Will Kennedy had heard about an Aboriginal hostel in Sydney for teenage boarders and knew he just had to get there.
It didn't matter that home was three hours away, that his dad was a country rugby league legend and he knew almost no one in the big smoke. It just mattered that he thought it would be the best place to follow his rugby league dream.
So he packed up and left of his own accord and hoped an opportunity, any opportunity, would be forthcoming.
"I thought, 'I'll tell my parents I've got to move so I can get somewhere'," Kennedy recalls. "It's got me to where I am today. I told my mum and dad, 'I want to move to Sydney and I want to make this dream come true'. And it has today.
"They were surprised at first. They didn't want me to leave, but they backed me all the way. I did get homesick a fair bit, but a [I'd put in a call] call to Mum and Dad and they got me through it."
Kennedy, the Sharks debutant who shined against the Panthers last week on his 22nd birthday, is not your typical bush-kid-spotted-by-talent-scout NRL story.
He had been told the Kirinari Hostel in Sylvania would take on Indigenous kids who had a talent for footy and would help them with their schooling. It's been a breeding ground for the likes of Jeff Hardy and David Peachey in the past.
Kennedy then played in the local competition for Cronulla Caringbah before earning SG Ball honours with the Sharks and finally an NRL debut as John Morris' team grappled with the loss of Matt Moylan through injury.
Mostly, he's always answered questions about his ageless dad. William "Bubba" Kennedy played for the Balmain Tigers in the late 1990s and is still lacing on the boots in the bush.
"I ask him every day [how he keeps playing]," Kennedy jnr said before Cronulla's match against the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night. "He goes to boot camp with my sisters back in Bathurst to try to keep fit. I don't know how he still keeps going.
"He's slowing in pace but he's still got the skill. He said a couple of years ago he didn't know if he would keep playing but he's still going.
"We played together in the Koori Knockout. He was a centre and I was on the wing. It was an unbelievable feeling. To play with your dad, not many blokes get to do that but it was an unreal feeling. He put me down the sideline a few times."
Kennedy snr was in the Sharks sheds to present his son with his first top-grade jersey before he made his debut. Will's uncle Steven Lane was also there.
Bubba is a man of few words, but gave his son a hug.
"He's a country league legend and I grew up watching him playing footy," Will said. "That's who I've looked up to playing footy and to be where he was today is unreal. It still doesn't feel real, but it feels good. I just set out to play NRL like my old man and it's come off."
