Lachlan Bonnell rises to occasion as Tigers make Laurie Daley Cup finals

A year later, the 17-year-old's prayers were answered when he was selected in the Northern Tigers' under-18 side - his failure to make the side in 2022 the cause of his fleeting despair.

And on a hot autumn day at John Simpson Oval at Farrer on Saturday, Bonnell wore the No 8 as the Tigers won impressively for the third consecutive week, beating the Western Rams 42-6 to book a spot in the Laurie Daley Cup semi-finals.

"It was tough not making it [the side] last year," said Bonnell, a year 12 student at Carinya Christian School. "But the coaches all respect hard work, and that's what I tried to put in."

Indeed.

After a gruelling training session with the Tigers' development squad in January last year, which was conducted straight after Bonnell had learned of his failure to make the Tigers' under-18 squad, he said he arrived home feeling "crushed".

"I went home, took my shirt straight off, went out the backyard and just sat there and had a pray to God," he said. "Then my mum came out and she was like, 'It's about working hard from here.'"

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Bonnell said he "got the footy and just started working". "That was the first thing I did after a four-hour [Tigers] session. I was like, 'Dig in now.'"

Bronwyn Bonnell's comment echoed the life-changing advice her son had received from his father, Darren, some five years earlier. Bronwyn and Darren are both senior pastors at the Chapel Collective in Tamworth.

Bonnell said: "I was about 12, and my dad said, 'If you wanna get serious about it [rugby league], mate, let's work now'.

"And every morning, I was just workin' hard on the hill [near his home] - every morning at 6am, just doing work."

Faith, Bonnell continued, is the "core" of who he is. "Boys find their identity in footy," he said. "And no matter the result, I'm gonna work hard because I know my identity's in God, in my faith."

"I've got a lot of support that a lot of people don't have," he added. "And the church community is some of the kindest people you could ever meet."

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Bonnell's elevation from the bench into the starting side, along with fellow prop Zane Groves and hooker Jack Foley, coincided with the Tigers resolving their defensive woes and igniting their winning sequence.

Bonnell is a small prop. In fact, he said he was even "a bit" small for lock, his normal position.

"Rando decided to give me a shot, and I was very thankful," he said of Tigers coach Darryl Rando.

Against the Rams, Bonnell and co were once again superb. They crossed early via winger Keandre Johnson-Vale, and were never headed.

Leading 20-6 at half-time, they scored first after the break when centre Jackson Smith hit at speed an excellent Logan Spinks off-load and then motored some 30m down the left edge to cross out wide.

When Tigers fullback Charlie Henderson hit flying winger Oscar Atkin with a long cutout pass, after the fullback had executed a precision wrap around with five-eigth Jordan Hamlin from a scrum 20m out from the Rams' tryline, Aitkin had his second try, the Tigers had the seventh of their eight tries, and were in top gear - the scorline now 36-6.

Henderson bagged a try trifecta for the match.

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Ahead of this season, a number of Tigers had not won a match in their two previous seasons as Tigers. "So to turn it around this year, and get to the semis, is pretty cool," Bonnell said.

The Tigers, who finished in second spot behind the Knights, are yet to find out who their semi-final opponent will be in two weeks.

But Bonnell knows that, on the cusp of manhood, he is in a fortunate position. "I'm just enjoying life at the moment: playing footy with my mates, going to school, getting study done - it's exciting."

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