Something funny happened over the last couple of years – Corey Oates became an old hand.
The Brisbane winger is far from the veteran class given he's still just 27, but as he's also the Broncos longest-serving player following his debut back in 2013, it's a boot that fits.
It means Oates doesn't take the club's rise to the top four, or his own comeback to become one of the best wingers in the competition, for granted.
"You can't do much about what's happened. All you can do is learn," Oates said.
"The team we have now, a lot of those boys have been through tough times and through the tough years, which isn't something you want to go through but when you come out the other end – and we're not all there yet – but the confidence and the belief is there.
"It wasn't there a few years ago, and that was a tough feeling to have."
Like a lot of Broncos players, Oates lost his way during the club's years in the wild.
Formerly one of the best wingers in the competition, Oates fell off a cliff in 2020-21. His prolific finishing rate deserted him as he crossed for just six tries in 28 games across the two seasons.
By the end, the Queensland Origin winger was struggling to crack Brisbane's best 17 at all.
"It's nothing against the club or the coaches, I felt really good in 2021, I just wasn't getting the game time or the opportunity to show it. Which is fine, cause the year I had in 2020… you wouldn't have picked me," Oates said.
"But I was in for Round 1 this year and I was able to go from there."
Amid a host of rejuvenated careers this season, Oates's comeback has been something unique.
For the likes of Patrick Carrigan, Selwyn Cobbo and Tesi Niu, all players at the beginning of their careers, rapid improvement once the environment around them got better was always on the cards.
But for players like Oates, who have already hit some lofty heights only to be knocked back down again, it's much harder to turn things around.
To his credit, Oates hasn't just matched his form of past years, he's arguably in the middle of the best season of his career.
How good is he going? Good enough to score 16 tries in as many games, good enough to run for more metres than any other winger in the competition, good enough that you can't have a serious discussion for a team of the year without talking about the big horse from Baralaba.
Though Oates has always boasted a strong attacking game, his defence has also been first class in 2022 – he shut down numerous Parramatta raids in last week's Brisbane victory, timing his charges in-field to perfection as the Broncos showed the defensive zeal of a top-class side to keep the Eels scoreless in the second half.
"Those decisions for me are easy, because everyone inside does the hard work and I just have to follow. But the belief to defend teams for multiple sets, it's huge," Oates said.
"We used to let teams in after four tackles, that's a massive change for us, and that's down to the coaches. It's not just the players, the coaches got us all ready and we're constantly trying to get better."
Those struggles of the past are now a memory, but Oates believes the scars have served to galvanise the younger players.
"We're just enjoying something different to the last few years, which weren't good and weren't enjoyable," Oates said.
"There's a lot of young boys where those years were the start of their careers, the difference in the feeling around the club and the dressing room, they don't want that to go away.
"When I first came through there were a lot of older players in the team, and now there's a lot guys younger than me and a lot of them played junior footy together, so they've known each other for a long time and they've got great friendships and bonds.
"Those tough times have brought us closer together, and I feel like that's showing."
