Wright-Smith, a Shoalhaven High School student, was named in the NSW under 15s side in October, after a strong showing with his Illawarra South Coast team at the state titles.

Since then, he and his team worked hard to prepare to take on the top players from around the country.

“We had a strong program of preparation with two training sessions – one in December and then one the weekend before the championships – up on the Central Coast,” Wright-Smith said.

“I could tell from how well we all trained that we should do well.

“Only one player was new to the state team system and he fitted in really well.”

Wright-Smith was right, as his team dominated the tournament from the outset.

“We started with a solid 9-2 win over ACT then had a tight 3-2 win against Western Australia, who really came out strong right from the start,” he said.

“We then had one more pool game, in which we defeated Queensland 12-nil.

“This put us into a quarter-final against South Australia, which we won 13-nil.”

NSW continued their strong form by edging out ACT 6-3 in the semi-final, to set up a grand final showdown with Victoria.

“We knew it was going to be really tough [in the final] as Victoria had also won all of their games leading up to the final – not to mention the top goal scorer for the competition Liam Henderson (13 goals) played for them too,” he said.

“As they were in a different pool to us, it was hard to compare their game to ours.

“While we were confident that we'd done well leading into the final, we went into it knowing it wasn't going to be an easy game.”

Wright-Smith was on the money, with Victoria putting their top six players on the court to start the match, seeing them score a goal in the first minute.

“Going behind in the first minute meant they were already defending their lead really early in the game,” he said.

“We came back to be 1-all, but then Victoria got two more quick goals in before half-time.

“We came back on after half-time knowing we needed to get a few more goals up, but unfortunately the game finished 5-3.”

While disappointed to lose the final, Wright-Smith and his team were still stoked to come away with a silver medal.

“I was really fortunate to be playing alongside a great bunch of guys, which meant we all wanted to play our best game, every game – we all wanted to win and represent our state with pride,” he said.

“Personally, I was fortunate to be able to score seven goals in the tournament, which placed me equal fourth on the goal scoring tally.

“I was also very proud to be named co-captain of the team, wearing the captain's band for the final.”

Wright-Smith, who is appreciative of the support he’s received in the Shoalhaven community including the Bernie Regan Sporting Trust, will now shift his focus to the under 18s NSW field trials on February 2 and 3 – with nationals to be held in Hobart in April.