Young Titans tyro Toby Sexton has finished his schooling at Palm Beach Currumbin, and walked straight into a rugby league education under the tutelage of Gold Coast Senior Assistant Coach Jim Dymock.
Sexton is part of the Titans’ playmaking cartel getting a masterclass in halfback play from Dymock, one of the most skilful playmakers of his generation during his career as a lock or five-eighth with Canterbury and Parramatta, NSW and Australia.
Sexton has impressed in his first NRL pre-season, coming out of a successful junior season where he played for the Australian Schoolboys, played a key role in Tweed Seagulls winning the QRL’s Mal Meninga Cup and the national Under-18 title, and led PBC to victory in the Allan Langer Cup.
While there is plenty of excitement at the Club about Sexton’s potential, Dymock is there to reinforce the “flipside” that comes with being an NRL prodigy – ensuring no one gets carried away with the youngster’s growth and progression.
Monday Motivation
“Toby is a typical kid coming into the NRL system – he is loving the attacking side of things, and the drills where we are doing six-on-four situations,” Dymock said.
“He is great at summing up what is going on.
“But attack is just one part of being an NRL player. The flipside is, your defence has to be right as well.
“Toby is still a little green in that area, and that is completely understandable given he is coming out of a school environment. It is a bit harder in the NRL.
“There is plenty to learn, and Toby is doing really well.”
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The “flipside” is something Dymock has been preaching to Sexton when talk invariably turns to rugby league during Dymock’s playing days – and how the youngster would have thrived in the more “attack-friendly” environment of footy in the 1990s.
“Toby really enjoys rugby league,” Dymock said. “He is a student of the game – he is always asking me about the old days, which is good.
“We always have a yarn about what things were like back in the day. I tell him he would have enjoyed it back then, because there was only four interchanges, and the forwards got tired quicker so the halves could attack them after the first 10 minutes.
“The flipside was – back then – if they got hold of you, your head might be coming off. That was a little less enjoyable.”
