**Weyman junior makes the grade.**
NO, this isn't St George Illawarra prop Michael Weyman.
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Meet his younger brother Tim, the 23-year-old who has been plucked from the NSW Cup to face the Wests Tigers at Toyota Stadium today.
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He walks and talks just like his older brother, so it's easy to appreciate why Tim has already been tagged "Pony''.
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"Michael's nickname is Horse so, yeah, the boys give me that a bit,'' Weyman smiles. But the nickname hardly suits the man. At 106kg, he's built like a bull.
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Weyman, a full-time greenkeeper at Kogarah Golf Club, has earned a stunning call-up by Sharks coach Ricky Stuart.
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"I'm ready to go. I'm a little nervous, but that's to be expected,'' Weyman said on Friday.
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In a year tarnished by turmoil, Weyman's rise to first grade is a story of dedication and old-fashioned hard work.
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About stepping out of the shadow - and a sizeable one at that.
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Amazingly, Weyman was a five-eighth until he was 14\. Small and agile, he used to run rings around Michael, who is three years older, in the backyard of their Moruya home.
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"But then I started growing,'' Weyman said.
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He followed Michael into the forwards, with his powerful frame and ball skills - refined from his days in the halves - sparking interest from the Canberra Raiders.
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Playing alongside the likes of Todd Carney and Marc Herbert in the Raiders' lower grades, Weyman was just starting to find his feet before a knee reconstruction shattered his NRL dreams.
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Or so he thought.
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Trying to pick up the pieces playing bush football with the Gungahlin Bulls in the ACT, Weyman's coach Justin Holbrook recommended him to Cronulla's NSW Cup coach Alex Melville.
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"He presented in pretty bad shape,'' Melville said of Weyman's arrival in December. "Coming off the back of a knee reconstruction, he had let himself go a fair bit.''
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At his biggest, Weyman tipped the scales at 114kg. "And a lot of that wasn't muscle mass,'' Melville said.
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"There were a few of my coaching staff who were hesitant to take him on, who thought he may have been too big a project. However, myself and the conditioner Mark Salmon insisted he wasn't going to play his best footy until July.''
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Melville was right.
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"I worked hard to get back into shape, with a lot of work from Mark Salmon,'' Weyman said.
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"It was hard, but I got back to my playing weight … and now I'm ready to go. I remember after a couple of games back from the injury, I was nearly going to retire altogether. It's a good thing I didn't.''
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Handed game-day tickets for family and friends ahead of today's debut, Weyman has ensured Michael will be sitting in the stands.
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"When I found out on Wednesday that I was a chance of playing I told him (Michael) straight away,'' Weyman said.
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"He was as surprised as me, but pretty happy, too. He'll be here, which is special, and Mum and Dad will be, too.''
