One of the NRL's most exciting young players, former Oxley High student Ethan Parry, will look to conclude the biggest year of his rugby league career with a grand final win.
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Parry, 20, will line up for the Wentworthville Magpies, Parramatta's feeder club, against the Newtown Jets at Bankwest Stadium in Sydney on Sunday.
More on Ethan Parry:
The Magpies finished the regular season in eighth spot. They have won three-straight finals matches to make the grand final - but so have the Jets.
Parry's Tamworth-based father, Troy, said of Wentworthville: "They're over the moon. They done well to come from where they did. They were struggling to make the top eight to start with."
The Parry family hopes to be in the crowd on Sunday - just like they were when the powerful speedster made his much-anticipated NRL debut. That occurred on July 21, when his Parramatta Eels confronted Manly at Brookvale.
Playing on the wing, Parry scored a spectacular try. He scored again the following round when the Eels beat the Warriors in Auckland.
That was the end of his NRL action for the season, with Eels coach Brad Arthur restructuring Parra's backline after Michael Jennings' return from injury.
But Parry lived up to the hype surrounding him in those two appearances. Troy believes that his son will go close to cementing a first-grade spot next season.
He said Parry had even more drive to be an NRL success story.
"Now that he's experienced it [the NRL], he's determined to cement a spot, don't worry about that," Troy said, adding that "you can't ask for more than that", in reference to his son's two tries in two NRL matches.
"He didn't look out of place [in first grade]," Troy said.
He's done well this year; we're really proud of him. It will only get better next year for him.
- Troy Parry
Troy said "he's done well this year; we're really proud of him". "It will only get better next year for him ... I think he might cement himself a bit more permanent in there [first grade] next year. He'll probably be in the top-30 squad, I'd imagine."
Parry - officially listed as 191cm and 97kg - has scored nine tries in 23 appearances for Wentworthville this season, averaging 99 running metres per game.
Before the Manly clash, Arthur described Parry as a "big body".
Arthur said: "He competes really hard, he's not short on confidence and if he gets something wrong at some stage today, he'll bounce back and he'll compete hard for us for the full 80 [minutes]. It's gonna be a good occasion for him."
Nine covered the Manly clash, with its commentator heaping praise on Parry - including league great Peter Sterling, who said the former Australian Schoolboy's stunning try was reward for "desire and persistence".
