Innisfail star gets start with under-20 Eels

ELISABETH CHAMPION INNISFAIL will be losing a rugby league star this week, as Bailey Biondi-Odo makes the move to New South Wales to play for the Parramatta Eels.

The 16-year-old halfback will be taking off tomorrow, ready to start training with the Eels’ under-20 squad.

Biondi-Odo has been in the team’s sights since last year, when he moved temporarily to play for the team.

However, homesickness brought him back to Innisfail to finish his schooling.

“I went down at the start of last year when I was pretty young, and I got homesick and had to come back, but I think now that I am older and more mature, I think I am ready to go down and give it a good crack,” he said.

“I know most of the boys in the house so it will be better this time.

“I’m looking forward to training and being more independent, and not living with Mum and Dad.”

He said he hoped an NRL contract could be in his future, but in the meantime, he just hoped to prove his worth to the team.

“Being my first preseason down there, I just want to have a good pre-season and show the coaches there that I am down there to achieve something,” he said. “I want to give the coach a bit of an eye-opener as to what I want to do while I am down there.”

Biondi-Odo comes from a family of footballers and first started playing the sport at 12.

He is contracted to play for Parramatta for the next season, but said he would wait and see what offers he may get in the future.