The gun halfback has taken the reins of the Western Rams' Laurie Daley Cup outfit and, with two commanding wins in as many weeks to open the under 18s country championship, the move is paying off.

The 17-year-old Wellington product was a key member of last year's championship-winning Western under 16s side but largely shared the play-making role with then NSW under 16s halfback Noah Griffiths.

And although this year's halves partner, Orange Hawks star Ryan Manning, is more than capable in the No.6 jumper Blackhall feels he's got the chance to make his mark on this year's  Daley Cup.

He's taking control.

"(Coach Kurt Hancock) just wants me to get my hands on the ball a bit more and take a leadership role," Blackhall said leading into Sunday's round three clash at Figtree against the Illawarra South Coast Dragons.

"I'll play a bit of both sides and link in with the other half but I'll roam around a bit, as well … I'm just trying to take some control there."

So far, so good, too.

Blackhall was tremendous in Western's opening round win over Penrith at Lithgow before turning it on alongside rake Campbell Woolnough in an out-and-out demolition of Riverina at West Wyalong.

The talented pivot looks up to the likes of Johnathan Thurston and kiwi sensation Shaun Johnson, and he drew on JT's silky smooth hands to lay on four tries against the Bulls in a 44-10 victory and produced some footwork Johnson would be proud of to score one of his own in the season-opener versus Penrith.

Blackhall will be featuring prominently in country selectors' calculations for the tour of England in November and already has a link with Penrith for a trial in 2020 but, for now, the young half is solely focused on winning with Western.

"We've got a lot of good boys. We're in a good position, I hope so," he said when asked if Western can push for the title.

"At Penrith in the warm up we got pretty fired up and we were ready to go and against the Riverina it was the same attitude."

Attitude, it seems, is the key, particularly with the Western's defence.

"Kurt says just don't give up your inside. He's hard on our defence. We're a young side, a small side and he's big on us having urgency and attitude in our defence," Blackhall added.

Hancock is a no-stone-left-unturned type of coach and Blackhall believes that approach is working wonders so far this campaign.

The Rams have already completed video work on the Dragons ahead of Sunday's top-of-the-table clash and will train again on Saturday.

"Kurt'll ring us up a couple of times a week and talks to us about what we need to do, and he's not afraid to let us know when we've done something wrong, which is good," the Wellington High School student said.

Fullback Ash Cosgrove has been ruled out of the clash after aggravating a knee injury against the Bulls, Tyler Colley will slot into the No.1 jersey and Elijah Colliss returns on the bench.

The Rams' Johns Cup boys are unchanged after two straight wins to open their campaign as well. They play Illawarra South Coast Dragons on Sunday, too.

The Johns Cup clash kicks off at 10am, with the Daley Cup match to follow at 11.20am.