The McKay boys have crafted their way to the WorldSkills National finals in Sydney later this week.

The competition will boast the very cream of Australian apprentices who’ll compete for the title of ‘Best’ in their field, opening up a world of opportunity to the winners.

Rhys, 19, a second year apprentice fabricator for CSA Mine, and 18-year-old Matt who is a second year electrician with APA are about to find out what it means to be a master of your craft.

The brothers have wound their way to the finals through a series of smaller wins at local and district level.

Their job is to perform a series of tasks, which will be judged by a panel of experts at the Sydney Convention Centre from Friday to Sunday.

“You’re set a list of practical tasks to test you, and show the judges how well you really know your trade,” Rhys said.

His hard work has already paid-off with the Welding Technology Institute of Australia (WTIA) extending Rhys a free membership until the end of 2009.

Meanwhile younger brother Matthew is still on a high since finding out about the looming national finals, spending countless hours tinkering over electrical boards and making sure everything is spot on for the judges. The young electrician was called out of class at Dubbo TAFE College to receive the news.

“To be honest I thought I was in trouble for something, I wasn’t really expecting to hear what I did,” he said.

“Competing has been a lot of fun but I know that I’m going to be a second-year up against third and fourth-year apprentices with more experience than me.”

But win, lose or draw, each believes the competition is just a small sketch in a much larger picture they both have in mind.

Even at the half-way point of his apprenticeship Rhys has already contemplated furthering himself when his four years is up.

“I’ve got an interest structural engineering, so somewhere down the track that’s definitely something I would really want to do,” he said.