Young Norths’ backrower Boston Kerapa wasn’t sure what to expect in his first season of grade in 2022.

But one thing he did know was that he was fit.

“My goal at the start of the year was to make my first grade debut but I didn’t expect it to happen in round one, or to go on and play almost every game,” Kerapa told Rugby News during ‘smoko’ on the work site.

“Leading into last season, I started to enjoy my training a lot more. To be honest, it wasn’t even really about footy, I just started to train harder and feel really good all the time.

“I found that there was nothing better than patting yourself on the back after getting through something really miserable and that’s something I hadn’t experienced before 2021.

“I was the fittest and strongest I’d ever been heading into preseason and that meant I could actually enjoy the hard slog over summer because I’d already put in the work.”