OVER the best part of a decade, Sam Clune has established himself as one of the region's top rugby league talents, shown by him playing in both the NSW Cup (for Penrith and Illawarra) and the Queensland Cup (Mackay).
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He's also played a key role in helping Thirroul win an Illawarra title in 2014 and Shellharbour claim the Group Seven premiership in 2018.
During that period, Clune also had the honour of playing for NSW Country on their Hawaiian tour in 2014.
But one thing the Albion Park-Oak Flats half hasn't achieved in his career to date is pulling on a NSW Country jersey to face City on home soil - which will all change this Sunday.
"Playing for NSW Country is right up there in terms of representative honours I had to date," Clune said.
"Because, in this instance, you only got a couple of matches to impress the selectors - so it's nice to know I can string a couple of strong games together at a high level."
As the 28-year-old alludes to, his selection game on the back of just four games for the Illawarra South Coast Dragons during their run to the country championships grand final.
"Personally, I believe I played pretty solid for the Dragons during the four matches," he said.
"I was just really happy to be playing representative footy again, especially as fullback - a position I hadn't really played full-time since 2014 with the Thirroul Butchers."
Clune and his NSW Country squad, which also features Group Seven's Cam Vazzoler (Warilla-Lake South), Ryan James (Shellharbour), Chanse Perham (Stingrays), Corey Mulhall (Gerringong), will head into camp on Thursday, ahead of their match against NSW City at the Collegians Sporting Complex.
"It's really special to be named in the squad alongside so many South Coast boys," the Illawarra Sports High School alumnus said.
"We had a really strong group in that Dragons squad, with a lot of different personalities and experience- which made for a really enjoyable campaign.
"As such, it's unreal a couple of us got rewarded with a NSW Country jersey, giving us a chance to play alongside one another once again, while also doing our clubs and the South Coast region proud."
The match, which kicks off at 12.30pm, is just one of four matches to be played at the venue on Sunday - with other fixtures being held at both Ron Costello Oval and Bankwest Stadium (including Park's Adam Bezzina and his NSW Country open women's side battling City from 2.30pm) on Saturday.
"As I only know a couple of the blokes in the City team, I don't have too many expectations ahead of the weekend's game expect it's going to be of an extremely high standard," he said.
"It's a great competition, so it's only right to anticipate that it's going to be a really tough game.
"I'm also looking forward to the challenge of testing myself against players of that calibre.
"Winning would obviously be great obviously but I'm more excited to see how our country-based competitions stack up against the standard of the Ron Massey Cup because I believe we can really give them a solid contest on Sunday."
Following Sunday's match, which will mark the first time since 2017 the annual clash has been held, Clune will return to Centenary Field and help his Eagles chase that elusive semi-final berth.
"The Eagles have made a really solid start to the season but there's always plenty to work on," Clune said, whose Park side are 2-1 this season.
"The biggest thing for us is just putting together 80-minute performances week in, week out.
"We have had a few guys out like Tom Warner and Blake Jones and when they return, it'll make a big impact on the boys.
"There's still a long way to go this season but we're happy how we're travelling after the first few rounds."
Other Group Seven products that will be in action during NSW Rugby League representative round are Gerringong duo Caleb Hall and Bailey Marks and Stingrays' Dextar Grant, who are in the under 16s Country side.
Their side, coached by Shaun Davison, play the under 16s NSW City outfit, headlined by late call-up James Walsh (Stingrays), from 11am Saturday at Bankwest Stadium.