'Grew up watching them': Childhood heroes driving Bostock's World Cup dream
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Kangaroos rookie Jack Bostock has vowed to use his State of Origin experience as a launchpad for a successful transition to the international arena.
Bostock is set to make his Test debut against New Zealand next Thursday night in the opening match of the IRL Rugby League World Cup.
The selection caps a stunning rise for the Dolphins flyer who tore his ACL just 15 months ago.
Bostock was called into the NSW side for the State of Origin decider at Suncorp Stadium and played a key role in the Blues’ upset victory.
October 15. It begins.
It’s an experience, he said, that laid the platform for his rise to the national squad.
“I got a lot of confidence from Origin,” Bostock said. “I didn’t get to finish the game but I did get to play 62 minutes before I had the HIA.
“We were in the lead for most of that game against a pretty good Queensland side so I can take some confidence from that and put it towards this arena.
“The players in this team are also going to give me a lot of confidence being alongside those boys.”
Match: Australia v New Zealand
Round 1 -
home Team
Australia
away Team
New Zealand
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Such has been the speed of Bostock’s rise, he was a 19-year-old who hadn’t even made his NRL debut the last time a World Cup was contested back in 2022.
Since then, he has developed into one of the game’s best attacking outside backs, made his NSW debut and now stands on the precipice of a maiden Kangaroos appearance.
It’s a stunning ascension for a player who struggled to make the Illawarra Steelers junior representative teams as a teenager.
Origin audition: Jack Bostock
“At the end of 2022 I had just moved up to Redcliffe and was watching the World Cup at home,” Bostock said. “I was watching a couple of my now Dolphins teammates play so it’s cool to be playing in one now.
“I grew up watching the Kangaroos as a kid. Smith, Thaiday, Cronk, Slater, no matter who was playing for them I was always watching the Kangaroos.
“Some of the boys who are here now like James Tedesco, Latrell, Turbo [Tom Trbojevic], Cam Munster, I grew up watching them play. To be here now playing with them is going to be pretty cool.”
Bostock is likely to line up on the wing for Australia’s World Cup opener against the Kiwis next Thursday night, with more than 35,000 fans set to descend on Allianz Stadium for the clash.
Tom Trbojevic shapes as the Kangaroos other winger, with Latrell Mitchell, Kotoni Staggs and Bradman Best battling for two centre positions.
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Trobojevic was among Bostock’s favourite players growing up and the youngster admits he has been starstruck since coming into Kangaroos camp over the past couple of days.
“I learned a lot off Teddy in Origin camp,” Bostock said. “Just watching him go about his business and now I get to do it again off the back of his performance last week in the grand final. Everyone knows what a superstar he is.
“Then Tom Trbojevic, he was a player I liked to watch when I was growing up. Both of them are fullbacks, so I liked watching them as a kid. To be here playing with them again, I’ll pick their brains and hopefully take something off them back to clubland.”
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