Tim Ryan wasn't quite sure what to do when a group of children started barking at him during a Queensland Reds pre-season meet-and-greet.
Welcome to life as the Junkyard Dog, a throwaway line from a teammate to describe the breakaway winger taking a life of its own as the 21-year-old eyes his second Super Rugby Pacific season.
Ryan scored nine tries in his first seven appearances last year, the bolter remarkably the first Reds player with multiple hat-tricks when he ran riot in his first and fourth career starts.
The nickname resonated and Ryan is now greeted with howls and barks from local fans, while AAP understands he's even built a following in notoriously hard-to-please New Zealand.
"It was bit confronting at the start, but funny," Ryan told AAP of his reception.
"The kids love it ... I should have barked back.
"It is cool to see, crazy really. I wasn't expecting that at all, to build a little fan base in Australia, let alone New Zealand."
Uncapped but on the Test radar, Ryan has remained in touch with Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt and leant on the influx of talent that's filtered into Ballymore since last season.
Rebels wingers Lachie Anderson and Filipo Daugunu have starred for Australia's rugby sevens and 15s outfits respectively and created tremendous competition for spots that saw Ryan left out of the Reds team that played Bristol in England last weekend.
"Joe's kept in contact with me ... said they've still got their eye on me," Ryan said of the Wallabies coach.
"I didn't expect that call.
"It's motivating ... Les (Kiss, coach of the Reds) says that a lot: you've got to own your readiness whether you're in that match-day 23 or not."
Hopeful of some game time against Ulster in Belfast on Saturday (AEDT), Ryan said Daugunu in particular had been helpful.
"I haven't thought too much about my highlights from last year," he said.
"It's just a full reset and attempt to grow ... and something that needs work is my defence and positioning.
"Lipo (Daugunu) is such a good defender on the edge.
"I can only wish to get half the big hits he does."
