With his childhood dream of an NRL debut now under his belt, Dolphins winger Jack Bostock has a new goal to maintain his position in the 17 in his sophomore season.
A life-changing decision to move from the comforts of home to Queensland more than paid off for the Shellharbour Stingrays junior, who ironically made his debut against the team many thought would have been his career club, running out against the St George Illawarra Dragons in Round 5 in front of family and friends.
“I've made my debut which is a goal for me as a young kid, but now it's about trying to stay in the NRL squad week-in, week-out,” Bostock told NRL.com.
“I got the four games last year, but there was one at the start and then I was playing a bit of Cup throughout the year waiting to get back and then I got back in there, held it there for three games.
“I definitely missed home at the start, but I'm getting used to it now and I've made a lot of good friends up here with the boys in-and-around training and some boys outside of training, but it was a big move coming up here to Queensland.
“I've lived at home my whole life with my parents, same place; so just getting used to living alone really was a tough bit, but I'm all settled in now and I'm enjoying it.
“So, the difference between this year and last year is just trying to stay in that first grade squad.
“But training-wise, everything still stays the same, just still working hard and trying to get better at the things that I need to get better at and that’s about it.”
When not playing for the Dolphins in the NRL, he was running out for their feeder club Redcliffe in the Hostplus Cup and said he was always learning, no matter which team he was playing for.
“I'm really enjoying playing footy up here because everyone's … (doing) the same thing, when we're playing Cup, we're all still training here and then the Cup team, they all have the same plays, philosophies as the NRL team do,” the former NSW Under 19 representative said.
“It's really easy to learn; our Cup coach Ben Te’o; he's getting everything from Wayne [Bennett] and Woolfy [Kristian Woolf] and Fieny [Nathan Fien]; what they need us boys who are playing Cup to work on and he's relaying that message straight to us.
“It's really good, it's just a clear message on what you need to work on while you're playing Cup to get back into the squad.”
Following their debut season, Bostock said the club were hungry to feature in the finals in 2024, having come so close in their inaugural year, surprising many outsiders.
“Finals footy would be a massive goal for our team this year; most of the chat from all the boys is that we want to make that eight and we want to really give it a good push for the finals, ‘cause once you're in that eight, it's a whole different comp,” Bostock said.
“I've grown up my whole life watching NRL finals and that'd be a massive achievement for us to play finals this year, our second year in the NRL; that'll be really cool to play finals this year.”
Farnworth hits the training field on his first day as a Dolphin
Helping them in their quest is the addition of a number of key new recruits, including noted backs Herbie Farnworth and Jake Averillo, whose inclusion in the squad means there is plenty of competition for spots.
“It's really good learning a few tips and tricks off the boys who have played footy like Jake and Herbie; they played a lot of first grade and I can just take anything I can and learn from them and then add it to my game,” Bostock said.
“It's really helpful and that it also creates good healthy competition in the backline, everyone is trying to get a spot and everyone's training better when there's a competition at training.
“It's a healthy competition; we're all still mates and we're all still trying to help each other get better, so it's been good at training.”
