THERE'S a buzz surrounding Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School's NRL Schoolboy Cup hopes and a lot of that is due to one emerging talent.
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Trent Taylor has put in several stirring performances for Farrer this season, but none more important than his Schoolboy Cup quarter-final performance against Hills Sports High.
Scoring two tries late in the second half, Taylor helped the side turn around a 16-0 deficit in last week's clash to help give his side a rare Schoolboy Cup semi-final berth.
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Now, only Westfields Sports High stands in the way of the Farrer side making the grand final for the first time in the school's history.
"We have our work cut out for us, but it is exciting to have made it this far," Taylor told the Leader.
"Hills knocked us out of the University Shield, so it was nice to make up for that one.
"Hopefully we can continue the roll we had in the second half of last week's game and become the first team in this school's history to make the final."
Taylor's rugby league success has now caught the eye of those in the rugby union world, with the year 12 student earning selection in the 133-strong First Nations rugby sevens squad.
Taylor will travel to Sydney on Friday as a part of the 46 females and 87 males, who will be looking to impress selectors during the weekend-long talent camp.
"It was pretty surprising to be picked in it, to tell you the truth," Taylor said.
"I had never played rugby sevens before in my life, so I don't really know what I'm doing, but it should be a lot of fun though and I'm really looking forward to it."
Taylor said his father, NRL game development officer Luke Taylor, had encouraged him to try out for the talent squad.
"Dad signed me up for it; he reckoned that it might be an avenue for me to explore if rugby league doesn't work out," he said.
"I want to be clear: I'm keen to see what pathways are there with rugby sevens and not union.
"League is my first passion. From the little I have played, sevens is a lot of fun and could be a good pathway for me in the future."
However, Taylor's 2019 season was nearly halted before it began, when a knee surgery threatened to rule him out for the season.
"I missed a few games for the Greater Northern Tigers and Farrer's first University Shield game as well," Taylor said.
"I had a bit of floating bone that needed to be cut out of my knee; it kept getting caught in between the knee and the cartilage.
"The weirdest thing was I was supposed to have the operation on a Tuesday, but it got delayed until the Thursday.
"Then on the Wednesday night I was mucking around and being a dickhead and the bit of bone popped to the front of my knee from the back.
"I was trying to act like [WWE wrestler] Shawn Michaels when it popped and, by the bit of bone shifting to the front, it actually saved me 10 weeks' recovery because the surgery was [now] going to be far less severe.
"It made me think I should act like a dickhead a bit more often."
As for the future, Taylor said his goal was simple.
"Basically, I want to take league as far as I can and I can't wait to see what's next after high school," he said.
"I love playing for Farrer, I'd play firsts until I was 50 if they let me.
"But, I am so eager to move onto the next chapter and for me that will be trying to get picked up by a rugby league club."
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
