The moment Emre Guler was handed his first NRL jersey by his mother was one he will never forget. The tears in her eyes meant all the sacrifices were worth it.
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That moment meant the world to the Guler family - except the extended family back in Turkey didn't really know what was going on.
His parents own a Turkish restaurant in Bankstown called Watsup Brothers, the humble kebab shop that has quickly become a favourite of the Canberra Raiders squad after the team bus stopped there after a game earlier this year.
The Raiders' rookie of the year has been back to his ancestral homeland about five times to visit his extended family and every time his attempts to explain rugby league fall on deaf ears.
Guler's family in Osmaniye are one of his driving forces. The thing is, they don't know the first thing about the game in which their relative is beginning to make waves.
"They’ve got no clue what it is. But as long as I’m on the field they’re happy," Guler said.
"It’s hard [to explain rugby league to them]. I just pretty much say it’s like soccer but you hold it in your hands, that’s pretty much it. [I tell them] you just tackle people and they get shocked, like ‘wow’.
"They don’t really understand the game but they just understand how important it is to me and my family. Just collectively as a family, it’s been really important for us.
"My family, they get really emotional and really excited, because obviously they have done a lot for me. All that hard work has paid off."
Guler was named Canberra's rookie of the year at the club's Meninga Medal night to cap off a meteoric rise for the emerging star.
If you had asked him if something like that was possible 12 months ago, 20-year-old Guler would "probably think there is no way".
But it's only up from here after three NRL games which proved Guler has what it takes to match it with some of the most imposing forward packs in the competition.
His first game against the Sydney Roosters was a shock. He endured a near sleepless night after hearing he was in the side, news that left him shaking at the knees.
He knew what to expect by his second, against another preliminary final-bound opponent in the South Sydney Rabbitohs. In his third NRL match against the New Zealand Warriors, "it just felt like another game for me".
Guler says a taste of the big stage has "only made me more hungry", and he has set his sights on cracking Raiders coach Ricky Stuart's top 17 every week next season.
The former Junior Kangaroos forward will be leaning on Raiders veterans Sia Soliola and Josh Hodgson in a bid to turn his dream into a reality.
The star duo were pillars of strength as Guler found his feet in Canberra's NRL squad, always there to lend advice and ease the youngsters transition into senior football.
"That’s crazy, they’ve got so many more years' [worth of] experience than me. Everything they tell me I just soak up and hopefully I can play alongside them," Guler said.
"Especially Sia, all the way back from the pre-season until now, every week he was just tipping me up on little things.
"Hodgo, he was injured for most of the season so he wasn’t really there on the training field, but when he could he could pick up on little things and show me how to do them better. I really appreciate those two guys."
But before Guler returns to Raiders headquarters for pre-season training, he will spend time with family in Sydney. He'll do a bit of training, but not too much so he avoids being burnt out come October.
Then he will begin chipping away in a bid to become a regular first-grader. A few months after that? He'll be back on the phone explaining rugby league to his family in Turkey.
