PLAYING in a City versus Country match - it is something that Myles Martin has long dreamed of doing but when he realises that ambition this Saturday it will be different to how he'd envisaged.
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The former St Pat's junior star won't be in a New South Wales Country under 18s jumper, he'll be in the blue and yellow colours of City.
"It's a bit weird," he said.
"To play in that game, it's one of the achievements I wanted to do. It is weird it's not Country, but to get chosen for City, it's pretty special."
While Martin won five Group 10 Junior Rugby League premierships with St Pat's and played representative football for the region, his last game in the blue and white was in 2018.
Martin signed to play in the 2019 Harold Matthews Cup for Parramatta, then having impressed so much for the Eels, he was head-hunted by Newcastle to play SG Ball this season.
That's why Martin fell under the scope of NSW City selectors. The 193 centimetre, 110 kilogram lock gave them plenty to like.
He hit hard in defence, inspired Newcastle's attack with strong runs and line breaks and in February he scored four tries in the Knights' 42-6 win over South Sydney.
"That was definitely one of my better games this year, probably the best. I don't think a lock scores four tries that often," Martin laughed.
The Knights made it to the semi-final stage of the SG Ball competition where they fell 25-6 to eventual premiers Penrith.
Martin said the team was proud of its efforts and on a personal level, he felt he played some of the best football of his young career.
"We were definitely happy with how far we went, just one game off making the grand final. It was a pretty new team, a lot new players and to bond how good we did, it's was good to go as far as we did," Martin said.
"All the wins were good, especially the [round six] Bulldogs game. We were down by a couple of tries with less than 10 minutes to go, to fight back, to go as hard as we did to win that [22-20], that game was pretty unreal.
"I feel that I've set the standard pretty high, it was probably one of my better years of footy, so I reckon I've done alright. There were plenty of coaches and footy players to help me when I first got here."
Martin and his City Under 18 team-mates go into camp on Wednesday, the lock excited to work in the representative environment.
He is also excited that a figure he remembers from his time with St Pat's - Kurt Hancock - is coaching the Country Under 18s.
"Yeah I remember Hank [Hancock] it's pretty good he's coaching, he'll probably be pretty competitive about it," Martin said.
"I'm looking forward to it big time, I'm pretty excited."
After the City versus Country match, Martin is hoping to make the under 19 NSW Blues side. It will help prepare him for 2023 when he'll work with the Knights' NRL squad, something he's already had a taste of.
"Every couple days we'd go with the NRL coaches or boys and do stuff with them. I did a fair few things with all the NRL boys and I was with them when they played in Bathurst, so it was a good experience to go with them pre-game into the sheds," he said.
Saturday's match will be played at 4 Pines Park, Brookvale, on Saturday with kick-off at 12.10pm.
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