The two will line-up for the NSW Under 20s to face Queensland in a junior Origin in Brisbane on July 11. 

Rodwell has been going from strength to strength after signing with the South Sydney Rabbitohs and has been playing good football in the SG Cup and for the North Sydney Bears in the Jersey Flegg competition. 

He featured as part of the Australian under 23s Commonwealth Games winning team as well and said representing Australia was definitely a highlight. 

“Probably the biggest thing I’ve done so far, especially in my rugby league career, playing for Australia. I’ll remember it forever,” Rodwell said. 

The Rabbitohs have been signing Rodwell’s praises as “one of the best up and coming props in the game”. 

It’s a title Rodwell said he was honoured by, but something he is now striving hard to “live up to it”. 

Now, he’s been rewarded with a Blues jumper for the under 20s Origin opener. 

Meanwhile, Narooma’s Teig Wilton said he didn’t hear about his selection right away. 

“I found out in a bit of an odd way,” he said. “I was on my uncle’s farm out at Cessnock without phone service,” Wilton said with a laugh.  “When I walked back into phone service, I got a text from my manager congratulating me on making the NSW team.

“I went online to check the team to make sure I was in it, and it was a really nice surprise. It’s a great honour, and I can’t wait to play.”

Wilton said it would be a great experience and he was even more excited to have family making the trip to Brisbane to cheer him on. 

“All my siblings and my parents will make the trip up to support me, which will be awesome,” he said. 

Wilton will start on the bench for the match, but hopes to have the same impact as one of the stalwarts of the senior Blues’ squad.

“I look at Boyd Cordner, just his toughness and eagerness to win, and how he’s always willing to get in there and do the hard stuff for the team,” he said. “He always does what needs to be done.”

Wilton said the pathways set up for him by both the Narooma Devils and the Cronulla Sharks helped him become the player he is today.

“I wouldn’t be representing NSW if it wasn’t for my junior footy at the Narooma Devils, then coming through the Cronulla Sharks,” he said. “It’s made me a better footballer.”

Rodwell echoed the sentiment, previously saying it was an eye-opening experience to train alongside the Rabbitohs’ top squad. 

“It’s actually been a dream come true, growing up watching them play every week, then learning how they live their lives being an NRL player and then on the field as well,” Rodwell said.