Canterbury-Bankstown local junior Justin Aboumelhem has been selected in the Australian Under 15 Merit Team following an outstanding tournament for New South Wales Combined Catholic Colleges (NSWCCC) over the last week.

Justin represented the Bulldogs in the 2012 Harold Matthews competition - a year ahead of schedule and in one match against SWSAS was named in the Rugby League News Team of the Week. He currently plays Junior League for the Bankstown Bulls club and began his Junior League at the Bankstown Sports club.

In the four games that Justin played he scored 2 tries and landed 16 goals for a total of 40 points. He was Player of the Match in the NSWCCC semi final win against Queensland White and slotted over six goals in the 41-32 victory against Queensland Maroon in the final.

Congratulations to Justin from all at the Junior League for selection at centre for the Australian Schoolboys Under 15 Merit Team.

The NSWCCC defeated Queensland Maroon in the final on Friday night in Darwin by 41-32. The Coach of the the winning NSWCCC under 15 side is former Bulldogs forward Brian Battese, who won premierships with Canterbury in 1984 and 1985 and the President of the NSWCCC organisation is CBDJRL Life Member Nal Wijesekera.

Meanwhile, Bulldogs Harold Matthews representative Patrick Kopu who has played all his Junior League with the St George Dragons JRLFC may have narrowly missed on Australian under 15 selection, but he did have the honour of being named captain of the New South Wales Combined High Schools side (NSWCHS). Congratulations to Patrick for being awarded with the captaincy of a major NSW representative side at under 15's level.

To view the full Australian team visit the ASSRL website.