Jai Field made a name for Parramatta Eels in Peter Sterling’s famous No. 7 jersey

In addition to making his debut against North Queensland at Bankwest Stadium, Field will also give Eels the No. 7 shirt that made Sterling famous.

“It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” Said Monique. “It’s a bit surreal for us.”

Even when her son played for St. George Illawarra, Monique and Mike still cheered the blue and gold.

“We have had to keep this a secret for the past few years,” said Monique. “The funny thing is that Parramatta has a great record against the dragons, so we had to make fairy taps privately when you’re down, you can’t really cheer.”

Monique does not have to hide here if she is one of the select few who are allowed to enter the Bankwest Stadium on Friday as part of the limited amount. However, there were times when it looked like she would never see her son make the big time.

Field was always the smallest person on the field to get through the classes and is still relatively light at 85 kg. There was a time in his early teens when the Albion Park product was considering giving it away to focus on other sports like athletics and beach sprint.

One of Field’s Junior Footy teammates was Blake Lawrie, who was almost twice his size.

“Blocker[Lawrie]looked like he was 10 years older than him, he was a man-child, “said Monique.” And Jai was tiny. So it was always with him, he’s really small. “[Lawrie}lookedlikehewas10yearsolderthanhimhewasaman-child”Moniquesaid”AndJaiwastinyThat’showit’salwaysbeenwithhimhe’sreallysmall”[Lawrie}lookedlikehewas10yearsolderthanhimhewasaman-child”Moniquesaid”AndJaiwastinyThat’showit’salwaysbeenwithhimhe’sreallysmall”

What he lacked in size, he made up for in speed. At Nippers he was once in a dead heat for a medal with a much taller boy who was fondly known as “Big Tom” at the time.

Apparently “Big Tom” was pretty handy in football too. It turned out that the lanky teenager was named Tom Trbojevic.

While Field never enjoyed the same growth spurt, he stayed with the Steeden. His reward will be a 12th first-class appearance on Friday to replace injured central defender Mitchell Moses.

Instead of playing ducks and dragons when naming his team, Brad Arthur immediately announced that Field would be the new playmaker.

“It’s great, we’re looking forward to it,” said Arthur. “We wanted to name him in the seven jersey right away to show that we believed in him.

“He did more than enough to take his chance. The team believes in him and wants him out there too.”

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Field rejected Arthur’s initial approach after signing at Leeds, but reconsidered when the move failed after Rhys Martin took up full import space. The former Dragons utility initially signed a train and trial contract with the Eels in the pre-season and has been impressive ever since.

“He worked hard last season and waited for his opportunity,” said Arthur.

Field still commutes about two and a half hours a day from his home in Shellharbour to workout. As a profound thinker, it’s an opportunity to listen to inspiring podcasts like he’d heard about a surf star recently.

“He’s really inspired by other people’s adversity,” said Monique.[triumphover}adversity”Moniquesaid[triumphover}adversity”Moniquesaid

“He’s a really analytical guy … Sometimes we say to him, ‘Don’t analyze things, just do it’.”

On Friday he will have the opportunity to do just that.