He performed despite the burden of five consecutive NSW Origin defeats at the tender age of 21, so don’t expect youth to limit Trent Merrin’s aspirations to the international stage this year.
The Dragons enforcer has set his sights on playing for Australia, should his form warrant it, possibly with a berth on the end-of-season Kangaroos tour.
The 22-year-old’s name has no doubt lingered in the minds of Australian selectors since his historic 2011 season.
Merrin featured with Country and Blues honours en route to 25 Dragons appearances, in which he averaged 13.2 runs, 113.6m and 25.9 tackles per game.
‘‘My main goal is to start off well this year and get the ball rolling and then hopefully be consistent week in, week out,’’ said the Shellharbour Sharks junior.
‘‘Hopefully there’s green and gold at the end of the tunnel - that’s something that I’d like to achieve.
‘‘Playing for your country is the highest honour in the game. Every athlete wants to set some goals and achieve them, and to try and make the best team in the world is probably one of the highest goals you can achieve.
‘‘I’m not pushing it too hard but we’ll see what happens.’’
Merrin is a realist when it comes to representative honours, insisting he would never allow expectations to affect his club performances.
He credits his meteoric rise in the NRL to attitude and approach - traits which have only strengthened in recent months.
‘‘I’ve learned a lot from last year and I’ve matured a bit more into the game,’’ he said.
‘‘You’ve got the players around you and that helps you stay level on the ground and train hard and not worry what happens outside of football.
‘‘I’m just going to have to watch what I did last year and try to pick up on a few things that I need to improve on and hopefully do those little percentages better.’’
Fresh from a three-day Emerging Origin camp last weekend, when he joined team-mates Dan Hunt, Kyle Stanley and a host of other NRL stars, Merrin has renewed his ambitions to don the sky blue this year.
Pressed on whether the same camp would have improved his preparations for the three-game series last year, Merrin said: ‘‘Yeah, 100 per cent. I reckon it would have helped me out a lot but in saying that I took last year with both hands and did what I could with it.
‘‘It was good to have [NSW coach] Ricky [Stuart] talk to us about what Origin means to him and what it means to players,’’ the two-game participant added.
‘‘I took a lot of positives out of it and I’m sure everyone else did, too.’’
Merrin is at an advantage with coach Steve Price at the Dragons’ helm this year, having played under the 34-year-old in the under 20s.
‘‘I think Pricey’s doing a really good job building on the players he’s brought over and everyone’s bonded really well,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m very happy that Pricey’s got the top job and I’m going to do the best I can for him.’’
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