A CHANCE to get out of his comfort zone and test himself against international players will see Coraki hockey player Sam Brown play in the Brisbane Hockey League this season.

Brown will play for Labrador and follows in the footsteps of Lismore's Brad Hughes who played for the same Gold Coast club and is now at the Bulimba Bulls.

Hughes will play his 50th game in the Brisbane competition this weekend while Brown will make his debut.

Brown, 20, still lives locally and is in his third year of a high school teaching degree at Southern Cross University in Lismore.

"Brad suggested going up and giving it a go and I decided to get out of my comfort zone,” Brown said.

"I still really like the competition here but it will be a chance to play against some internationals up there as well.

"I've been playing since I was four and I've had a number of different coaches who have developed my skills.”

There is plenty of hockey talent on the Far North Coast with Ethan White and Brown currently in the New South Wales under-21 squad.

Teenagers Tyler Arundell, Luca Brown, Marshall Brown, Tom Brown, Cameron Palmer, Jade Gray and Taquira McGrath all currently play in NSW State sides.

Sam is the older brother of Tom, who moved to Sydney last year to join the National Futures Group.

Tom is also part of the NSW Institute of Sport and plays for Ryde in the Sydney premier league.

The pair played against each other for the first time in a recent nine-a-side pre-season competition.

Their cousin Luca still lives locally and is gearing up for an overseas tour of Europe with the Australian Schoolboys later this year.

"If you start counting, we've had probably 20 kids recently from our area from under-13s to under-21s represent a state team of some kind,” Sam said.

"It says a lot about the quality of coaching and players we have on the Far North Coast.”