Josh Drinkwater did not hold back when boldly declaring his ambition to play in the NRL.
Currently biding his time in the Wests Tigers Intrust Super Premiership NSW side, the crafty halfback walked off Ringrose Park yesterday with his head held high after yet another dominant performance, and made his intentions very clear.
"I want to play NRL, I’m ready to play NRL week in, week out.” Drinkwater said to NSWRL.com.au after his sides 40-18 victory over Wentworthville.
“If there’s a club out there looking for a halfback, I’m ready to go.”
There is little doubt that Drinkwater has the ability to play top-level Rugby League, backing up his stellar 2015 season with a strong start to the year.
Despite the Tigers only sitting in sixth position, Drinkwater has already formed successful combinations with new recruits Josh Addo-Carr and Michael Chee Kam, and they were on display at Ringrose Park yesterday.
Three perfect cross-field chip kicks led to three tries shared between Addo-Carr and Chee Kam, while he also had a hand in two more for the newly found pairing.
“Foxy [Josh Addo-Carr] is a weapon, he played NRL last week, so he’s full of confidence,” Drinkwater said.
“Chee Kam has come to left centre and he’s a great player, I’ve had Asipeli [Fine] on my side for two years now so we’re forming a good combination.”
“We are getting continuity with each other and the more we play with each other, the more our combinations are going to work and hopefully it builds.”
The win – orchestrated by Drinkwater – comes as a relief for the 23-year-old, whose side had strung back-to-back frustrating losses before their bye last week.
Drinkwater played a part in six of yesterday’s tries, however he was adamant there was significant room for improvement due to the fact the Tigers let the foot off the gas after leading 28-4 at halftime.
“We’ve come off a bye and a couple of losses, we spoke all week about getting a good performance in,” Drinkwater said.
“I thought we started really well, we completed most of our sets in that first half and that set it up for the game. We just got into a bit of habit [when] everything was working for us and that was never going to work for 80 minutes.
“We spoke at halftime that we had a lot of possession in the first half and a lot of things went our way, [and] that it’s going to even up. Unfortunately didn’t react to it, but we still came away 40-18 against Wenty who are coming second on the ladder, it’s a good result.”
With the Wests Tigers NRL team under-performing, it is refreshing to see a player from the club in such a key position in tremendous form, and the door for another first grade match is opening with every dominant performance Drinkwater puts forward.
