Now, in his first full season at Merewether, the former Australian under-20 front-rower is set to emulate them.

Puchert, 24, is the only Hunter player in a 39-man Country squad to attend a training camp at the NSW Waratahs headquarters in Sydney on August 6.

The group will be reduced to 25 for the Australian Rugby Shield (ARS), which is being held in Adelaide over a week, starting September 28.

Puchert made the final Country squad last season but the ARS was cancelled because of COVID.

"It was disappointing to miss out last year," Puchert said. "I will be stoked just to pull on the Country jersey. Ideally, we get some wins and have a good time as well. It is something I haven't done before. It would be good to tick that box. A lot of the players I looked up to have all played for NSW Country."

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Puchert represented NSW Country under-17s before spending a year at the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. On returning, he got called up for the Australian under-20s against Fiji, which led to three seasons in Sydney - a year of colts at Northern Suburbs and two years playing grade for Randwick.

Tired of Sydney, he joined Merewether in 2020 but when the Hunter Rugby season was canned due to COVID, he stepped up to the Hunter Wildfires after they were given a late invitation to compete in an abbreviated Shute Shield.

Puchert cemented a spot at loosehead and was among the Wildfires' most consistent forwards.

However, he dropped down the pecking order last season and decided to go back to Merewether.

"The reason I moved from Sydney to Newcastle was so I could step back and enjoy footy more," he said. "When COVID came, there was no club footy, and I ended up at the Wildfires. I enjoyed the Wildfires but I love it at the Greens. It is more the culture.

"That's why I play rugby.

"Players in the Shute Shield have a higher skill level. In saying that, we have a really good playing group at the Greens. There are a lot of players who wouldn't look out of place in the Shute Shield."

Puchert was 108 kilograms when he arrived in Newcastle, but is down to 95.

"Scrumagging is mostly technique," Puchert said. "Playing against the more experienced props in the Shute Shield, you learn that pretty quickly."

Merewether coach Jamie Lind labelled Puchert a "deadset weapon".

"Whatever he is into, whether it is on the pitch or off it, he is 100 percent into it," Lind said. "He is a raving lunatic but a great bloke."

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