At just 13 years of age Leith, and his family, boarded a plane last week on route to Perth’s Royal Show where the championships were held.

To top off the youngsters success, he placed 12^th on Sunday competing against the best of the best novice wool handlers across the country.

Having to throw, skirt and clean two fleece in the fastest possible time, Leith had a practice run on Saturday in preparation for Sunday’s hotly contested round. 

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His mother Heather said Leith was an aspiring competitive shearer.

“My husband does show shearing competitions and Leith wanted to compete.

“We didn’t think he was quite ready to shear a sheep competitively so we told him to start wool handling.

“He does a bit of wool handling in the school holidays so he did a few shows and ended up being top two in the state,” she laughed.

The Dubbo Show Sports Shear event was held in May where Leith ended up qualifying first, securing a spot in the state team.

Dubbo was only his third show competing in novice wool handling. 

A highlight of the weekend in Perth for Leith was meeting a few national shearing champions up close and personal.

“New South Wales shearer Daniel McIntyre, from Glen Innes, was named the Australian Champion on Sunday and Leith actually got to help him in the shearing pen; that was probably his favourite part of the whole weekend.”

With the ultimate goal to compete as a shearer, his parents will decide whether the youngster is ready or not next year. Either way, Leith has already impressed many within the show circuit.