Bathurst's Nathan Germech chases State of Origin glory with NSW Under 23s men's netball side

The Bathurst player, currently studying in Sydney, will be part of a best-of-nine series for the NSW 23s against their northern rivals, while the weekend's action will also feature the state's mixed and open men's teams.

Each of the three NSW teams will play in a best-of-three series against their Queensland counterpart in this weekend's State Of Origin, to be held at Sydney's Ken Rosewall Arena.

The State Of Origin test comes off the back of Germech's Australian Men's & Mixed Netball Association Championships campaign in April, where his performance earned him selection in the Australian Under 23s team.

It hasn't taken former Bathurst Goldminer Germech, 23, a long time to find his way towards the top echelons of the men's game.

"My dad's been around netball a lot, and my sisters have played, so I was always pretty keen but didn't really have the opportunity in Bathurst. When I got to university in Sydney I thought I'd give it a try," he said.

"I played for my university and met some people who told me I should trial for some of the more competitive teams, and from there I trialled for state teams, and now I'm here.

"I think netball's a lot harder than a lot of people give it credit for. It's competitive. It's physical. I love how team orientated it is and I like the fact that I'm able to enjoy the sport that's been enjoyed by the rest of my family."

This weekend's State of Origin campaign will be a great test for Germech's New South Wales side, who didn't field a side for the 23s battle at April's AMMNA Championships - which Queensland won.

He'll line up at goal attack for NSW, where he'll hope to be accurate and efficient around the hoop.

"We're against the Queensland team which won the 23s division at nationals, and New South Wales didn't put forward a 23s team, so I played in the Open A's division there. We've got a 23s side for State of Origin and it should be really good," Germech said.

"I've played with or against most of the guys in the NSW team. COVID shut down competitions over the past few years, but there's a group of five of us who have been a part of the 23s division for the past three years, but we've never had a chance to compete at nationals.

"We've had a couple of new guys coming through who I haven't had the chance to play with yet."

Germech will be hoping to make full use of his last season in the under 23s division before he takes the step up to open age netball from next year.

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