It was part of the routine. A group of families from Goulburn would pile into cars and head south to Canberra Stadium to watch the ACT Brumbies before the pilgrimage to an Italian restaurant closed the show.

So the 27-year-old lock reckons there might be a dish waiting for him if he can earn his maiden Brumbies cap after returning home from three years in the Pro 14 with Scarlets.

"All the time, especially while I was still living in Goulburn up until I was probably 12, we came down every Friday or Saturday," Kennedy said.

"There was a group of three or four families from Goulburn that would come down every Friday or Saturday, whenever the game was, and we'd always go to Belluci's after the game. If I get a go this year, that'll have to be the first stop post-game, go and have dinner there.

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"It's surreal to be here, I've got to pinch myself. It's nice to be so close to home again. Obviously being 24 hours away before, being an hour away now is nice."

Kennedy is in the midst of his first pre-season at Brumbies headquarters after returning from Wales, where he went from "just playing for fun" with mates at Shute Shield club Randwick to the dixxying heights of the Pro 14.

"It was huge. I probably didn't realise the difference and what it would be like over there," Kennedy said.

"I found it a bit better because I'd lived out of home since school really. I still learnt a lot over there, isolated by myself, so I think it was very good for me, growing as a person and gaining experience living in another country."

Kennedy was on holidays in Broulee when his agent alerted him to interest from the Brumbies. Within a week he had completed a medical at club headquarters.

"It was probably a week later that [Brumbies coach Dan McKellar] called for a chat and asked if I wanted to come down. Obviously I was going to say yes," Kennedy said.

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