TAMBORINE Mountain teenager Blake Marshall will head to Jamaica next month to represent Canada in the country’s first ever sanctioned Under-19s international rugby league match.
The 17-year-old centre, who attends The Southport School and plays for Wynnum Manly Seagulls in the Cyril Connell Cup, qualified through his mother’s Canadian heritage. He’s proud to wear the maple leaf on his chest.
“It was pretty cool to use my mum’s heritage and play for Canada at such a high level,” Blake said.
“It’s a pretty cool situation that I’m in.”
Blake was born in Taree and moved to the mountain with his family in 2018, enrolling at St Bernard State School in Year 4.
He started playing rugby league as a nine-year-old and continued his development locally with the Nerang Roosters and Runaway Bay Seagulls.
Despite not making representative teams in his early years, Blake’s persistence paid off when a contact sent footage of him to the Wynnum Manly coaching staff.
“I was always a bit smaller so I wasn’t really picked for the rep teams,” he said.
“But I got a bit bigger at the end of last year … and someone sent my footage to the head coach at Cyril Connell, and I got picked.”
He played one season in the under-17s Cyril Connell Cup and has now progressed to the Mal Meninga Cup for under-19s.
“The training was a level above anything I’d done before, especially the fitness side. It really brought me up a level,” he said.
Blake’s dad Tony, said the family is incredibly proud of his development both on and off the field.
“Just watching him fight over the last couple of years, that’s probably the bit where us as parents are the proudest – watching him keep fighting to achieve his goals,” he said.
His parents have played a big role in his journey, including driving him multiple times a week from the mountain or Southport to Wynnum Manly for training and games.
“It was a big effort from my parents,” Blake said.
“Sometimes it can take an hour and a half in traffic, straight after school, so I’m really grateful.”
Blake will travel to Jamaica in mid-November, where the Canadian side will compete in a training camp before the match – a major step in Canada’s push for Rugby League World Cup qualification in 2030.
