This year, the Goannas junior will take the field at the National Schoolboys Championships as the starting hooker.

It was a great feeling for Yates, who attends Bishop Tyrrell Anglican College, after facing heartbreak in 2014 and a tough selection this year.

The 17-year-old was one of 40 players picked from a trial day in Sydney on May 13.

He then attended a three-day camp in Narrabeen from May 23, where the squad was chopped down to 21.

The 21 players were then part of a team who played two trial games against Manly and Parramatta SG Ball sides, before the final team of 20 was announced via text message and posted online.

However Yates knew straight after the Parramatta trial that he was in, as he was one of the three hookers called out on to the field after the game to be told which one of them was not picked.

Yates said he was a bit nervous about his chances, having been concussed during the game earlier in the day.

But he said the coach shook his hand and congratulated him on being the number one hooker, which Yates said was an ecstatic feeling.

Yates said the coach commended him for taking all of the advice given from not being picked the previous year, and that he is now a better player for it.

The CIS team will travel down to Wollongong on Thursday to contest the championships from July 5 to 10.

Six sides will compete including Queensland, ACT and a Combined Affiliated States side (Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Victoria) as well as the NSW Combined High Schools team and NSW Combined Catholic Schools team (featuring Yates’s fellow Goannas junior Brodie Jones).

Yates said he is pretty excited to be competing with and against the best school players in the country.

“I’m keen to get out there and play some good footy with a decent bunch of boys,” he said.

The schoolboy championships are considered a stepping stone for younger players, as many NRL scouts attend looking for players to sign.

Hayden was part of the CIS under-15s team two years ago, and said there were even NRL selectors watching then.

And while he said he is hoping one day to play in the NRL and would like to be picked in the national schoolboys side, he is just going to play to his ability and hope for the best.

“I’m not sure what the other hookers will be like but I’m just going to give it 100 per cent and see how it goes,” he said.