Promising young hooker Danny Levi was named in the NYC Holden Cup 2015 Team of the Year on Monday morning for the second year running.
It caps off an exciting year for the Junior Kiwi in which he made his NRL debut and signed a two-year contract extension at the Newcastle Knights.
“It was a good achievement for me to make the team for a second year,” Levi told Knights TV.
“I was really happy when I found out, and the family were definitely proud.”
The 19-year-old drove down to Sydney on Monday morning to receive the award, and rubbed shoulders with other young stars at the event such as Tom Trbojevic and Jayden Nikorima.
“There was a bit of an early drive down, but I got to meet all of the other players which was good,” Levi explained.
Levi played 13 games in the NYC competition this year, shifting to the NRL side for seven matches and spending the rest of his time in NSW Cup.
The dummy-half spent his time in Cup developing his skills against bigger and stronger opponents with an eye to eventually cement a spot in first grade.
“Playing in Cup definitely helped, it was a good stepping stone to progress up into first grade,” Levi said.
So far Levi hasn’t looked out of place in reserve grade, with the side progressing to a preliminary final against the Mounties this weekend after beating the Penrith Panthers 44-12 on Sunday.
“I didn’t expect to win like that, but I guess it just shows that if we put in a good 80 minute performance that’s the type of win we can come away with,” Levi concluded.