![Halfback Callum Rossiter will make his first grade debut for Tumut in their clash with ladder leaders Young at Twickenham on Sunday. Halfback Callum Rossiter will make his first grade debut for Tumut in their clash with ladder leaders Young at Twickenham on Sunday.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/J7tLankfguv74QY82b3G7h/29df385c-6f1a-4f95-a44c-3e8d18626fa3.jpg/r0_2435_3645_4783_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A late birthday present is a reward for a lot of time on the road for Callum Rossiter just to play with Tumut.
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Rossiter will make his first grade debut for the Blues at Twickenham on Sunday after committing to playing for his hometown club despite moving away for school.
A student at St Greg's Campbelltown, Rossiter was still determined to keep playing for Tumut and has spent hours going back and forth over the past two years.
Rossiter's debut comes just days after his 18th birthday and feels it's the perfect way to cap off a big week.
"I'm feeling good, I'm feeling confident," Rossiter said.
"I've been with Tumut since under 6s and it's always been a dream.
"It was a dream come true when Zac (Masters) told me on Tuesday no doubt that I would be starting.
"I've been cheering since then."
The travel burden has become a lot easier since Rossiter has been able to drive himself back home this year but before that he spent plenty of time on trains to get back for games and relying on his parents to go the rest of the way.
It's something he feels is all worthwhile.
"I've made the commitment to come home and play for my hometown, which I love doing," Rossiter said.
"Zac has worked really well with me not being able to train most weekends and just showing up to play.
"I've put in heaps of work, and so has my family, as it's a big commitment but it's going very well."
Last year Rossiter was part of the Canberra Raiders Harold Matthews side, which only increased his travel pressure.
With Tumut not having a Weissel Cup side this year, Rossiter has stepped up to play reserve grade.
He's impressed enough to earn his spot at halfback to take on ladder leaders Young on Sunday.
Tumut coach Zac Masters believes he's more than earned his spot.
"Cal hasn't been here for a lot of our games this year (with school) but when he has been here he's led the reserve grade side around really well," Masters said.
"He's only meant to be in under 18s but when we didn't get a side this year he decided instead of playing weekend footy in Sydney he was going to come home and play for us when he could.
"That's a credit to him for helping us out and he's shown his worth in reserve grade in the last couple of weeks and gets his opportunity."
![Lochlan McGill is out of Tumut's line up after returning home to England. Picture by Bernard Humphreys Lochlan McGill is out of Tumut's line up after returning home to England. Picture by Bernard Humphreys](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/J7tLankfguv74QY82b3G7h/2a38e069-3545-4270-93ab-4f93b5320288.jpg/r0_307_6000_3694_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Rossiter's debut also comes at an important time for the club with English hooker Lochlan McGill returning home.
Jordan Anderson returns to the dummy half role after playing there during last year's grand final win.
After losing the majority of last year's team, Tumut have struggled to adjust with three wins to their credit to find themselves in seventh place.
However Masters feels they've made big improvements throughout the year but not being able to finish off their games has proved costly.
"It's been the story of our season against these top sides, we play a really good first half and are right in the contest but don't seem to come out of the sheds to finish off the game," he said.
"The last 20 or 30 minutes especially and there's probably a few reasons for it.
"I don't think it's a lack of effort, we just don't have the luxury of having fresh middles coming off the bench, which can hurt, and we don't have a massive side so we're probably losing the ruck and it adds to the toll as the game goes on."
Masters is looking to change that around to finish off their season.
Starting with their clash with Young.
"The boys have a lot of belief in the side and how much they've improved since the start of the year and I think most sides that have played against us would say we've competed for most of the game, it's just that last 20 minutes," Masters said.
"We've got six games to go to try to push our case and hopefully we finish our year off well."