Early in the second half when Cooper Cronk turned to Luke Keary and asked him to take a kick for touch, the five-eighth's first reaction was "oh, f—". Only then did it dawn on Keary what was about to unfold.
But as the Roosters pray for the best but expect the worst with the man they bought to help win a premiership, his little sidekick is more than comfortable stepping into the hot seat as primary playmaker for the NRL grand final against the Storm.
Stepping up: Luke Keary will have big shoes to fill in the NRL grand final.
"I think over the last four or five years of playing I feel confident in myself that I can do that on big occasions," Keary said. "If I couldn't do that then I'm not really doing my job they brought me here to do. I'm confident in myself I can do that if it needs to be done."
Which, at this early point in grand final week, looks like it will. Keary is not the raw-boned second-year NRL player who won a grand final with the Rabbitohs four years ago, running amok as Adam Reynolds steered the ship.
As the tricolours grapple with news Cronk has a "severe" rotator cuff injury, Keary is the only lock to be in the Roosters halves at ANZ Stadium.
Cronk's odds appear to be lengthening by the hour, four-gamer Sean O'Sullivan is a candidate and coach Trent Robinson might even look for Ryan Matterson to fill a void if Cronk can't play.
But undoubtedly, Keary will be running the show in Cronk's absence. And he will be doing it in a game in which he has a lot more understanding of than he did in 2014.
"I think there's more of an appreciation factor," Keary said. "I think I was 15 or 20 games in for the first one and you think you're going to make one every year and you come through some tough times and some good times. You realise how hard it is to make it. You appreciate being lucky enough to be a part of the week."
Cronk carried his left arm by his side for the entire second half of the Roosters' tense 12-4 preliminary final win over the Rabbitohs on Saturday night, an injury not even his teammates knew the extent of during and after the game.
Passing the mantle: Cooper Cronk pats Keary on the shoulder after their semi-final victory.
"I just had to be a little bit more prepared," Keary said. "I didn't know how bad [Cronk's injury] was until we actually kicked for touch. I guess my reaction was 'oh, f—'. I knew what I had to do. We were in front so I had to game manage. It would have been tough if we were behind. We couldn't really run too many plays without him. We just tried to get in a reasonable position to get kicks away.
"Everyone knows how professional he is with [his recovery and preparation and] stuff like that. He just gets it done, makes no fuss about it and just does what he has to do every week. I just knew he wouldn't let us down. It didn't really matter what was wrong with him, you just knew he was going to turn up."
Added winger Blake Ferguson: "I know the character of him, he'll do anything for the team. And he was still tackling."
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