Kyle Turner a Unicorn with point to prove

Kyle Turner will make his Country debut on Sunday but wishes it wasn't his last chance to pull on the representative team's jersey.

Kyle Turner has much more to offer the last City-Country clash than one of the great junior club names.

And yes, we're talking up there with Anthony Don's Grafton Ghosts, coach Craig Fitzgibbon's Dapto Canaries or even Cody Walker's Casino Cougars.

Turner is a Coonabarabran Unicorn, but there's more to it than that. He was born in Sydney but is a legitimate bush kid.

The 25-year-old learnt his trade in the rough and tumble of country footy before he packed his bag as a 17-year-old and headed for South Sydney.

And it's for the small town of Coonabarabran with the funny old team name he will play for when he suits up on Sunday.

"It's about a two-hour drive from Mudgee actually," Turner said.

"I have a lot of family up there. They'll be excited to come to the game and be a part of it."

While the significance of the annual City Country event is often lost in the big smoke amid the chaos of the NRL, that's rarely the case in the bush.

Despite the 50-odd withdrawals for the match and complaints over short turnarounds, nothing could have stopped Turner from appearing in the last instalment of the annual fixture once he was picked.

"It's a shame that it is the last one," Turner said.

"Some clubs weren't too happy with the idea of the four-day turnaround, but if the players are happy with it why not just go for it?

"There are a lot of kids who wants to grow up to represent Country in the game."

Turner was one of those kids.

His love of rugby league was strengthened by NRL players visiting out west in his younger years, and in 2010 he travelled to Orange to watch his first City-Country game live.

"I was only a young tucker - 17 then," he said.

"Watching the big boys play, you think wow, this is incredible. You always want to aspire to be there.

"But I never thought it would happen. To be here now it's a dream come true."

And it's why he is so desperate to make sure his Country team have their name inscribed on the shield one final time on Sunday afternoon.

"We've got do the job now," he said.

"We're going to try and take home the last prize and put in a good performance for Country."


Share

3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world