Corey Harawira-Naera thought the Raiders were going to sack him.
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He'd just arrived home, merely hours after copping a mid-range driving under the influence charge, and figured it was time to pack his bags and leave the capital.
Dazed, disappointed and still feeling drunk, Harawira-Naera picked up the phone and placed a call to Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.
"He was obviously disappointed because it was holiday season, we'd just finished preseason, had a good couple of weeks before the preseason break. I'm still shitty on myself," Harawira-Naera recalls.
"I was still kind of half intoxicated when I got home as well so my head was all over the place. Stick [Stuart] said he was going to stick by me.
"I just knew I had to repay him. I pretty much told him I'm off the grog for the rest of the season anyway.
"Anyway I can kind of repay the faith and show him I'm not just down here for a good time, I want to win a comp and contribute towards it as well."
The 26-year-old admits he didn't leave the house for almost a week after his DUI charge.
He'd been here before. Less than 12 months earlier the Canterbury Bulldogs stood him and Jayden Okunbor down for a widely publicised schoolgirl incident in Port Macquarie.
Harawira-Naera left the club soon after, and was given a fresh start in Canberra. But he found trouble again over the festive season.
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"After what happened last year I thought they'd just let go of me and that's what was going through my head," Harawira-Naera says.
"It took me about five or six days to leave the house because I just didn't know what was going to happen.
"In my head I didn't really speak to many people about it, I didn't really say much myself to any of the boys, I was just knocking around. I just wanted to show them out on the field that I was sorry in my actions and try to earn my spot back.
"It was just a selfish thing I did in the off season. I deserved it, so I wasn't going to kick any stones, I was just going to put my head down.
"I didn't want to sweet talk my way around it either so I kind of just stayed silent, tried to train hard and I just showed Stick that I was sorry through my actions and that I kind of wanted to earn back, not just the coaches' [respect] to put me back in the team, but more the boys as well."
Harawira-Naera copped a two-week suspension from the NRL for his conviction.
That rapidly became a six-week hiatus from the NRL as the classy back rower was relegated down the Raiders' pecking order and was unable to force his way back into the top grade.
He ultimately returned in round six against the North Queensland Cowboys, and scored a try in last week's much-needed win over his old club, the Bulldogs.
Now his focus is helping re-calibrate the Raiders' season which had tumbled wildly off piste with a five-match losing run, prior to the come-from-behind win over Canterbury.
A sixth-straight loss looked on the cards when star man Jack Wighton was sin binned and Josh Papalii sent from the field soon after, but the adversity only galvanised the Raiders.
"It could possibly be the turning point for the season for us," Harawira-Naera said.
"When Jack went off, then when Paps went off. . .Hodgo [Josh Hodgson] brought us together and just said, 'We've been here before, it's nothing we haven't done before'.
"We all took a deep breath, looked each other in the eyes and got the job done at the end of the day.
"I feel like we're on the other side of the hurdle."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
