The pair who played with the Knights SG Ball team and are part of the under-20 squad join recent Maitland inductees Brock Lamb and Jayden Butterfield to earn green and gold jerseys.

Saulo, a Maitland junior from Hunter Sports High, and Jones, a Cessnock product from All Saints College, Maitland, earned starting positions in the forward pack of the 17-man national side which goes into camp on Sunday.

They will play two Tests against the England Academy on July 31 in Redcliffe and August 6 in Woolooware.

Jones played for NSW Combined Catholic Colleges, who defeated Saulo’s Combined High School side 26-24 with a last-minute try in the Australian Secondary Schools Under-18 National Championships final in Wynnum last Friday.

It was sweet revenge for Jones, who played with Butterfield in last year’s decider when Combined High School reversed the result.

“We won with a kick after the siren. To win the title and then be named in the schoolboys side with Pasami, it’s very, very exciting,” Jones, 18, said.

Jones and Saulo are both juggling their football commitments with the final year of their HSC.

Reflecting on their achievements and the doors they opened, Jones said the maxim of taking things a day at a time and sticking to a routine was vital.

“It’s crazy, you see Brock (Lamb) playing in the NRL and he was where we are two years ago,” he said.

“It’s not far away when you think about it. It’s an eye opener. It’s so close, yet so far away. It’s exciting, very exciting.”

Jones has a hectic few months ahead with football commitments and study to qualifying for a mechanical engineering at university.

Knights high performance unit boss Troy Pezet, who coaches the pair in his under-20s Newcastle side, said the selections were exciting for the players and the club.

“To get two players in the starting side, and there was only a 17-man squad picked, that’s a really big rap for everyone in the program,” Pezet said.

He said Saulo had signed with the club until the end of 2018, while Jones was close to finalising a new deal. The selections follow the Knights having nine players across NSW under-16, 18 and 20 Origin teams this year.

“All in all, I think the junior program is going really well and it’s something we are very proud of, and the region is too,” Pezet said.

“And [Knights coach Nathan Brown] has shown his hand that he’s probably going to promote from within and give the young blokes a chance, so I think Newcastle’s an exciting place for young players.”