It has been 11 years since Cody Walker and Tyrone Roberts won the under 16s New South Wales Country Championships with the Group 1 representative team.

Now the halves pairing will run out together at the senior level for the first time in the final City versus Country Origin match in Mudgee on Sunday.

There must be something in the water in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. The area keeps producing exciting rugby league players.

This year's Country squad has talent from northern areas, including Bilambil, Tweed Heads, Grafton, Ballina and Casino.

South Sydney and Country five-eighth Walker is from Casino, a small town around 200 kilometres south of Brisbane.

He grew up playing for the Casino Cougars and watching the annual Country versus City fixture, and will now be a part of history, playing in the final edition of the match.

"I'm excited and very honoured to be playing the last one," Walker said.

"I grew up as a kid watching it on TV and to be playing it's something I am very proud of. It's exciting to represent my junior club and my family, and get to play with guys I haven't played with before."

With nine debutants named by Country selectors for the clash, there will be plenty of unknown faces for Walker.

One who will be familiar is his halves partner, the Titans' Roberts, who played for Country back in 2014 when he was with Newcastle.

"He (Roberts) is a year younger than me, I have known Tyrone a fair while, he grew up in Ballina and I grew up in Casino," Walker said.

Despite being younger, Roberts played above his age in 2006 in the Group 1 under 16s Country Championships team. Walker captained the winning team that year and was named man of the match in the grand final.

"We crossed paths a bit throughout our childhood and I am really looking forward to playing with him and reconnecting," Walker said.

Roberts, now in his sixth year of NRL and his second with the Titans, still remembered the days of playing with Walker, and also against him.

"Cody played for Casino I played for Ballina. It was a great comp but I think we got the best of them, we were the side to beat but Casino wasn't that good," Roberts said with a laugh.

"We played group 1 together in 16s, I think that was the last time we played together."

Tyrone Roberts has earned his place for Country following solid form for the Titans. ( AAP: Richard Wainwright, File )

Roberts set for family reunion with Kelly

Another Ballina product, Manly young gun Brian Kelly, will be joining Roberts and Walker in the Country line-up.

Kelly, who is a cousin of Roberts, only debuted in round one but has scored five tries in nine matches and raised some eyebrows along the way.

Roberts has always been aware of Kelly's talent.

"Brian is a bit younger than what I am but I have seen him grow up and its good to see him get a crack, and ever since his debut he has been great watching him," he said.

"We have a big family too so we hope to see them all at the game."

The Country versus City match has received plenty of negative publicity, with clubs, including the Bulldogs, Raiders and Sharks, making a number of their players unavailable for selection.

The 20-year-old Kelly, however, could not hide his excitement when he received the call on Saturday.

"I was just up at Freshwater, I was just sitting there having a picnic and got a phone call and it was all good," he said.

Kelly said his father Brian, who represented Country seconds in the 1980s, was "over the moon" when he heard the news his son would receive his first representative jumper.

"I was just pinched and it was all smiles that afternoon and I called my old man and told him the good news," he said.

"He was so proud of me."

Walker, Roberts and Kelly, all proud Indigenous Australians, cannot wait to get out onto the field in Mudgee, despite the fixture being scrapped after this season.

With the childhood connections coming back together, Roberts said there could be something special in store for the fans.

"We will just have to wait and see," Roberts said with a smile.

"I am sure me and Cody might pull off something."

Bulldogs let one out of the Kennel

Fresh from scoring a double in Canterbury's 16-10 win over the Canberra Raiders on Saturday, Bulldogs forward Adam Elliott has received a call-up to the Country squad.

The phone call came from none other than the person who ruled out the club's players from participating in the match, Bulldogs coach Des Hasler.

"Late last night he (Hasler) called me and I saw the phone light up and I had a bit of an inkling it had something to do with this game and soon as I answered it he gave me the good news," Elliott said.

"He just said he's proud of me and he's looking forward to watching me play."

Elliott will have to back up on Thursday night when the Bulldogs play North Queensland. The club previously said the players' welfare was their concern, which is why they were made unavailable.

The Bulldogs' most recent Country representatives are Aidan Tolman and Josh Jackson. Both players play a high amount of minutes in their matches and Elliott believed this might be the reason Hasler had changed his tune and let him play.

"Those boys who have played for a few years now and they play nearly 80 minutes each week so I can understand for them the Sunday to the Thursday is a really short turnaround and club footy is really important and us," he said.

"As players we have to respect the Bulldogs decision on that, and luckily Dessy (Hasler) has weighed up the options and maybe he thinks that I am a younger fella and a lot less minutes than those boys and hopefully I will back up.

"I have no excuse to say I am too sore to play on Thursday no way."