Brumbies flyer Andy Muirhead has spent most of his life being told he was too small to succeed at rugby union.
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But for all the knockers, he has some pretty big admirers too. Like Australian coach Dave Rennie, who brought Muirhead into the fold early this week for his 40-man mini Wallabies camp in Sydney.
It's another significant step along the way for 28-year-old Muirhead who refused to abandon his Wallabies dream when he was forced to leave Brisbane to pursue his rugby career.
"I guess I've been told I was too small since I was a young teenager," Muirhead said.
"I found a way to work my way around that, get myself a Super contract at some point. It's not something that's really in my head, I know I'm a small person, small in stature but I don't really feel like that contributes in games.
"I feel like I can use my strengths to the team advantage, especially at the Brumbies."
He might only tip the scales at 85kg on a good day, but Muirhead has been playing above his weight since the Brumbies plucked him out of Canberra's John I Dent Cup in 2017.
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Yet Muirhead is eyeing further improvement on the rugby field, and it's a quality Brumbies coach Dan McKellar admires in his explosive winger - hence the offer of a two-year contract extension last year which will take him through to the end of 2022.
By that stage, Muirhead may well be a Wallaby.
"I'll be the first to admit I've got a lot of flaws in my game that I need to work on and that's probably another positive about being in this program, is that you have a fresh set of eyes of coaches that pick up on certain things that you need to improve on," Muirhead said.
"It's good to get a fresh set of eyes and know that there's plenty of things to work on to be the best player I can be.
"At the start of last year I thought I might have been in a position to put my hand up for a more frequent Brumbies spot and in turn get in some sort of eyes of Wallabies selection.
"Last year that didn't happen. I didn't get my hopes up because last year I was disappointed that I wasn't there.
"I was fairly emotional inside [when named to join the Wallabies camp] and pretty happy to get some sort of recognition.
"I know there's a long way to go in terms of playing with the Wallabies and making the next squad but just being able to have my foot in the door, I'm pretty stoked with that."
Muirhead returned to Canberra on Tuesday night ahead of the Brumbies' clash with Melbourne on Sunday.
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
