NEWCOMER SALVO IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN
A HANDFUL of appearances for the Gold Coast Stingrays has been enough to earn rugby league convert Gabriel Salvo a ticket to this year’s Under-19 American Football World Championship.
A former rugby league excellence student at Coombabah State High School, 19-year-old Salvo has taken to American football like a duck to water after joining the Stingrays in the back half of last season.
He emerged as a key running back in Gold Coast’s run to a third-straight Gridiron Queensland colts title, with Australian under-19 scouts taking note and inviting him to a week-long trial on the Sunshine Coast.
With his place in the 45man squad secured, Salvo will now continue his whirlwind rise at the World Championship in Mexico from July 14.
“I am surprised (at how quickly it’s happened). When I made Australia I couldn’t believe it, you don’t expect something like that to happen when you’re new to the game,” the Pacific Pines resident said.
“I started playing halfway through the season last year and played around four games, then we had the finals. One of my mates is always saying ‘come and play gridiron’ because he thought I would be good running back and I tried it for something different.
“I really enjoyed it. I just felt comfortable and it felt natural.”