The former John McGlashan College First XV captain made his debut for the Brisbane Broncos under-20 side earlier this month.
He got off the bench against the Sea Eagles in Sydney and was promoted to the run-on side for the match against West Tigers at Suncorp Stadium last Friday night.
The second-rower is in the game-day squad for the match against the Warriors in Auckland today.His father and mother, Stafford and Melissa Ferguson, made the trip to Brisbane to see their son play and found a happy camper.
The 18-year-old is passionate about rugby but signed a two-year deal to join the Broncos midway through last year when still at school.
He is still very much learning the game but has made a good impression in his opening two games for the club. He has been credited with 60 tackles and has run for a total 218m.
"You’ve got to understand that he has gone over to that sort of level and hasn’t really played a lot of league, so he has to actually learn how to play [the game]," Stafford said.
"I think [the coaching staff] are pretty happy with where he is at.
"But he has sort of gone from being a first picked player in his rugby days ... so that has been a change for him.
"All of a sudden he is at the bottom and there are all these guys in front of him.
"A lot of the boys who are in the team have played all their life and know the game inside out."
By all accounts Ferguson is not missing the mud and the frozen grounds he grew up playing his rugby on.
"He has landed a good job as an apprentice carpenter and is flatting with three other members of his team.
"He reckons it is every bit as hard as dairy farming. They work hard.
"They are up early and do a full day’s work and at the end of the day there is training. He has not got much time for himself."
Ferguson’s flatting situation is not typical either. The young men have a chaperone living in the house with them and "he keeps them on the straight and narrow", Stafford said.
"The boys pretty much can’t ever leave without the dishes being done and it is all tidy.
"That is how they roll."
While Furgurson, who grew up on a dairy farm near Milton, is committed to pursing a career as a professional sportsman, he might not be done with rugby just yet.
"He is following his dream at the moment. But that it is not to say he won’t come back to rugby union.
"At the moment he is doing the league thing and he will see what happens in the next couple of years."
The Broncos under-20 team is mid table while the Warriors are bottom.His younger brother Leroy (15), a year 11 pupil at John McGlashan College, was named in NZ’s under-16 league team and is linked with the Broncos.
