Backrower Aden Ekanayake’s journey to the Junior Wallabies has been anything but typical.

The talented and tall, lanky forward graduated from Sydney’s Barker College as a 17-year old but was a direct beneficiary of the newly developed Sydney Juniors pathway that was created to open opportunities for young players in the Shute Shield colts’ competition.

“There were a lot of boys who were really talented in that side. Some were like me and young for their year at school, others had left school to do a trade,” Ekanayake told Rugby News.

"It’s a really good pathway because most of those boys were playing colts and in my opinion, playing colts is a higher standard than playing schoolboy footy because you get exposed to bigger, older guys.”

Despite finishing school early, Ekanayake played his way from Gordon’s colts program into the Sydney Juniors side and was eventually picked in the Australian Schools & U18s team that played New Zealand late last year.