Dan McKellar stood before his troops and laid bare the reality of life in a Super Rugby bubble.
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Life as an ACT Brumby means not being allowed to mix with more than those you live with or essential club people. Being "a normal human being" is a distant memory.
The trade-off? The chance to make history. The chance to be flag bearers in a new era for Australian rugby.
And so it comes down to this final week as the Brumbies prepare to host the Super Rugby AU decider at Canberra Stadium on September 19.
"It's tough, going from here, back to home, back to here again. On your days off you're just killing to go down to a cafe and be a normal human being," Brumbies prop Tom Ross said.
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"Obviously that's not a reality for us at the moment, we've only got two more weeks. I remember Dan saying in one of our team meetings 'boys, we've been struck with this bubble situation, so for the next five weeks, let's just make our prime focus rugby'.
"It has taken away a lot of noise outside of the bubble, to just focus on what's important and that's coming away with the win.
"[When we came back after lockdown] we knew we had to gear up for another pre-season really. We knew a competition was in the works, we knew there was still going to be a four or five-week period beforehand.
"Dan said to us, basically that 'it's going to suck but there is a great opportunity ahead of us to take away some silverware'."
For some life in a bubble will continue when they are called into Dave Rennie's Wallabies camp, with the national coach set to name his squad on Sunday.
The likes of Allan Alaalatoa, Scott Sio, James Slipper, Nic White, Folau Fainga'a and a raft of other Brumbies stars are in line for a Rugby Championship campaign on home soil.
First come two Bledisloe Cup games in New Zealand before rounding out the four-nations tournament.
For the rest, some degree of normality will return. They can bolster their John I Dent Cup clubs in the finals race, and sit down for a feed.
"We've been speaking about it, post-final, the boys who are able to will go out for breakfast, have coffee, sit down and relax a bit," Brumbies winger Andy Muirhead said.
"At the moment you can only really get takeaway or eat at home which sounds like a small thing, but not having that for such a long time makes it such a luxury when you're coming back to it."