Group 4 Player of the Year on the accolade, pre-game nerves and his boxing debut

Fresh from being lauded as the best player in Group 4, Ethan Collins is swapping the boots for the gloves; the footy field for the boxing ring.

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The five-eighth is part of the North Tamworth line-up for the inaugural Code Wars Fight Night at Jack Woolaston Oval on Saturday, December 5.

Newly-crowned Group 4 Player of the Year Ethan Collins says he's excited but nervous about his impending boxing debut as part of the card for the Code Wars Fight Night. File picture Mark Bode

Hosted by One2Boxing, the novel event will pit identities from the different sporting codes against one another while also raising money for their respective clubs.

Collins will represent the Bears alongside Josh Schmeidel, Jack Rumsby, Tyrell Patterson and Paul Boyce.

He laughed that Boyce doesn't deserve all the blame for roping him in, but certainly some of it.

"He sort of encouraged it and pushed me a fair bit to do it," he said.

But it was only after talking to Rumsby that he was convinced to put his hand up.

It's not the first time the 30-year-old Tamworth Regional Council water distribution supervisor has strapped on the gloves.

He did a fair bit of boxing training back at Moree, where he is originally from, for fitness for footy.

"That's what sort of pushed me do to it as well because it's a 12-week training camp so I thought it would keep me a bit fitter in the off-season," he said.

Actually stepping into the ring though is a different story.

And while a part of him is "excited for it", a part is also a bit nervous.

Collins (third from left) with fellow North Tamworth Code Wars representatives Jack Rumsby, Mick Schmiedel (commentator), Paul Boyce, Tyrell Patterson and Josh Schmiedel. Picture North Tamworth Bears Facebook

"You should see me before a football game to be honest. I spew before every game so I don't know I'm going to go," he said.

It has almost become like a pre-game ritual. Usually about an hour before the game he starts. Sometimes he'll still be going as he's running out onto the field, sometimes even until the second half.

"I just get real nervous," he said.

He said seeing there were a few Norths boys involved did make him feel a bit more comfortable.

"And I think it's just a good thing to go out and represent the club," Collins said.

"Norths, they've done a fair bit for all of us boys so it's good to give back a little bit."

He joined the Bears five years ago from Dungowan, who he had joined after moving from Moree to Tamworth and had some strong family connections to.

His aunt Erica Williams played with the Cowboys women's league tag side and his father-in-law Jeremy Byrnes was the club water boy.

It was Boyce who recruited him to the Bears - to play reserve grade.

That, however, didn't last long. Come the first game of the next season he was named in the first grade side and there he has pretty well stayed.

Capable of playing "a bit of everywhere" - his first game for the Bears was in the centres - this season Collins suited up predominantly at five-eighth where he excelled.

"It's something I've sort of hoped for for a while now," he said of the Group 4 Player of the Year acknowledgment.

"I think last year I was close."

Joining some of the best to have laced up the boots in the competition's history, he said the accolade means a lot.

"You've got that many good players in Group 4 and to be labelled the Player of the Year it's pretty special," he said.

"It's definitely an achievement that means a lot."

He was also named in the Group 4 Team of the Year.

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