Curtis Scott's upper body is an intricate tapestry of tattoo art depicting the heroes and stories of Greek mythology.
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A look back through the mental and physical strain he suffered in 2020 after joining the Raiders from the Melbourne Storm also seems like something out of a fantasy world.
For 23-year-old Scott, it's more the ink than the magnificent sagas that emerged from Ancient Greek society that inspired his tattooed canvas.
"There's a little bit of meaning behind it all, but nah it's just a bit of paint," Scott says.
A little space remains on his forearm. He'll fill it in one day soon to finish the job, and that'll be it for the tattoos, but on the field in Canberra, early in the second season of a four-year deal, he's just getting started.
History's greatest story tellers would struggle to imagine the life Scott was forced to live in 2020.
His Sydney arrest, and subsequent sufferance of police brutality at the hands of multiple officers which included unwarranted and cowardly use of pepper spray and a taser.
Charges against Scott which followed, where he was made out to be the aggressor and not the victim. Charges he had to wait more than seven months to answer, during which time he was forbidden to tell the real story to his new employer.
He tried playing rugby league during the seemingly endless saga, managing 13 matches for his new club. But he was a shadow of the star centre which won a premiership ring at the Storm in 2017.
And there was a cruel twist on the field too.
Scott re-fractured the leg he'd broken in 2016, although due to a titanium plate inserted to fix that injury, scans were unable to detect the seriousness of the problem for several weeks.
Eventually the old plate was removed, the broken leg was detected and surgery followed. Another plate was inserted. He was given two months to recover.
And when preseason rolled around again, Scott was finally free of the physical and mental encumbrances 2020 had carried for him.
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"It's just been much easier to focus on my job and focus on myself I suppose, not have to worry about X, Y and Z, I can just focus on turning up to training and doing what I love doing and that's playing footy," Scott said.
"I think I've grown as a person and it's made me better today. It's made me deal with things better, made me reflect on the important things in my life.
"It's not all bad, there's a bit of good that came out of it."
For Raiders coach Ricky Stuart, it's almost like he's signed a brand new player. Scott has been almost flawless in Canberra's unbeaten start to the season, settling in at right centre and developing a combination with Bailey Simonnson.
"He's back at his playing weight that he should be at," Stuart said.
"He lost a lot of that through stress and concern last year and a lack of training. Right from the preseason when he came back from his operation he has trained hard and put the necessary weight back on."
Scott has drummed up a close friendship with Jack Wighton, who was a man he was able to lean on during the darkest times last year.
The pair escaped to Queensland during the offseason for a fishing trip which played a key role in helping Scott transition from the pain of 2020 to the promise of 2021.
"It was probably one of the best trips of my life going up there, just fishing and having beers and having a good time," Scott said.
"Pretty isolated from everyone, we just stuck to ourselves, went fishing and did what we like doing.
"We [Scott and Wighton] have gone through pretty similar things, and that's brought us pretty close together.
"He was one of the first people to get behind me, he was with us throughout it all.
"He's done a lot, and he's just one of those players in the team that everyone likes hanging around with, he's a good bloke."