In a little under 12 months, former Australian Schoolboys halfback Nick Duffy has rose from relative obscurity to make his Shute Shield debut, play in a grand final in front of almost 20,000 and earn a last minute Super Rugby call up to join the Waratahs on tour in Argentina.

But there is still one memory that Duffy can’t shake and it’s the one that stung the most.

“After we lost the grand final last year, the next day we all went around to our coach’s place and we were all feeling pretty upset.

“We decided we didn’t want to have that feeling again, so we want to go one better this year.”

Duffy moved from Sydney Uni to Norths in 2016, where he spent the year playing colts, before Simon Cron brought him into the Shoremen’s first XV in 2017.

Despite his nerves, Duffy puts his smooth transition down to the quality of players around him.

“I didn’t really know many of the guys that well, so I was a bit nervous, but I was pretty fortunate to have senior players like Hugh and Angus Sinclair, Nick Palmer and Will Miller around me who made my job a lot easier,” Duffy says.

Duffy’s impressive form was perhaps not that surprising to those around him but nevertheless, he was still shocked to be selected in the 2017 Sydney Rays NRC side, and even more surprised when he ended up holding his own as the starting scrumhalf after an injury to Dewet Roos.

“The NRC was definitely a step up. It was faster and more physical, and you’re running against bigger, faster guys,” Duffy says.

“When we played the Vikings, most of them were contracted players, and a fair few of them were Wallabies.”

His Waratahs call-up earlier this year – after injuries to Nick Phipps, Mitch Short and Jake Gordon – was even more surprising.

“I got told to get my passport ready and then I just had to make a few phone calls.

“I had to tell work I might not be in,” he laughs.

Though he never came off the bench in the Waratahs’ loss to the Jaguares in Argentina, Duffy says he’s thankful for the experience, and now just wants to focus on the season ahead with Norths.

“We’ve got a new coach, Shannon Fraser, who really fits in and all the boys get around him.

“We’ve been training for the last 3-4 months and now we’re ready to rock and roll.

“I’m not thinking too much about the fact that Warringah beat us in the grand final last year, because if you start having those thoughts, you can get carried away.

“We’re preparing the same as we would to play against any team – we prepare so that we’re in the best shape physically and mentally.”

So did that mean the team avoided smashing the Lindt bunnies over Easter?

“I don’t know,” laughs Duffy. “I think some* of the boys had a few too many, but I’m sure we’ll be ok this weekend.”

[*Harry Burey]