One of the toughest decisions for a teenager in the country is whether or not to pack up everything and head off to the big city to chase a dream.
Sid Harvey is proof that taking a leap of faith can pay off as the Narrabri boy added another achievement to what is quickly becoming a long list when he won this year’s Shute Shield first colts premiership earlier this month and scored a hat-trick in the grand final at Coogee Oval.
The former Narrabri High School vice-captain and Blue Boars junior moved to Sydney earlier this year and linked up with the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby Union Football Club, where his sister Martha debuted last year.
The 18-year-old fullback took the competition by storm as he cemented his starting spot and began making history in a fantastic debut season.
He became the first Easts player this year to reach 100 points after he had scored five tries, 37 conversions and one penalty goal by May, then later in the month in a game against Hunter Wildfires at Newcastle Number Two Sportsground, he broke the Easts club record for the most points in a match when he scored 51 of them in a 91-14 victory, which included five tries and 13 conversions from 13 attempts.
Harvey went on to finish the regular season with 96 conversions, which was the benchmark across all grades by 30, and he extended that well past 100 in the finals series. He also scored 13 tries in the regular season and ended up with 16 after he crossed three times in the grand final.
It was then announced at Easts’ awards presentation night that his 337 points in 2024 was a new club record.
Harvey’s team had talent all across the park and blew the competition out of the water as they claimed the minor premiership after winning 17 of their 18 regular season matches. They scored 758 points in those games and conceded a competition-best 245 points to fly into the finals in great form, and then a 36-17 win over Manly and a 34-23 win over Randwick saw them reach the decider.
Third-placed Gordon beat second-placed Sydney Uni in the second week of finals to join Easts in the grand final, and Harvey and his teammates were far too strong in the decider at Coogee Oval as they scored a 53-14 victory to claim the W McMahon Shield.
The Narrabri boy scored 33 of those points after crossing for three tries, kicking six of his seven conversions and slotting two penalty goals.
He told The Courier it was a special feeling to get the job done with his teammates on grand final day.
“It was a hot day and it was pretty wild. The grade boys were all there and they were pretty charged from the day before,” Harvey said.
“They were pretty loud and it was a big crowd in general. There would have been a few thousand there at Coogee Oval.
“It’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of.
“I had a kick in front of the Gordon supporters and I heard a few obscenities that I’d never heard before. It was good fun.
“It was pretty exciting to win it. We were the benchmark team all year and we only lost one game. We knew how good we can be and we really showed it in that game.
“To look around and see all of the people that have worked with us this year – the coaches, the physios and the trainers, and everyone at the club – it was so exciting to do it and give back to them. They deserved it too, because they’ve worked as hard as us.
“For myself, I had about 25 family members there. My mum and dad, all my sisters, uncles and aunties. That was really special too.
“Our first colts side are so tight. We love each other and love playing with each other. It’s probably why we’ve been so successful this year.
“That game was the one game that we really clicked for the full game, or at least 75 minutes. We were on song at the start. We were moving the ball really well, hitting corners and playing a really smart game.
“Our forwards are really dominant. They are big hunks of humans and they move the ball like they should not be front and second rowers.
“Once we had that go-forward we could go wide, and there was too much space for us in the end.”
The Shute Shield men’s grand finals were split across two days this year, with the four senior grades playing at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday, August 31, and the three colts deciders being played on Sunday, September 1, at Coogee Oval.
Easts were involved in all four senior games and they won first and fourth grade, before the first colts and third colts prevailed the next day. It was a near-perfect end to a superb season for the club, in which all seven men’s teams played in the preliminary finals and six of them reached their deciders. They were crowned club champions and colts club champions as well.
Harvey said that he could never have predicted the success that both he and the club would enjoy in 2024.
“It’s pretty surreal really,” the junior Blue Boar said.
“You don’t ever think you’re going to come down to that.
“I was tossing up where to play at the end of last year and Martha told me Easts was a great club.
“I didn’t know how it was all going to go but it worked out very well.
“There’s a whole heap of talent at this club.”
The modest teenager credited a lot of his try-scoring and point-scoring accomplishments to his teammates and their success as a unit, but also added that he had worked tirelessly on his kicking to reach his potential this year.
He is certainly achieving that given he kicked at about 90 per cent during the 2024 campaign.
Harvey is currently training with the NSW Waratahs’ under-19s squad ahead of the 2024 Super Rugby Men’s Under-19s competition that will get underway later this month.
Fellow former Narrabri junior Blue Boar Joey Fowler is also a part of that squad after recently returning to the Waratahs’ setup from the Melbourne Rebels, which he joined last year.
Harvey and Fowler, whose fathers Denis and Chris are both Narrabri Blue Boars legends, grew up playing together in the juniors from age seven to 14.
Sid said he was excited to link up with his mate for the Super Rugby campaign and was hoping to secure a starting spot for the NSW team.
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