HE played off the bench last year but in today’s match for the Western Rams, Benjamin John will be racking up the minutes as the starting hooker against the Greater Northern Tigers.
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The fleet-footed St Pat’s playmaker will be carrying big expectations for today’s Country Rugby League Tier 2 Country Championships match at Carrington Park.
He not only gets the bonus of playing alongside fellow Pat’s team-mate Garry Reilly but will play in front of a home crowd.
The pairing is expected to feature strongly in Western’s match as a dummy half and first receiver combination, no different to their club football.
John looks forward to his extra game time and another chance to show the best of CRL what he’s capable of.
“It was really good to get picked as a starting player. Last year I didn’t get that much footy for Western because I came off the bench. Hopefully I can get more time with the ball,” he said.
“I love playing rep games. When you’re playing a rep game you know that everyone else around you knows what they’re doing, so you don’t have to worry about that.
“We’ve got some good, big boys up the front and hopefully they can lay the foundation for the guys in the backs.
“Hopefully they can give me the quick play-the-ball and help me get the ball out quickly. We’ve got some big guys from Mudgee in there who will do a lot of work.”
John will be expected to link up with the Dragons’ Demitrius Ainnu and Jack Afamasaga to drive the ball forward.
Not only is the extra field time welcome for John, but so is the chance to play alongside players whose game he knows well.
“There’s a few boys there that I played with last year but there’s also a few new ones,” he said.
We’ve also got a new halves combination. Last year we had Dennis Moran and Jacob Neill, but this time it’s a young guy from Dubbo [Colby Pellow] and Garry. Garry’s great at organising the backs.”
“We had a training session at Orange and we’ll have one more warm-up run before the match.”
Northern Rivers and Riverina open the action at Carrington Park at 11am before Western’s kick-off at 2pm.