Reality television recruit Lou Goodwin will spend the next two months working as a carpenter, but he arrived in Canberra for the first day of his NRL journey to tell Raiders coach Ricky Stuart he is ready to prove himself.
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Goodwin took the first steps in his stint with the Raiders when he met Stuart and football staff a week after winning TV show The Rookie and earning a guaranteed contract with Canberra.
He will train by himself in Sydney and continue working from 7am to 3pm every day before he gets to start his NRL dream.
But Goodwin stepped into Stuart's office for a meet-and-greet and ensured the Green Machine mentor he's willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top.
"I'm just here for a good crack, I'm going to give it everything," Goodwin said. "I just want them to know I won't let them down. I feel like I'm a pretty trustworthy and reliable guy so if [Stuart and the Raiders] give me a shot, I can hopefully prove them right.
"I reckon I might cop a bit of stick, but that's OK, that comes with [the TV show]. I'm ready to show I'm keen and ready to go."
Goodwin, the son of former Penrith Panther Matt, made only a brief trip to the capital as he continues his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
He returned to Sydney on Thursday afternoon and will continue working in his regular job until the Raiders begin pre-season training after the 2016 NRL campaign.
But the club gave him the first program to transform him from TV show hit into an NRL forward.
The first job is bulking up and adding at least four kilograms to his 94kg frame, to ensure he can handle the physicality of the world's best competition.
"It was good just to prepare myself for pre-season, you can call it my first day," Goodwin said. "I want to tick all boxes for when I start pre-season training. The training program goes up for me from a couple of days a week to five or six days.
"The food intake will go up as well ... they want me to eat more, to put on a few kilos to get bigger for going up to that first-grade level against bigger blokes.
"It took a long time to sink in that [I'd won and was coming to the Raiders], but I was straight back to work because it doesn't start straight away. I'll keep working, I need the money and can't sit at home doing nothing."
The Raiders play the Melbourne Storm at Canberra Stadium on Monday night as they continue their impressive season.
They put to bed any doubts about their premiership credentials when they beat the Cronulla Sharks last weekend, but toppling the Storm would see them power into calculations.
Stuart has named an unchanged line-up, with Shaun Fensom still trying to force his way back into the top squad and Blake Austin cleared to play after injuring his shoulder.
NRL ROUND 23
Monday: Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm at Canberra Stadium, 7pm. Tickets available from Ticketek.
Raiders team: 1. Jack Wighton, 2. Brenko Lee, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Blake Austin, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Junior Paulo, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Shannon Boyd, 11. Josh Papalii, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Sia Soliola, 14. Adam Clydsdale, 15. Luke Bateman, 16. Clay Priest, 17. Joe Tapine.
