Marvelled it, more than likely.

And then anyone who's played against Cody Ramsey, well, they're probably still having nightmares about it.

Getting cold sweats in the middle of the night at the thought of it.

It, you ask? Yep, 'it' is Ramsey's right foot. More to the point, what it does to people.

"He's always had a step. He's turned people inside out with it," remembers Ramsey's under 16s coach Cam Jones.

"He's quick, and that's still the case. He's obviously a bit more muscly now, but he avoids everyone with his speed, and the step. It's lethal."

Ramsey's biggest step yet came on the weekend.

From Molong before spending time in Orange, with both CYMS and Hawks, then most recently out at Manildra as well, the slightly-built fullback has taken the rugby league world by storm after starring on the NRL Nines stage at Perth with the St George Illawarra Dragons.

He scored a hat-trick in the semi-final against the Panthers to propel the Dragons into the decider, albeit with a touch of controversy.

But what's rugby league without a whinge?

Ramsey's final try against Penrith, though, it's fair to say they got it wrong.

But the young Dragon's certainly not complaining, and although replays showed Ramsey's match-defining four-pointer shouldn't have been in fact a four-pointer at all, the aerobatic effort in the corner highlighted the athletic ability Ramsey boasts.

It's the match-defining moment that'll likely kick-off a career.

Ramsey was named in the NRL Nines team of the tournament - alongside some genuine superstars of the game in the form of Clint Gutherson, Jason Taumololo and Viliame Kikau - the young Dragons' stunning show across four games for the grand finalists one of the major talking points out of the revived pre-season competition.

The only thing that stopped him going on to be named player of the tournament had to be the fact the Cowboys trumped the Dragons in the decider.

North Queensland's slick half Scott Drinkwater taking that honour.

Still, it's likely the wiry outside back from Molong will make his brief appearance on the main stage count.

Celebrating his 20th birthday on Saturday, Ramsey is on a training contract with the Dragons and says he's hoping to impress head coach Paul McGregor for an NRL deal.

"The coaches just said: 'you play your own football, we've been watching you at training and you've been going good and they just told me to try hard and I've just been in the right position at the right time'," Ramsey said ahead of the tournament.

"I get a bit more space to run and a bit more freedom to use my pace."

Pace Jones remembers fondly.

"Cody's X-factor was always that he played like it was backyard footy," Jones said, the Nines format obviously playing into Ramsey's hands.

"He showed it a bit on the weekend."

As he did for the club in 2016, too, at Mudgee when he helped Jones' under 16s CYMS side take out the premiership at Glen Willow.

He played junior rep with Group 10 that season, too, and at Carrington Park, with his hair pouring out the bottom of that headgear - which has now been replaced by a Paul Sironen-like bandage around his melon - it's the step people at Bathurst will remember from that day.

Now, Ramsey is all of a sudden the headline act out of the Western division with a long, proud history of developing rugby league talent.

Penrith young-gun Matt Burton was also on show at the Nines, while a number of other Group 11 products were also in the Panthers' side - Billy Burns (Parkes) and Brent Naden (Wellington) the main ones.

And then just a day after the Nines was completed, Penrith announced it'd upgraded prodigiously talented Forbes fullback Charlie Staines into a development contract at the club.

Then there's Canberra's association with the region, too, Jack Wighton's obviously leading that charge, but Parkes' Darby Medlyn was part of the Raiders' Nines squad last weekend.

He's a hard-nosed backrower with a penchant for hard work.

Blake Ferguson, Kotoni Staggs, Joel Thompson, Tyrone Peachey ... the list continues.

But can Ramsey join them in the big time - the NRL?

Jones says anything is possible.

"From where he's come from, playing in Orange then heading out to Manildra for a couple of years, and then to the Dragons ... I knew he'd make it if he had his head in it.

"I'm glad he's at that point now. I'm really happy to see him doing well."