GOLD Coast Titans could do worse than keep a close eye on Tylee Donovan.
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The promising 16-year-old fullback has accepted an offer to make the move north of the border to take up a sporting scholarship with Palm Beach Currumbin State High School.
Instead of starting his year 12 commitments at Wauchope High School, Donovan will instead start year 11 again after his manager organised a deal up in Queensland.
Mum, Paige Chatfield, said the school had seen enough of the teenager to indicate they wanted him there for his two entire senior school years.
“They wanted to work with him for eight terms and not just three,” she said.
“One of the subjects he’s going to do will be rugby league, so he’ll get to go to school and do that for 45 minutes each day.”
Instead of boarding, he will stay with his aunt – making Queensland his home away from home.
Wauchope Blues Group 3 coach Anthony Boyd saw first-hand how talented Donovan was when he starred in a number of their matches on the way to a semi-final exit in 2018.
He knows players have to move away to pursue potential careers in the National Rugby League, despite the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs’ five-year partnership with the North Coast.
“It would be nice to always have them play for your junior club, but it’s the way it is and I’m all for it,” Boyd said.
“That’s what playing footy is all about; you want to see these young kids go away and hope they come back to town when it’s all done.”
In just the last 12 months, Donovan has experienced the ups and downs of rugby league having been forced to sit out the season for Newcastle’s Harold Matthews (under-16) side due to concussion.
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