On a miserable March day, Cooper Hall emerged as a future star.
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Coming off the bench in Pirates' trial against Dubbo, the teenager looked undaunted in the senior environment as he showed what a promising talent he is.
Playing his first season with the club, the 17-year-old is another young gun off the Calrossy factory line.
"Starry (Calrossy teacher and Pirates captain Conrad Starr) came to me at the end of last year and said 'what are you doing next year?'," Hall said.
"I said 'I was wanting to play a bit of grade', and he said to come along to pre-season."
So he did.
He has predominantly been playing second grade, but has had a couple of opportunities off the bench for first grade. Hall though doesn't mind where he plays: he just "wanted another game of footy for the week" (other than the Friday night competition).
"I'm heading down to Sydney next year to play in the colts system there," Hall said.
"I just wanted a bit of physical footy before I went down there."
The second rower, who as part of his studies is doing a heavy diesel mechanic apprenticeship and is off a property between Manilla and Boggabri, will play for Randwick after being scouted by them at the 2022 State Championships.
"I had a few other offers from other clubs but then once Randwick came into the picture I was 'god I've got to take this'," he said.
It was a significant moment his rugby journey; one that he dreams will lead to one day playing professionally.
Another came in the first week of the school holidays, with Hall lacing up the boots against the best young players in the country at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships.
He played with the NSW Barbarians side, his selection in that coming after strong performances for AICES (Association of Independent Co-Educational Schools) and the Country 18s in their various games.
They had a good tournament, finishing fourth after losing their play-off game to the NSW 2s by a point.
Last year making it to the AICES and Country stage, for Hall it was a great experience.
"It's a lot different style of footy," he said.
"It was so physical. You walk off and you're like 'I can hardly move'."
It was the culmination of a big few weeks, which included an historic result with the Country boys over GPS (Greater Public School).
"We won that, which was first time in history," Hall said.
"That was pretty cool to be a part of."
Hall is very thankful to everyone that has helped get him to where he is. And due to his representative commitments, it has been a few weeks since he has worn Pirates colours.
But he will be back on deck for second grade against Barraba on Saturday (first grade have the bye).
