He will continue his path to that goal when he dons the NSW jersey in the Australian rugby league championships in Melbourne in August.

The titles will pit all states and territory team’s against each other in a competition where Queensland is normally dominant.

Blake started playing as a four year old with the Camden Haven Eagles, spent two seasons with the Lake Cathie club and now is well entrenched in the Port Macquarie Sharks system.

His journey saw him represent Polding in the state titles where his team lost just two matches out of seven played but finished fifth in the pool competition.

As part of the NSW team, Blake will enter a seven day training camp in the first week of school holidays at Narrabeen with a second, three-day camp scheduled for Wollongong.

He will then fly with the team to Melbourne for the championships.

A backrower who loves to play in the middle of defence, Blake rates NSW and St George Illawarra’s Tyson Frizell as his favourite player although he says Boyd Cordner is also a player he looks up to.

“I also watch a lot of youtube clips featuring Marty Taupau – because I love the way he hits (defends) – and really like Jonathon Thurston as a player,” Blake said.

As a measure of his desire to compete at the highest level, Blake has also upped his training schedule, even turning up at Sharks under 18s training on occasions and monitors his diet.

“I definitely want to make a career out of football, and will keep training hard to improve myself and my skills,” he said.

He also wants to eventually play with the Sharks first grade side. “And I’d like to play alongside my brother Mitch in that side,” he said.

The rugby league genes are strong in the Steep family. Mitch represented Polding in consecutive years, while dad Brent has coached the Eagles sides in recent years and also played NSW level at u12s.