![Logan Spinks is in the midst of a seminal year for him. Picture by Mark Bode Logan Spinks is in the midst of a seminal year for him. Picture by Mark Bode](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/ac81f97b-60c3-440c-bc68-90c381fc8aa2.jpg/r0_0_3716_2832_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Take a ride with Logan Spinks.
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In the past fortnight, the 17-year-old will have obtained his first-ever passport, a last-minute emergency effort; left Australia for the first time, to play for Canterbury in an SG Ball Cup clash against the Warriors in Auckland; played a school rugby league trial in Coonabarabran; and then lined up for the Bulldogs again - this time against the Panthers in Sydney.
And oh, he is also negotiating year 12 at Farrer, and training with Canterbury in Sydney.
This is what it takes to give yourself every possible chance of being one of the select few who become NRL players; and the even smaller number who have NRL careers.
"It's a lot," Spinks said of his schedule.
The Tamworth teen's blueprint for success includes him graduating high school this year, then moving to Sydney to accelerate his bid to become an NRL player.
Anyone who caught the 190cm and 96kg back-rower in action captaining the Northern Tigers, in the recently completed Laurie Daley Cup, would have seen a destructive and mobile edge threat.
At HE Laybutt Field in Sydney on Saturday afternoon, he will play his second SG Ball match of the season and his career, after being named on the bench for Canterbury's final-round encounter against Penrith.
The seventh-placed Bulldogs need to win to have any chance of making the finals, with Spinks a late starter to the prestigious under-19 competition due to his Northern Tigers' commitments.
![Spinks on the charge for the Tigers in this year's Laurie Daley Cup. Picture by Gareth Gardner Spinks on the charge for the Tigers in this year's Laurie Daley Cup. Picture by Gareth Gardner](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/be8ad760-02c8-4c94-a1fc-52cd04df1a37.jpg/r0_0_3676_2505_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
In a 26-0 thumping of the Warriors last Sunday, Spinks came off the bench early in the second half.
"It was good to get on there and get a taste of it," said Spinks, who played for Canterbury last year in the under-17 Harold Matthews Cup.
Travelling overseas for the first time was "awesome", he said, adding that "being from Tamworth, you don't really go to many places".
But, yeah, it was so cool.
In Coonabarabran on Friday, the youngster is playing in a Combined High Schools rugby league trial to select the North West open side. This year, he hopes to make his first state CHS side.
Following the trials, his father Michael, a former rugby league player, will drive his boy to Sydney for Bulldogs training in the afternoon ahead of the crucial Panthers showdown.
This is what it takes to be successful.
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