Munns scored a brace in Rosebud's breakthrough 6-3 win over Phoenix last round. The haul took his total to three and moved Munns alongside Kale Bradbery at the top of the goal-scorers' list after four rounds.

Rosewarne has known Munns since the striker was 11 and had no doubts the rookie would handle leading the line in the rough and tumble world of the Northern NSW NPL.

"He is certainly not intimidated," Rosewarne said. "For a boy who is 17, he is 193 centimetres tall. Physically he can cope. He is almost a throw back to an old-school No.9. He is pretty strong and happy to hold up the ball. He is big and he is awkward. His knees and elbows get into places that upset defenders.

"There is a bit more to him than that. He is a hard working nine and provides a lot of energy in both defence and attack. He will do the work to harass and harangue the back four. He is not flashy, he is just effective."

Munns opened his goal-scoring account in the 6-2 loss to Olympic in round one with a neat dink over the keeper after being played in.

On Saturday, he put Rosebud ahead after 15 minutes at Adamstown Oval, curling a freekick from 20 metres over the wall and into the top left corner.

With the home side up 3-1 at the break, he put a nail in the Valentine coffin a minute into the second half.

A ball was delivered across the six yard box, which bounced up and Munns made a late run and headed home at the back post.

"He can balance the physical side - jump and compete - with a bit of touch," Rosewarne said.

Incredibly, Munns is not the youngest member of the Adamstown strike force.

Zaik Luck is 16 and marked his starting debut with a goal against Valentine, his second for the campaign.

"Again, he is 188cm," Rosewarne said. "It allows them physically to compete. Apart from having good feet and good game awareness, they still need to be able to compete physically. He is a left footer, but we played him on the right to allow him to come in on his left foot.

"Kyle had experience playing last season off the bench for Shane [Cansdell-Sherriff]. It is all new for Zaik. I probably held him back a little bit. Some older heads might see these young boys and go 'let's see how much ticker is in them'. He has been very good coming off the bench when the game starts to open up. He earned his chance."

Next for young Rosebud outfit are the Lambton Jaffas and experienced defender Josh Piddington.

"They will be tough," Rosewarne said. "They have quality across the pitch. We just have to stay in the game for as long as we can, frustrate them."

"After that win there should be an improvement - not in their attitude because that has been fantastic - but it might give them the confidence that they can get results.

"Kyle will love the challenge of taking on Piddo. Piddo is strong and with all that experience, it is the best thing for Kyle to come up against."

IN NEWS TODAY:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: