KEY POINTS:
It's not clear how often he will delve into the books but Chase Stanley will cram in some schoolwork alongside the elementary task of playing international football for the Kiwis in the coming weeks.
The 18-year-old high school student needed special dispensation to defer his upcoming English and hospitality exams but a five-week tour of Britain and France seemed to be sufficient reason.
It's not as if his teachers aren't used to such requests by now, given his school work has taken more of a backseat as rugby league takes over.
On the day Stanley made his NRL first-grade debut for the Dragons in round two of this year's competition, he attended school before teaming up with hardened professionals like Jason Ryles and Simon Woolford to play against the Knights that evening.
He scored his side's opening try with his first touch of the ball in a 16-12 defeat to Newcastle. And, just to prove it wasn't a fluke, he scored in his next three outings.
It must have felt like playing in the schoolyard, this NRL caper, and he soon became a regular in a young and exciting Dragons side that was high on promise.
Stanley is perhaps the cream of that crop and has been touted as one of the hottest prospects in rugby league. He has pace, vision, sleight of hand and he's also got the pedigree.
His great grand-uncles, Rangi and Tommy Chase, were both Kiwis in the 1930s and former All Blacks centre Joe Stanley is an uncle.
Add in the fact Dragons team-mate Rangi Chase and Auckland rugby union duo Benson and Winston Stanley are relatives, and his younger brother Kyle is said to possess even more promise than Chase, and it's a talented clan.
Stanley's ability was recognised by Sharks second-rower Lance Thompson, who spent 11 seasons with the Dragons.
"I coached him when he was 10 and I knew pretty quickly that he had something pretty special," says Thompson, who soon offered to represent him.
"I spoke to the Dragons about him and they went off what I said. He was the type of kid who just needed a challenge."
Stanley got his chance in first grade early this season because of injuries to the likes of Mark Gasnier and Matt Cooper and looked right at home as soon as he stepped onto the field. For someone who looks so young, he plays like an old hand.
It was perhaps inevitable, then, that there would be a tug-o'-war over his international allegiance.
Born in Sydney, he played for the Australian and NSW schoolboys and was recently selected for the Junior Kangaroos. An Origin and Australian jumper surely beckoned.
"I preferred him to go with the Kiwis," Thompson says. "In Australia there's a lot of politics. I've been in the game a long time and seen a lot of things.
"Playing Origin means playing a lot of extra football and it can be disheartening if you don't make the teams. I sat down with the family - I'm like an extra father to him - and he listens to whatever I say."
Stanley also listened to what Kiwis coach Gary Kemble and convenor of selectors Howie Tamati had to say when the pair travelled to Sydney about two months ago. Tamati hadn't initially been aware that Stanley was eligible for New Zealand, believing him to be of Samoan rather than Maori extraction, but it didn't take long for him to get in touch.
He and Kemble wanted to let Stanley know they were keen on him and wanted to know whether the feeling was reciprocated.
"He had ambitions to play representative football but until we approached him he didn't think it would be with the Kiwis," Kemble explains. "Once we did, he got really excited about it, and so did his family, his entire extended family."
They might have been chuffed but the Dragons certainly weren't and they tried to block his callup saying he was in danger of suffering fatigue after such a long and eventful rookie year. The Dragons received a fairly curt, "butt out" from Sydney-based New Zealand selector Darrell Williams.
There's a greater determination from the NZRL to identify and include top juniors living in Australia in their development programmes.
They've lost out on a few in the past, like New Zealand-born duo Karmichael Hunt and Willie Mason, but hope the Kiwis' resurgence will convince others to shift their allegiance to this side of the Tasman.
When Stanley does make his test debut, which will likely come against Great Britain in the coming weeks, he will be one of the youngest to pull on the black-and-white jersey.
Before that assignment, though, he will play for the Junior Kiwis against their Australian counterparts today and in the halves for the All Golds next weekend alongside the retiring Stacey Jones.
The Little General will surely take him under his wing for a lesson or two. It's probably the type of tutoring Stanley would prefer, rather than the schoolwork that hangs over him.
