Eyebrows were surely raised when Kurt Fisher - all 198cm and 94kg of him - recorded the fastest 40m sprint time for his age group at the North Queensland Cowboys' recent Young Guns camp in Townsville.
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Now back home in Gunnedah, the 17-year-old has reflected on the biggest year of his life - when he moved to Rockhampton to go to school after inking a three-year deal with the Cowboys.
While in year 11 at The Cathedral College, he played fullback as the side excelled in two prestigious schoolboys competitions.
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The school made the semi-finals of the Aaron Payne Cup, and made the semi-finals the Confraternity Carnival before it was cancelled due to COVID-19.
After weathering homesickness upon relocating to Rockhampton at the start of the year, the former Greater Northern Tiger said he was now "enjoying" an experience he hoped would lead all the way to the NRL.
"I feel like I'm in the best spot for it," he said of achieving his NRL dream and following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Warren Fisher, a fullback who played 68 games for Cronulla in the '70s.
Fisher's father, Justin, was a premiership winner with the Gunnedah Bulldogs.
The teen's grandfather, Brian Lenton, founded the Gunnedah Bulldogs AFL club and coached the side to five premierships.
Fisher's mother, Natasha, was a member of Bulldog women's AFL premiership-winning side in 2020.
When the youngster returns to Queensland next month, he said he would do so believing that his NRL quest was more obtainable than ever.
The Cowboys' development system was "unreal", said Fisher, who lives with a rugby league-mad family in the Central Queensland capital.
Three of the family's sons played in Wynnum Manly's under-21 premiership-winning side this year. "They're lovely, good as," he said of his Rocky hosts.
When Fisher leaves high school next year, he will move to Townsville to become a full-time Young Guns member for the final year of his contract.
Mirroring his progress is Tamworth's Jerramaine "Jerry" Nean, another Cowboys Young Gun who commences year 12 next year.
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