HE scored some crucial, pressure tries off the back of his quick thinking and vision while playing in the centres for St Pat's, but now Stuart Halsey is putting those skills to use in a different way.
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His ability to read play and be decisive is now seeing him rise through the ranks as a member of the Group 10 Referees Association.
Halsey is now in his third year of refereeing and is one of a growing group of juniors who are showing in interest in officiating.
It's an injection of enthusiastic juniors which Group 10 Referees Association president Nathan Blanchard has welcomed.
"It's very good that they've been able to get on board," he said.
"Our numbers were down last year obviously due to COVID but this year we are back up around 115 members and a lot of those are junior referees, in the seniors you are probably only looking at about 30.
"They're loving the learning, a few of these young guys just can't get enough, they absolutely enjoy it.
"So we've got young guys like Stu who are just coming along leaps and bounds. Stu has come into seniors this year, he's kicking butt basically. He actually did his first under 18s line the Sunday just gone, Hawks and Mudgee. Three send offs in the game, it opened his eyes up to a few things I'm sure, but he loved it."
In order to help develop new referees, the association has staged training sessions with a focus on juniors at both Bathurst and Orange.
It was the idea of association treasurer Rebecca Rogers, with the mantra to keep things simple. Despite the cold and wet weather, good numbers turned out to work on areas of officiating such as whistles, running the line as a touch judge and positioning.
It's hoped that these training sessions can see more juniors follow in the footsteps of Halsey and find themselves with appointments in senior games.
It will also help ensure there are enough officials to cover games in future seasons.
"Numbers around Bathurst aren't that bad, you are always looking for more referees because you can never have enough of them, but I think in the Bathurst area we are looking at between 30 and 40 junior referees," Blanchard said.
"Mudgee have done a good recruitment drive this year, they had 28 put through a new course only a month ago, and when we ran our course in Orange, we had a good turn out with all their guys."
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