Victorian Elders agent Joe Allen has taken home the runner-up ribbon in the ALPA National Young Auctioneers Competition, held at the Sydney Royal Show last week.
The Euroa territory sales manager, who won the Victorian leg of the competition in September last year, said scoring so highly was "a bonus", but it was the experience and networking that was most valuable.
"I'm feeling pretty good to come runner-up in what I thought was a pretty tight competition sitting back on the stage listening, everyone's prices were pretty good and everyone sounded pretty good," Mr Allen said.
Speaking after returning from Sydney and "back to reality", Mr Allen said the experience was confidence boosting.
"There's no doubt auctioneering on a stage in front of all of those people definitely increases your confidence," he said.
He said it was good to see the different styles of auctioneers from around the country.
"Generally speaking, the Queenslanders tend to be a bit quicker, with a bit more of an American-typed accent than the southerners," he said.
"You don't see that in a state competition, so it's good to see the contrast."
Mr Allen won the state competition last year after coming runner-up the previous year.
He credited his auctioneering ability to time spent practicing at saleyards.
"You can prepare for [the competition] as much as you like, but there's only so much that practicing in the car's going to do," he said.
"I think there's no better practice than getting thrown in the deep end and actually selling at the yards."
He is grateful for being given the opportunity to sell at weekly and monthly sales at Shepparton, Euroa and Yea.
As runner-up, in November, Mr Allen will be sent to New Zealand to open their national competition.
And it was a Queensland agent, Anthony O'Dwyer, who claimed the top prize.
The GDL Dalby auctioneer impressed the judges with his upbeat and efficient selling style.
Mr O'Dwyer has been an agent for seven years, but said the chance to sell at the national final was a surprise, and to then take out the whole competition was unexpected.
"I just wanted to go in and sell the best I could and see where I ended up; I was pretty happy with the way I sold," he said.
Another Victorian representative to compete in the competition was state runner-up Joshua McDonald, SKB Rodwells, Warrnambool.
While Mr McDonald didn't place in the top two positions, he said he was very happy with how he performed.
"It was a good couple of days, everybody was pretty even," he said.
"It just took things to the next level, it was certainly a lot bigger than the Victorian competition."
He said he would "keep doing what he's doing", auctioneering at Mortlake and Warrnambool, and hoping to take things to the next level.
This year marked 29 years of the ALPA National Young Auctioneers Competition.
Queensland, represented by Mr O'Dwyer and Jack Henshaw, Elders, Goondiwindi, won the NAB Agribusiness Team Shield.