RORY Ryan is one of six Merewether players heading into camp with NSW Country next weekend and Greens coach Nick Bampton reckons the halfback is in career-best form.
Ryan scored a brace and set up two tries to lead the Greens to a 41-33 triumph over Maitland at Townson Oval on Saturday.
It was Merewether's 10th straight bonus-point win and they sit 12 points clear at the top of the table on 50 points from last season's premiers Maitland.
"That was Rory's best game of the year," Bampton said. "In saying that, he has been consistently good.
"His maturity has skyrocketed. He is now one of the senior leaders and has taken that on board.
"He is a natural footballer. He has been playing since he could walk and is getting better and better every year."
Ryan threw a dummy and then fired a cut-out pass to put Will Schmetz over in the left corner in the fifth minute.
His two tries were classic halfback play.
He backed up on the inside after an initial burst by Isaako Enosa and raced 25 metres.
The second was a dummy and snipe from the base of a ruck, which opened a 21-7 lead after 25 minutes.
Then in the second half with Blacks in touch at 34-26, Ryan fielded a kick in his own half, beat three defenders in a 40-metre slalom run before backing up and sending the final pass to Lachie Robinson to touch down.
Greens' fellow country representatives Enosa, captain Rhys Bray, Adam Danckert and prop Nik Sykiotis also played prominent roles.
They along with No.8 Matt Williams, who has been sidelined with a calf injury, will miss the clash against University next round.
The Students also have six players in the NSW Country squad - Sam Zelinski, Paddy Small, Tom Loughnan, Tauloga Lalaga, Corey Davis and Sam Tufuga.
Bampton was most pleased with Merewether's threat with the ball against Maitland.
"It was the best we have attacked all year," he said.
"We were really clinical. We had a couple of goals we set for the game and we hit them well. We wanted to get our launch right and play off the back of it. That gave us front-foot football and the freedom to attack."
Maitland coach Luke Cunningham was disappointed with the Blacks "lack of energy".
"We got close to them a couple of times, but we were our own worst enemy," he said. "We slipped off tackles, we went too high, our kick chase was horrendous. They cut us open a couple of times due to a broken chase line.
"These are the games you want to be up for. Even in the warm-up we were flat. There was none of the energy we had against Uni last week. We put a performance in that mirrored the warm-up.
"They put some good patches of footy together. You can see that they are playing with confidence and have momentum that comes with winning 10 straight.
"You need to dig your heels in and work a bit harder when you are up against teams that have that ascendancy."
In a blow for the Blacks, captain Sam Callow is unlikely to play again this season after knee surgery.
"He had surgery on his meniscus and there was a little ligament damage as well," Cunningham said.
Elsewhere Saturday, University halfback Murray Sutherland also crossed for a double to help steer the Students to a 32-22 triumph over Hamilton at Bernie Curran Oval.
Centre Hayden Cole crossed for a hat-trick as Wanderers stormed past Southern Beaches 52-22 at Ernie Calland Field.
