As he sat on the sidelines watching his Joeys teammates play most of last season, rep footy was the furthest thing from Waratahs U19s skipper Eamon Doyle’s mind. 

But after getting fit late last year, the Wollongong boy has made every post a winner and will captain NSW in the opening match of the Super 19s tournament against Melbourne Rebels at Leichhardt Oval this Sunday. 

“It’s all happened pretty quick for me this year and 12 months ago I didn’t think I’d be in this position, so I’m trying to make the most of every opportunity,” Doyle told Rugby News during the week. 

“I grew up down in Wollongong and played for Illawarra and (Woonoona) Shamrocks, then headed up to Joeys in year eight. 

“I grew quite a bit in year 11 and started taking footy a bit more seriously but then I did my meniscus in my knee in year 12 and missed most of that season. 

“I played a few games at the backend of year last year and fortunately Clev (Andrew Cleverley) invited me to do some training with the Waratahs academy and I’ve just tried to make the most of every opportunity since then.”

Doyle joined Sydney Uni’s colts program after finishing up at Joeys and was a standout during the early rounds of this year’s club competition. 

So much so, he earned a late call up to join the Australian U20s at the World Cup in South Africa midway through the year. 

“At first I was excited about the trip, I’d never been to Africa before and I didn’t think I’d get too much game time but I ended up playing most the games. 

“It was raining the whole time, so it was a slower pace but it was really physical playing against those European teams. 

“I learnt a lot about set piece over there. Our forwards coaches were Benny Mowen and Matt Cockbain so it was pretty cool to learn from them.”

Doyle then returned to Uni and continued to impress in the Shute Shield. His Students’ were upset by Gordon in the preliminary final though, ending his club season a week earlier than he hoped. 

“To be fair, Gordon were just up for it and we were a bit flat that day. There’s been a lot of good banter around training here with a few of those boys.”

Doyle will start at No.8 on Sunday for the Waratahs in a forward pack featuring 2023 Australian U18s forwards Will Goddard and Austin Durbridge. 

In the backs, Narrabri boys’ Joey Fowler and Sid Harvey will start at flyhalf and fullback respectively, with gun Hunter Wildfires outside back Brendan Palmer another country boy in the starting XV. 

“It’s a really good group of boys and I’m looking forward to playing with some of the guys I haven’t played with before,” Doyle said. 

“Tom Girle has been really impressive at lock. He’s a big guy and really athletic and quick for his height. Then I went to school with Charlie O’Kane and Joe Mangelsdorf so it’ll be good to play with them again.”

The Waratahs U19s kick off against the Rebels at Leichhardt at 1:35pm on Sunday following the U16s clash at 11:35am.