Julius was crowned the Sharks' Rookie of the Year after bulldozing his way from academy prospect to match‑day regular this season. His tackle-busting skills and incredible pace were on full display over the last nine months.
“From a personal perspective, it was more than I expected," the former Junior Bok told the Sharks' website.
"The progress has been smooth and I wouldn't want it any other way, and for me, the growth was amazing. I rose through the ranks, not just thrown into the deep end, starting with the Currie Cup and ending in the United Rugby Championship, so I felt the steps I took were good growth for me and looking back, it helped prepare me for the URC.
"I found that every step of the way had a new level, always testing you, because your best at junior level isn't necessarily your best at URC level. So the growth has been a big positive for me in my career so far."
Julius acknowledged that while the season didn't quite go as far as their ambitions wanted to take them, the Sharks certainly have a lot to be proud of.
"As a team, we did really amazingly, we stood up together, saying ‘we want to be better, we want to do better', and we did so much better than last season when we didn't even make the quarter-finals, we didn't make the top eight," said the man they call the Boogeyman.
"So this year we made it to the semi-final, not as far as we had hoped, because we thought we had the capability to go all the way.
"But taking it season by season, as a team and our goals, I think we can be really proud of ourselves and where we are at the moment."
One aspect the Sharks developed with an ironclad mindset around close matches.
"I think we found the pieces of the puzzle that we might have missed last season to win those close games," continued Julius.
"In terms of criticism we got, I think people would like to see a different style of rugby that we played, but when you win games, it doesn't kind of matter how you play.
"Obviously it was a bit sloppy at times where we could have played better and one or two times we ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard. It wasn't always easy, because the majority of the senior players and the backbone of the team are Springboks, so we don't have as much time with them as we do with the rest of the group; in saying that, we can and should be better.
"Despite the Springbok resting protocols and their playing requirements, and not always having them, I think we did really well.
"And we are in a good place for next season, we have the confidence that we can win those games and that we know how to. With that being said, we can only get better and hopefully we'll do better than we did this season."
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