The big smoke never felt quite right for Steve Cummins.
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Not when you're a 22-year-old with seven generations of farmers that have gone before you.
"I went to year 12 and I didn't know what I wanted to do," Cummins said.
"I went up to Sydney for a bit and I tried to find something up there but I couldn't find anything.
"I was up there for about four months and I just realised I was a country boy and had to come home."
Back he went to the farm to look after cross-bred ewes and a few cattle, a merino farm in Gunning and a wagyu stud in Gurrundah.
Back he went to Crookwell, where he won a George Tooke Shield with his brother Ben for the Green Devils last year.
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Back he went into Goulburn Bulldogs coach Adam Kyle's sights - and after a year of trying, he finally lured the flyer to the Canberra Raiders Cup.
It proved an inspired recruitment choice - Cummins finished the regular season as the competition's leading try scorer and will play a key role in the minor semi-final against the Queanbeyan Kangaroos at Goulburn Arena on Saturday.
So this weekend he will trade the farm for finals football. It will be on someone else to take care of things on the properties at which you can usually find Cummins early in the morning.
"Early enough, not real early, but around 7am or 7.30am, I'm starting," Cummins said.
"Day to day you're just doing what you need to do around the farm, looking around stock, fencing, drenching sheep, cattle.
"When we're at the stud we have to weigh calves, it's calving time now, so we're weighing newborn calves each morning and spraying weeds.
"Not bad work, it keeps me busy."
If Kyle had his way, Cummins would have pulled on a Bulldogs jersey 12 months earlier.
"My older brother had come back from an ACL injury so I went back and had another year with Crookwell," Cummins said.
"I was lucky enough to win the premiership there. I ummed and ahhed about it for ages, but I thought I would have a year with my older brother.
"[Kyle is] one of my favourite coaches I have had. He's very positive, and he always seems to bring the best out of everyone," Cummins said.
"He has always been good to em and looked out for me, so I'm really enjoying being under his arm again."
Now Cummins is relishing the chance to play finals football in the region's premier competition.
"The club has really come together this year across the board. You've only got to look at how many teams we've got in the semis," Cummins said.
"It's a really close bond between the team. You get to training and everyone rips in, it's something special. I haven't really ever been a part of something like that.
"Hopefully everyone gets around us. Goulburn is a good town, a mad rugby league town, so everyone always gets around us."
CANBERRA RAIDERS CUP
Saturday: Minor semi-final - Goulburn Bulldogs v Queanbeyan Kangaroos at Goulburn Arena, 3pm.
Sunday: Major semi-final - Queanbeyan Blues v Tuggeranong Bushrangers at Seiffert Oval, 1.50pm.