Brodie Jones and Brayden Musgrove have been teammates since under 12s.
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They have played beside each other with school teams, the Cessnock Goannas, and in Newcastle Knights Harold Matthews and SG Ball squads.
Now, the St Mary’s College, Maitland, students are taking the next step after being called up into the NSW under-18 squad to face Queensland in the curtain-raiser before State of Origin 2.
They will be joined in the NSW Junior Pathways Squads by Maitland Pickers junior Pesami Saulo.
“It was a bit of a shock when I heard,” Musgrove said sitting beside his teammate Jones, who played with the under-16 state team previously and was part of the NSW CCC team which won the national title last year.
“My Knights coach rang me up after school and told me they wanted me to go down and have a few sessions with them.
“It feels great. It would be unreal if I get to put the blue jersey on.”
Musgrove, 18, has opted against playing school footy this year, but Jones who turns 18 next month has his eyes set on claiming another national title with the NSW CCC team.
Their next assignment, however, is the SG Ball major semi-final to book a place in the grand final. .
They played together last year in the Knights HG Matthews premiership winning team and want to add the under-18 trophy to their growing list of achievements.
“It was a great experience,” Jones said.
Jones, who is also part of the Knights under 20s team, has been given the all-clear to finish the SG Ball campaign.
“I’m in the middle of the under 18s and under 20s,” Jones said. “But we’ve had the all clear from Browny (senior coach Nathan Brown) to head back to the 18s.”
Both agreed combining representative football and study can be tough, but they are finding a balance.
Which is just as well for Musgrove, who has been told he will train with the under 20s and of course Jones after the Newcastle Knights under-18 campaign.