Fresh off playing a starring role at the under 20’s World Cup, Melbourne Rebels recruit Jack Maddocks is one of Australia’s most exciting young prospects.

Yet a year ago, he didn’t even consider himself a rugby player.

“12 months ago I probably thought of myself as more of a cricketer, but then the whole rugby thing just clicked and everything happened at a million miles an hour,” Maddocks told Rugby News.

“Before I knew it, I was playing in the U20s and getting offers and by the time the Rebels got in touch, rugby was the obvious choice.”

Maddocks was a shining light in another disappointing U20’s World Cup campaign. Australia headed to the UK full of confidence after beating New Zealand in a trial match, but were unable to get past Scotland and England in the pool stages.

“It was an unreal experience and I definitely learnt a lot. We didn’t play as well as a team as we would have liked, but I think we all took a lot away from the tournament individually,” the 19-year old said.

“I think that game against England summed up our whole tournament, it was really frustrating. We scored a try in the first minute and I thought it was meant to be but they just crept back into the game through penalties and did really well to convert pressure into points.”

The Eastern Suburbs junior played every minute of the tournament and was chased by a handful of Super Rugby clubs on the back of a brilliant 2016 season, before agreeing to a two-year deal in Melbourne.

“The Rebels are a really strong club and they are on the rise and I identified that, so when they offered me a deal, I was really excited,” he said.

“I spoke to a few of the guys that I played under 20’s with and they all said really good things about the club so it became an easy decision.”

The Rebels have created a stockpile of young talent in recent years, signing a handful of the countries most promising young stars.

2015 Australian Schoolboys flyhalf Jack McGregor will join the club next year alongside Maddocks, while Jonah Placid (21), Reece Hodge (21), Sione Tuipulotu (19), Harley Fox (20) and Robert Leota (19) are also committed to the club.

Throw in Sean McMahon (22), Jack Debreczeni (23) and Paul Asquith (22) and you can see why Rebels fans are excited about the years ahead.

“The playing roster is probably the first thing you look at when you think about signing with a club,” Maddocks said.

“You want to be a part of a strong playing roster and it helps that a lot of the guys are young as well, that will hopefully make the transition a little easier.”

But Maddocks understands he has plenty of work ahead of him, with spots in the talented Rebels backline hard to come by.

“I think the biggest difference will be the work off the field. I’d never really been in a professional environment before, so it was a bit of a wake up call when I went away with the under 20’s. You’ve got to be switched on 24 hours a day because there is a lot of work that goes on off the field which I never really appreciated.

“I’ll obviously also need to improve my physicality, so I’d say I’ll be spending a lot of time in the gym. On the field, I want to be more consistent as well, I want to get rid of the errors in my game so there is plenty to work on,” he said.