Hoy happy to bide his time as horizons expand

Things are moving fast in Tex Hoy's world.

He was a standout for the Knights at the NRL Nines in Perth. He's since played two trials, covering both fullback and five-eighth.

And in the past 48 hours he's been upgraded from a development contract into coach Adam O'Brien's top-30 NRL squad.

"I'm pretty happy, but there's no promises. I've still got a long way to go as I'm only young still," the 20-year-old said after scoring one of the team's 10 tries in the 58-0 domination of the Roosters in Gosford on Saturday night.

His four-pointer was an insightful play that started about 35 metres from the Roosters line. Hoy saw a gap before a small and decisive step was followed by an accelerated dash to the line.

"I keep working hard, play some consistent footy and see what happens," he said.

Breaking into the NRL team is likely to come around Origin time as first-choice No.1 Kalyn Ponga heads into the Queensland Maroons camp.

"First thing I hope Kalyn plays Origin and if he does, I hope the coach calls me up as I'll be ready," Hoy said.

It could come earlier if current No.6 Kurt Mann suffers an injury or drop in form.

"Tex has an innate ability to make things happen. It's a rare talent and something we want to work with," O'Brien said when asked to assess Hoy's performance.

He's not willing yet to pronounce the young playmaker's future – whether that is indeed in the halves outside Mitchell Pearce as rugby league  Immortal Andrew Johns has forecast.

"I just see he has a future. We've only just started to really talk about him since the Nines," O'Brien said.

"He understands he's got a long way to go defensively [at No.6] being a fullback all his life.

"We've made it really clear to the guys that the way you make it into this side is being a good defender so he knows that.

"But there's definitely a canvas there to work with."

As for Hoy, he's open to any NRL future.

"I definitely could play five-eighth. I also could play centre if the coach needs me to," he said.

"I played the whole pre-season at fullback so I'd like to do more training at five-eighth to get used to that role. Obviously the defensive fitness is completely different to fullback."

He did play some five-eighth as a junior and through Harold Matthews Cup and some Jersey Flegg play. He also played a quarter of the NRL trial against the Dragons in Maitland a week ago at No.6.

But for now, O'Brien is happy that Hoy, son of surfing great Matt Hoy, is great mates with Ponga and Watson and loves to hang out at the beach and around the Hunter together.

"Number one he's a good kid so he ticks the first box. He's our type of guy, Tex," O'Brien said.

"I wouldn't say he's casual in nature but I see Tex as a bit more assertive than the gang he hangs out with in KP, Connor and that.

"They're all great young kids – it's a great little group there and enjoy coaching them.

"More importantly he's got good footy ability. You saw him there tonight run the ball."