Along with celebrating his 20^th birthday, first grade winger Cooper Monk ran out for his 50^th senior club game for CYMS in its 22-12 win over Lithgow Workies Wolves in the Peter McDonald Premiership.

Captain-coach Daniel Mortimer was delighted to see Monk bring up the half-century along with handing a debut to Ryan Banks.

"It's really rewarding as a coach, especially when they're local juniors and that's what we've always prided ourselves off is converting those juniors," he said.

"The junior club do a great job, they give us some pretty handy players but it's up to us to keep them and get the best out of them."

Monk, who was 'feeling good going into it', went extremely close to scoring on his 50^th but unfortunately dropped the ball over the line. The winger said he was probably thinking too far ahead.

"I would've loved it, I started thinking about the try when I got the ball and worse came to worse," he recalled.

Monk wasn't short of support in the crowd as they held their breath every time he looked dangerous.

"I could hear a bit of the support, bits and pieces, but I was mainly focused on the game," he said.

This season, Monk has also found himself a new centre partner in Marcel Ikinofo with the winger loving having experienced heads inside him.

"It's pretty safe playing outside Marcel, you can always rely on him and Joey (Lasagavibau) on the inside talking and letting me know what to do."