A decade after rubbing shoulders with Matt Giteau and Mark Gerrard in the Australian under 21s, Mann-Rea will get his chance to make the ACT Brumbies his home after signing an extended player squad contract.

Mann-Rea, 31, is the oldest player in a Brumbies team of rising stars. He's older than Wallabies veteran Stephen Moore and has five months on comeback king Clyde Rathbone. But after a journey which has taken him from the coalmines in Wollongong to Japan and now to Canberra, Mann-Rea is ready to prove he belongs in Super Rugby.

The hooker admits he wasted his opportunities when he was younger and was more focused on partying than playing rugby.

It meant he was working in coalmines while watching Australian under-21s teammates Giteau, Gerrard and Mark Chisholm as well as fellow Queensland Reds Academy partner Moore rise to the top of international rugby.

''I didn't think there were many [opportunities] around so I was going to go back to the mines. But then I found out the Brumbies had an opportunity so I came down,'' Mann-Rea said.

''I didn't take my chances when I was younger, I didn't appreciate it. But to get a second shot … I'm pretty lucky, I appreciate my footy a lot more now.

''It's weird because those guys I played with [in the Australian under 21s] are finishing their careers or going overseas, but I'm doing it the other way around.''

The Canberra Times can reveal the Brumbies have filled three of their five extended player squad (EPS) spots available with Mann-Rea being joined by 22-year-old prop Ruan Smith and 27-year-old flanker Jordan Smiler.

Three of last season's five EPS members (Jesse Mogg, Scott Fardy and Scott Sio) are now in Jake White's 30-man full-time squad.

Mann-Rea replaces Anthony Hegarty - who now plays in France - and will compete with Moore and Siliva Siliva for the hooking duties.

After giving rugby away for two years in 2007, Mann-Rea returned for three seasons in Japan before answering an SOS from the NSW Waratahs this year.

With one Super Rugby cap to his name, he is hungry for more. ''This is a good opportunity for me to get into the system and see where I can go … hopefully I get to play some games and put pressure on the other hookers,'' he said. ''I just want to get the best out of my rugby that I can. It's not too hard being the old fella.''

Meanwhile, Tuggeranong Vikings hooker and MacDougall Medal winner Pat Leafa has won a spot on the Melbourne Rebels' EPS.

Leafa was a standout in the John I Dent Cup and helped the Vikings to a grand final triumph last month.