After forging successful junior careers for the Macquarie Raiders Dylan Hill and Josh Merritt will next year link with NRL clubs Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Raiders.
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But in the meantime the pair, who both played in the 2009 Group 11 Under-18 grand finalist Raiders side, will have the opportunity of a lifetime and head to France and the British Isles as part of an Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) rugby league tour.
Hill and Merritt have been part of the AIS Development Squad which contains a group of about 20 of the most talented up-and-coming rugby league players in Australia.
“There are now about 45 players in the NRL who went on previous AIS tours,” Country Rugby League development officer Steve McLellan said.
“So this is a chance of a lifetime for boys from the country.”
The AIS selects one player from each emerging rugby league state with New South Wales and Queensland players making up the rest of the squad.
They are identified from various sources, including the Under-16 NSW Country Championships and then invited to attend trials at the AIS in Canberra.
Players are offered scholarships to participate in the AIS training program over the following years.
“Merritt was actually fast-tracked from the under-16 country championships because he made such a big impression,” McLellan said.
The squad also includes Dubbo CYMS forward Jordan Hay, Cobar’s Zac Douglas and Mudgee’s Brendan Simpson.
They will fly out to Hong Kong next Friday, November 13 before going on to Paris. From there they will take in some history with a visit to the World War II battlefields on the Somme, and then down to Toulouse for the first two matches of the tour against the French under-18s and French under-19s.
The squad arrives in Manchester on November 23 where they will play a game against British Lions and then on to Cardiff to play a Test against Wales.
