Bridgenorth ruck Tom Symes has given selectors little choice but to include him in the NTFA's representative squad after he won a points battle over star Hillwood big man Hamish Leedham in Saturday's comprehensive division one win.
The 21-year-old's strong centre bounce work and ability to contribute around the ground stood out as the Parrots turned on a second half masterclass away from home to improve to 2-0 for the season.
The Sharks burst out of the blocks with the first three goals, with only the Parrots' inaccuracy keeping them in the game.
But the visitors' superior running game overpowered Hillwood in the second half, booting ten unanswered goals to prevail 14.12 (96) to 5.1 (31).
For the past few years Symes has battled for his playing time behind another standout young ruck Dylan Farquhar, who is playing on the mainland this year.
Bridgenorth coach Zach Griffiths said Symes showed he's ready to take on the number one ruck mantle against the competition's benchmark.
"I think because we had Dylan Farquhar here the last few years, he had to have a chip on his shoulder because he wasn't the number one ruckman," Griffiths said.
"He's had to work harder than everyone else and that hard work is paying off now.
"We had to play him forward which developed his marking and one on one ability all those things is adding strings to his bow.
"He battles so hard and we had a plan going in that with Hamish we couldn't go long down the line. We had Symes in the middle a lot so we could go through him a lot ad not dump kick it down the line to him.
"He's our vice captain now, so that shows what our guys think of him."
Symes was left out of the initial rep squad, but he was added to it after a strong display in the Parrot's thrashing of St Pats last week.
"I've been trying to work on my strength, as well as being mobile," Symes said.
"I want to be able to help the boys out around the ground as well, and not down the line.
"Dylan is a great player and we've played since under 18s together, when he went I need to step up and take more responsibility.
"I've gone up against Hamish the last five years and he always works hard and pushes me on the field. Now I'm a bit older, I can start to fight back a bit more."
Griffith, who took over the coaching reins from Oliver Cook this year, has been rapt with the buy-in from his group.
"The playing group the last three months have really switched on, they're doing the right things with their strength and running programs which give you an edge at this level, and it showed today," Griffiths said.
"We know Hillwood are a proud club and they'd come with us as long as they possibly could.
"I'm building on the work Cooky did last year, to be honest. He got the boys raring to go and the responsibility for them to get fit and strong was in their time.
"Our ball movement by hand and foot is the big change in our game, we want to go wide and fast and get it in fast to Tiger (Rohan Sergeant).
Sergeant booted seven goals, backing up his bag of ten against St Pats, while Casey Walker-Russell booted three.
Elsewhere Bracknell and St Pats shared the points after playing out a thrilling draw, Lilydale accounted for Old Launcestonians by 22 points and Old Scotch defeated George Town by the same margin.
DIVISION ONE - ROUND ONE
Bridgenorth 2.3 4.8 8.10 14.12 (96) def Hillwood 3.0 5.0 5.0 5.1 (31), Bracknell 2.2 3.5 6.7 6.9 (45) drew with St Pats 2.5 3.7 6.7 6.9 (45); Lilydale 2.5 5.11 9.14 11.17 (83) def Old Launcestonians 2.2 5.3 5.6 9.7 (61), Old Scotch 3.2 7.5 10.9 14.11 (95) def George Town 3.0 6.1 8.1 12.1 (73)