’re already talking about State of Origin at this level and he wants to work even harder for that spot,” Bryant said.
“They have a great set up to foster juniors here. There’s so much talent around. They reckon Hunter region is the heartland of rugby league, so for him to stand out among such a large group of talent is amazing.
“It goes to show what happened when someone believes in themselves. He works so hard to make his family proud of him. He’s a really good kid and those who talk about him can’t speak any higher of him.”