Plenty of players love their footy. Then there's Dylan Bendall's level of loving rugby league.
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The boy from Lake Cargelligo has been travelling to play with Wagga Brothers under 14s (and often the 15s too) just to make sure he didn't miss a season when Group 20 went into recess.
Bendall has been a big hit at Brothers, along with Hillston's Rusty Kenningale (who boards in Wagga).
"Dylan and Rusty... they're two great young kids who have done a lot of miles this year to play footy with us," coach Jamie Benson said.
"Dylan is in the front row and is an absolute powerful machine. He's made a huge impact. His aggression and ball-running is top notch. Rusty's in the second row, he's another big boy."
Brothers have a bye in the final round, and there are no finals series in Group Nine Juniors this year, so the team's season wrapped up with a narrow 18-16 loss in Young last Saturday.
"We were very competitive. It was a really good game," Benson said.
"We had moments where we could've took it but it was just some uncharacteristic errors coming out of our own half, and in try scoring opportunities... the boys played a cracking game."
When they're on song (their three wins have been against Kangaroos (twice) and Magpies), it's courtesy of the go-forward in the middle.
Then, service from hooker Billy Maher allows halves Harrison Wheeler and Cohen Benson to create and centres Terrel McGregor and Sonny Faulkner to exploit.
Although against Magpies, Bendall scored five of his team's seven tries himself.
In their losses, Brothers have been competitive although the unbeaten Junee have been a standout in the grade.
Benson said the biggest reward has been to see his players grow and develop themselves. He couldn't be happier at having taken this group through the grades, and hopes to see them off into into seniors in 12 months.
"They've been a pleasure. I've been with this side since under 6 and it's basically the same team," he said.
"I was one of those parents asked to help out and nine years later I'm still doing the same job. First thing I said was that I'll be back against next year boys, I'd love to finish off going from 6s to 15s with them ... and there's some kids there that if they stick to rugby league, they can be the future for Brothers."
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