Marmin Barba excited, nervous about rugby sevens switch

RUGBY SEVENS: Former Mackay junior Marmin Barba is excited about the prospect of all the open space in rugby sevens.

QUALITY: Marmin Barba admits he’s nervous about the switch to rugby sevens. Picture: David Nielsen

RUGBY SEVENS: Former Mackay junior Marmin Barba is excited about the prospect of all the open space in rugby sevens.

The Ipswich Jets grand final winner quit rugby league to sign a six-week contract with the Aussie Sevens team.

Barba will have the chance to prove himself at the Fiji Coral Coast 7s tournament from January 14-16.

"I'm feeling good and really nervous, it's a big switch for me," he said.

"I've got plenty of nerves but I'll just try and do my best. Hopefully I'll be in the team for Rio (Olympics)."

Barba said the reason for the switch was he wanted a new challenge.

"It's a really different game to rugby league. There's a lot of things I have to learn but I'm slowly getting used to it," he said.

The former Norths junior said in sevens there was a lot of fast players in the sport like himself.

"I've got to really work hard on a lot of parts of my game," Barba said. "Hopefully I can get even quicker."

Barba is training by himself. His new teammates returned from a tournament in South Africa yesterday. If Barba's switch in codes does not work out he said he would be calling again on the Ipswich Jets.

"My hopes are high here and hopefully I do get a bigger contract here at the end of the day," he said.

Barba brother is Ben Barba, also a former Norths player.

His other brother Aaron played in the Mackay Rugby Union grand final this year.

Originally published as Marmin Barba excited, nervous about rugby sevens switch