His mum was in tears. Describing to him the horror she was seeing. Houses burnt down with just the chimney left standing.
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It was that phone call from his mother Dianna that moved Curtis Scott to action. Telling him of what she saw after the devastating fires on New Year's Day.
In response the Canberra Raiders recruit started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the bushfire victims and kicked in $5000 himself to get the money ball rolling.
His target is $25,000, but on Saturday he'd already raised more than $16,000 in just one day.
Fellow Raider Nick Cotric, Blues star Tom Trbojevic, Wallaby Curtis Rona, Scott Drinkwater and Brodie Croft were among the names listed as donors to Scott's cause.
Scott's mother lives at Narooma, but escaped to Sydney to avoid Sunday's hazardous conditions which brought more destruction.
The 22-year-old, who switched from the Melbourne Storm to the Raiders just before Christmas, just wanted to help.
He's fitted straight into the Green Machine culture of helping others that runs from Raiders coach Ricky Stuart to veteran prop Sia Soliola and through the rest of the squad.
"I was just feeling helpless, seeing all this stuff on the news and seeing what everyone is going through and I thought if I can give back in some way and try my best to raise money for those people in need," Scott said.
"It just hit home a little bit. My mum lives down close to the fires and her place is near the danger zone on the south coast.
"She called me up and she was in tears. She explained what she'd seen when she was driving back from the coast as houses burnt to the ground.
"I just thought I can try and help out here and raise money for those people that have lost all of their stuff."
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Just as fellow Canberran Nick Kyrgios wanted to help when he turned to social media to call on Tennis Australia to set up an exhibition match to raise money for the bushfire victims.
Then he pledged to donate $200 for every ace he hits this summer - costing himself $4000 on Friday night.
It started a movement of fundraising among Australian sports stars, with cricket, rugby union, soccer, horse racing, AFL, baseball and basketball all joining the cause.
"I saw something on the news this morning - I think every ace that he got was $200 [to the victims]," Scott said.
"[Kyrgios is] obviously doing good things as well, which is good to see."
Scott will return to Canberra in time for the resumption of Raiders pre-season training on Monday.
But what exactly that will entail is up in the air.
The Raiders hierarchy and medical staff will meet on Sunday morning to discuss what they'll do about the current air quality in Canberra.
She called me up and she was in tears. She explained what she'd seen.
- Curtis Scott on his mum Dianna, who lives in Narooma
It's been rated hazardous since New Year's Eve due to the smoke from the bushfires and has forced the cancellation of numerous sporting events in the capital.
Stuart said they'll decide on Sunday what's the best way to train in the coming weeks - whether that means leaving Canberra or training indoors.
They were due to spend Monday running the trails out near Mt Stromlo.
"We're going to have a meeting [Sunday] morning with my head of performance, footy manager and doctor to look at our schedule over the next fortnight because we've been told that the air quality is really important to look at at the moment because of the safety of our players," Stuart said.
"We'll put measures in place and look at the expert advice from our doctor."
The Raiders will follow Scott's suit when their office reopens on Monday.
Chief executive Don Furner said they would look to join the fundraising effort at their season opener against the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium on March 13.
The Raiders helped following the Canberra bushfire in 2003, when they raised more than $250,000 through The Big Night Out at Viking Park, which included celebrity games of rugby league sevens and Oztag.
"We're looking at doing something around our first home game to raise some funds," Furner said.
"Obviously we're not playing at the moment like tennis and cricket are, but this could linger for a while so we'll definitely look at something for our first game."