On the drive to Canberra to represent the Newcastle Rebels, Maitland half Chad O'Donnell jokingly asked coach Dan Abraham what he should say to the boys as captain before the game.
Abraham, at that stage, had yet to reveal who would skipper the Newcastle Rugby League representative side.
Little did O'Donnell know, that his off-the-cuff comment during a pit-stop at McDonald's, would be no joke just a matter of hours later.
"It turns out we had a meeting that night with the team, we just went over a few things about how we were going to play and how we wanted to hold ourselves as a professional standard down in Canberra, and he announced me in front of the team to lead the boys out," O'Donnell recalled to the Newcastle Herald.
"It was a bit of a shock.
"I don't really see myself to that standard but to be noticed like that from Newcastle Rugby League, to captain the senior Rebels side, it was a really good accomplishment. I've had a bit of a tough year off the field with business and things like that, so it a real highlight."
O'Donnell, who led the Rebels to a 28-16 win over Canberra the next day, was humbled by the honour.
The 26-year-old said he felt he put his hand up for the role during the side's brief preparation for the match.
"Coming into the team being an older figure and obviously in the halves, with a few training sessions I sort of took it upon myself to be a loud voice there and talk to some people about how I prefer to play and things like that," O'Donnell said.
"I guess it was seen by the coaching staff as some leadership, which was nice."
The five-eighth's selection as captain comes off the back of his club's success in recent years.
"Since joining Maitland from Wests, O'Donnell has been a key part of the the Pickers' consistency - helping the side to the 2020 President's Cup and to the top of the table again this season.
"We've got a good culture, good coaching staff and a good bunch of guys out there," O'Donnell said.
"It just makes it easier to turn up and flow each week."
A "Shortland/Stockton" product, O'Donnell won an SG Ball title with the Sydney Roosters and played under-20s for Souths and NSW Cup for North Sydney before returning to Newcastle in mid-2018.
Now based in Maryland, he is loving life and is about to expand his personal training business Lifestyle Performance.
"We've got one at Maryland and we're about to open one up in the Cameron Park/Edgeworth area," he said.
"I started it in the COVID lock-down as a bit of a hobby and it's gone from there.
"I did a few little boot camps here and there, now we're running 25 to 30 classes a week and we've got about 150 members at Maryland and signed 60 up at Edgeworth.
"So it's taken off a bit, which is really exciting to see."
