He only took up rugby league after being spotted as a 14-year-old dominating bullrush in a Wellington schoolyard. Now Jeremy Hawkins is emerging as the most powerful player in the Raiders backline.
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The Raiders have fended off interest from three rival clubs, including the New Zealand Warriors, to re-sign the 21-year-old until the end of 2017.
Undefeated in his three NRL games for the Raiders, all last year, the 100kg winger has also been ruling the gym in the pre-season, leading backline players in almost every strength category.
Despite scoring two tries in Canberra's opening trial, Hawkins admitted he still faced a huge battle just to earn a spot in the Raiders team for the NRL season opener and had initially been concerned about his future at the club.
"There's a lot of competition here so I was a little bit worried if I was going to get a run at all this year, with the likes of Brenko Lee and Jordan Rapana," Hawkins said. "I thought I better knuckle down in the pre-season and hopefully get picked in round one.
"It was just out of the blue, my manager said the Raiders were keen to re-sign and I jumped on it straight away ... now I can just focus on footy.
"We've got a new weights coach this year [Jeremy Robinson], I've been lifting a lot heavier and feel like I've got a lot stronger, faster and more powerful."
Having taken up league at 14, Hawkins represented New Zealand at 15 and was set to sign with the Melbourne Storm at 16, in 2010.
But salary cap problems at the Storm killed the contract. His manager, former New Zealand coach Frank Endacott, steered him towards the Raiders because of their history with junior development.
While this year's arrival of former Melbourne Storm winger, Sisa Waqa, has put another backline challenge in front of Hawkins, he said the Fijian recruit had given Canberra's competitive culture another boost.
"We have a really young team and Sisa's been a wonder for our club," Hawkins, a two-time Junior New Zealand Kiwis representative, said.
"He's helped me out a lot, he's come from the Melbourne Storm, who have a good culture down there. He's brought a lot of talk and that strong, tough mentality.
"It feels a lot different than last season, there's a better culture and everyone's competitive whereas last season it was a bit more casual.
"I'd love to play centre but I've talked to [coach Ricky Stuart] about it and I just need to work on a few more things. I've got the strength, I've just got to work more on my skills, like catch-pass under pressure ... so at the moment wing's probably my best spot."
There is a vacancy in the Raiders outside backs, with Hawkins, Rapana and Brenko Lee the front-runners for the spot and capable of playing both centre and wing.
Stuart is giving little away and said the final full-strength trial against Newcastle on February 21 would factor into his selection for the NRL season-opener against the Cronulla Sharks on March 8.
"If you're going to be a force in the NRL you have to have depth in positions," Stuart said. "We've still got a way to go there, but you can't beat competitive nature at training and fighting for spots.
"Jeremy's development over the past 12 months has given us great confidence in his future, he's developing physically and he's become a better footy player."
