Towards the tail end of the funereal procession of ACT Brumbies players leaving Canberra airport on Monday evening walked captain Stephen Hoiles.
He didn't have any of his own bags to carry. Still injured, he hadn't been with the team on its South Africa tour. Instead he was pushing out a baggage trolley packed head-high with the bags of his teammates.
The first-year captain has been the public face of the emotionally crushed Brumbies playing group so far this week, a remarkable thing and testament to a strong character given Hoiles's friendship with Shawn Mackay went back far further than almost anyone else at the club.
Schoolmates from primary school until graduation at Sydney's Waverley College, Hoiles and Mackay were part of a rich crop of rugby talent to emerge from the school. Brumbies scrumhalf Patrick Phibbs and Queensland Reds centre Morgan Turinui were part of the same school first XV.
While his personal grief is immense, Hoiles said he felt a responsibility to talk to the media yesterday because he hadn't been exposed to the worst of the shock and anguish felt by his touring teammates.
''I really feel for the guys who were in Africa, and from a selfish point of view I'm quite glad I wasn't there to see what happened and how it happened,'' Hoiles said.
''I think those guys are probably a bit more affected. We've all lost the same mate and we're all going to be hurting, but I really feel for the guys who were there and had to go through it.
''While everyone's suffering, I didn't have to witness it first-hand. I probably won't be as scarred as the rest of the guys.''
Hoiles has felt himself torn this week between Canberra and the eastern suburbs of Sydney, where Mackay was known by many and probably known of by most.
''He's quite a recognisable guy. A big tall fella with a big smile and his blond hair, he'd stand out in a pub. Guys who didn't know him, they knew of him,'' Hoiles said.
One of Hoiles's first phone calls on Monday, after he heard the news, was to call Mackay's brother Matt, who underwent surgery on a broken hand on Tuesday. The younger Mackay had played a game of colts rugby for Randwick last weekend, knowing his brother was gravely ill but hopeful he would pull through.
Hoiles has had many other tough calls to make to his school and rugby mates up the Hume Highway. Many of those friends of Mackay have joined the thousands on Facebook tribute groups that have sprung up since his death.
Still, according to Hoiles, home is where the heart is and since Mackay joined the Brumbies late last year, that place was Canberra.
''He could have been in Japan or Italy on [a] six-figure salary, but he chose to come to Canberra and start a new life and find an extended family,'' Hoiles said.
''A big part of me wants to be up there [in Sydney] with all those guys, [because] they're hurting as much as anyone. But a big part of me knows that I have to stay down here ... because this was his family and where he became so happy.''
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