Maryborough Bears junior Bruce Reville a rising star

Maryborough Bears midfielder Bruce Reville is one of Fraser Coast's rising stars. Reville was awarded AFL Queensland's Troy Clarke Scholarship

Afl player - 15 yr old Bruce Reville.Photo: Alistair Brightman / Fraser Coast Chronicle. Picture: Alistair Brightman

BRUCE Reville has one thing to say to the person who nominated him the AFL Queensland’s Troy Clarke Scholarship: “thank you”.

“This is going to help me so much with my career and I can’t believe it happened to me,” Reville said.

The Maryborough Bear is one of the Fraser Coast’s brightest junior AFL prospects, and that status was reinforced when he was awarded the scholarship earlier this month.

Reville, who was born in Papua New Guinea, grew up in Cairns and dreams of becoming a marine engineer, has no idea who put his name forward for the award, but the 15-year-old said he was incredibly thankful to the mystery person.

“This one’s definitely on top at the moment, it’s best achievement I’ve had so far,” Reville, who was last year’s under-14 AFL Wide Bay rep Player of the Year, said.

Reville played rugby league when he was based in Cairns, and started playing Aussie rules for Burrum Joeys when he was in U9s.

He moved to the Bears to play for their U11s when the Joeys folded, and has not looked back.

“The club’s awesome,” he said. “I’ve got a good bond with everyone here – it’s probably the best club in Wide Bay.”

The midfielder said he looked up to fellow Bear Steve Marsh, describing his U17s coach as a good role model, and dreamed of one day playing footy professionally.

There is a long way to go to make that dream a reality, but given he has played for Wide Bay’s U15s, Queensland’s Diversity Games side and was included in the World team for the upcoming National U16 Championships, he is truly on the right path.

The Troy Clarke Scholarship is named after the former Brisbane Bear who died in 2013.

It is designed to support a young person from regional Queensland each year, who displays the same core values that Clarke, a former AFLQ game development manager, embodied throughout his life.

Reville has kicked 14 goals for the Bears’ U17s this season, whose five-game winning streak was snapped by Hervey Bay Bombers last week. The Bears currently sit equal second on the table.