!["This is the biggest opportunity I've ever had" ... Kobe Bone. Picture Mackay Cutters "This is the biggest opportunity I've ever had" ... Kobe Bone. Picture Mackay Cutters](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/254eb49c-47af-41a9-ad8c-d0e32b76fa18.jpg/r0_0_1125_1600_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The dream has never been closer to becoming a reality for Kobe Bone - and he has thanked someone special for that.
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On the cusp of making his Hostplus Cup debut, after being named in the Mackay Cutters side that will meet the Falcons at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday night, the Tamworth export credited ex-Blues enforcer Tom Lahrs for inspiring him to chase an NRL career.
Bone, who will soon turn 21, said Lahrs (Learoyd-Lahrs to league fans) had a huge impact on him while coaching him at North Tamworth and the Northern Tigers - culminating in the Bears' 2019 under-18 premiership and the Tigers' 2020 Laurie Daley Cup campaign.
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So after Cutters coach Michael Comerford told Bone on Wednesday that he would be making his first-grade debut for the club, he knew Lahrs was instrumental in that happening.
"Tom 100 per cent developed me into the player I am today," he said. "I wasn't really focused on footy. I was just more worried about having fun with the boys on the weekends.
"When Tommy came into my life, he made me pull my head in a little bit and focus more on footy. And he took a lot of time out of his own time - he put it all into me."
The lock, who will wear the No 14 against the Falcons, also thanked his parents and North Tamworth coach Paul Boyce for their roles in facilitating what he described as the "biggest opportunity" of his career.
![Bone (front row, third left) and Tom Lahrs (back row, centre) with the 2020 Northern Tigers under-18 squad. Bone (front row, third left) and Tom Lahrs (back row, centre) with the 2020 Northern Tigers under-18 squad.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/dc7feb92-221d-4a3b-895a-2a1ef355837c.jpg/r0_34_904_679_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The statewide Hostplus Cup, formally known as the Queensland Cup, is essentially an NRL reserve-grade competition.
The Cutters - winless after 11 rounds - are a feeder club for the Cowboys. Current NRL stars who played for the Cutters include Jason Taumalolo, Nicho Hynes and Scott Drinkwater.
Bone, who had been playing for the Cutters' under-21 side this season, moved to Mackay in November after the club signed him. It was Boyce, his then Norths coach, who advised the Cutters to look at the former North Sydney Bears junior.
Bone said he was "shocked" when Comerford told him that he had been promoted to first grade.
I didn't know what to say ... This is why I moved so far away from my family and friends. This is the reason. And yeah, it's come.
Bone hopes to land a train and trial deal with the Cowboys, or another NRL club, ahead of next season.
"This is the biggest opportunity I've ever had," he said.
Lahrs is now living in Townsville with his family. Mackay play the Blackhawks there next month.
"So I'll catch up with him then," Bone said of Lahrs, adding: "Hopefully at the end of the year I can pick up that train and trial [deal at the Cowboys] and be up there with him."
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