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Local product ready to make mark in Group 9

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Jeff Hanson, Narrandera Argus

The word prodigious can get thrown around a lot these days, but it’s really the only way to describe 21-year-old athlete and rugby league star, Tristan Eldridge.

Yet another talented indigenous product out of Narrandera, Eldridge and his family moved to Canberra when he was young.

Attending Erindale College, the youngster seemingly had the world at his feet, winning multiple Australian Championships in the sports of Boxing and Judo.

After choosing rugby league as his sport of choice, the talented outside back was nurtured in the Canberra Raiders system, playing Harold Matthews Cup, SG Ball Cup and Jersey Flegg Cup for the Green Machine.

Eldridge represented the ACT Secondary Schools Rugby League team at the Australian Championships and the NSW Indigenous under 15s team.

He went on to make his first-grade debut in the Canberra Cup competition as a fresh-faced 17-year-old for the Queanbeyan Blues, before joining Gungahlin and winning the competition’s fullback of the year honours in 2021.

He helped Monaro to a Country Championships win in 2021, and in 2022 he returned to the Blues and again featured in the Monaro side.

Now Eldridge is eyeing off a new challenge, and he wants to make his mark with the Gundagai Tigers in the strong Group 9 competition.

“I wanted to try something different. I want to be able to go back home to Narrandera, and hopefully get my family out to watch me play for the first time and playing in Wagga and that, it will be a lot easier,” Eldridge said.

“I left home when I was pretty young and was raised in Canberra, so I think it’s a good opportunity for me.”

Eldridge will team up with his cousin and fellow Narrandera product Jack Lyons when playing for the Tigers, and he admitted it was a big selling point.

“It will be good to be able to put the jersey on and play with Jack for the whole season,” Eldridge said.

“We played the (Koori) Knockout together, but to get a full season in will be great.”

Over the years, many Canberra players have taken on the challenge of playing in Group 9, with the physically of the competition the most notable difference when compared to the Canberra Cup competition, but Eldridge was prepared for what lay ahead.

“I believe it is going to be a really tough comp, and very different to what we have in Canberra,” Eldridge said.

“The passion out there will be the difference, which is what bush footy is always about, and everyone will get around each other, which will be good and I’m really looking forward to it.

“It will be different, but I think I will be able to bring a bit of spark out of the back and hopefully get them that threepeat.”

Eldridge appears to be a timely pick-up for the Tigers, with the future of incumbent custodian Latrell Siegwalt up in the air.

Talking to the Narrandera Argus last week, Siegwalt confirmed that he is yet to decide where he will play in 2023, but he reiterated that he was still a chance of returning next season.

Narrandera Argus 17 November 2022

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 17 November 2022.

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