Robert Derby has become the poster boy for Papua New Guinea with the North Queensland flyer snaring his first NRL hat-trick.
The 23-year-old had a break-out performance in the Cowboys' crushing 50-18 victory over Gold Coast on Saturday night in Townsville.
With all three tries coming in the second half, Derby twice combined with star playmaker Tom Dearden to score while he added his last via a penalty try in the last play of the game.
Derby was pulled back by Alofiana Khan-Pereira but won the race to the ball only to knock on. The bunker ruled that he likely would have scored cleanly without interference and awarded the try.
The winger also easily topped the run metres for North Queensland, with 206, the post-contact metres with 51 and the line-breaks with four.
Derby was born in Port Moresby and lived in throughout the country in Mendi, Goroka and Mount Hagen before arriving in Australia as an eight-year-old.
He represented the Kumuls in last year's Pacific Championships, but made his NRL debut in 2023.
Derby played just one North Queensland match that year but, due to injury and veteran Kyle Feldt holding down a wing berth before his shift to St Helens, had to wait until this season for another chance.
Cowboys coach Todd Payten says Derby, who has been a regular starter since round three, continues to grow in confidence.
"I thought he was awesome," Payten said.
"He carries the ball really strong, he's put together a good month of footy.
"He was down in confidence after the trial match we had up in Cairns, he had to go back to QCup, bide his time, he worked hard on his craft."
Signed with the Cowboys until the end of 2028, Derby is certain to be a major recruitment target of the PNG club when it joins the NRL that year.
But Payten won't be handing him over without a fight.
"He's got something that kid ... it's about him keeping his head down and keep working - he's going great."
