Queanbeyan Kangaroos hooker Trent Schuback. Photo: Andrew Johnston
HAVING already captained the Canberra Raiders SG Ball under-18s outfit to a grand final earlier this year, Queanbeyan Kangaroos hooker Trent Schubach now has his sights set on forcing his way into the NRL club’s under-20s side.
Schubach is currently on a two-year contract with Canberra as a member of the under-20s squad but is yet to get a run in the grade.
The 18-year-old Junee Diesels junior moved to Canberra earlier this season in an attempt to pursue his NRL ambitions.
“I think that’s everyone’s dream, to make a career out of playing footy,” Schubach says. “Obviously that’s my goal but if it doesn’t happen, I’ll always enjoy my footy anyway so I’ll just see where it takes me.”
Schubach has been on Canberra’s radar for a number of years after taking up a four-year scholarship with the club as a 13-year-old.
Since then, the talented rake has turned out for the Green Machine in the Harold Matthews Cup under-16s competition and spent the past two years as a key component of the club’s successful SG Ball side.
Following the completion of his under-18s commitments this year, Schuback found himself linking up with the Kangaroos as part of the Raiders policy of assigning young players from out of town to a local club.
The move had looked likely to prove a fortuitous one for the Kangaroos with the club in need of extra cover at hooker and in the halves following captain/coach Aaron Gorrell’s season-ending knee injury.
Schuback however, has been beset by injury concerns of his own after picking up a knee injury while playing for Queanbeyan earlier this year.
The teenager will miss the Kangaroos clash this weekend against the Woden Valley Rams with a slight medial strain. But he said he was confident he’d be fit for the club’s blockbuster local derby against the Queanbeyan Blues later this month.
The Kangaroos will be looking to continue their strong season so far against the Rams with the defending premiers still sitting atop the Canberra Raiders Cup ladder. Queanbeyan has dropped just one of its opening nine games, a fact that Schubach said had made his adjustment to life away from home that much easier.
“I started playing rugby league when I was about five-years-old with the Diesels and this is my first-time playing full-time away from Junee since then so it’s a new experience for me,” he said.
“I’ve just been lucky to slot into a side like the Kangaroos that’s been winning plenty of games lately.”