Wallabies squad bolter Jordan Petaia was in the stands at Suncorp Stadium the night a Will Genia try sealed the Reds' Super Rugby crown in 2011.
Petaia was only 11 years old at the time. He was also wearing a Crusaders jersey – which he swears a Kiwi cousin threw at him before the match – but he remembers that Genia footwork like it was yesterday and credits it with his switch to rugby from rugby league.
Bolter: Jordan Petaia is training with the Wallabies after finishing high school last year.
"I was always a Wallabies fan. I used to love watching those guys play and the battles back then. I grew up [with it] because all my cousins played union. I also grew up watching a lot of league but I've always wanted to make it as a union player," he said. "Being at that grand final when I was 11 years old … that was a pretty surreal moment and it made me want to play union. I was playing league at that time."
Fast forward seven years and Petaia found himself sharing a room with his hero. Genia the old dog showing the young pup the ropes.
"That was the first time I met him, it was pretty surreal. Then even just rooming with him last week, that was surreal," Petaia said.
Surreal is a fitting word to describe the Brisbane youngster's rise from the GPS competition to Wallabies squad member in just 12 months. Petaia made his Super Rugby debut with Queensland this year and just a few weeks ago received that phone call that even most professional rugby players only dream of.
"When [Michael Cheika] called me that night at my house to come down [to Sydney] for that first week of camp, I was pretty surprised and pretty stoked and excited. I'm just trying to make the most of it really," Petaia said.
The 18-year-old will almost certainly miss the lean cut of 28 that will head into camp in Sydney on Sunday. The Wallabies have a glut of talented outside backs with the likes of Marika Koroibete, Dane Haylett-Petty, Sefa Naivalu and Israel Folau headlining, and Jack Maddocks and Tom Banks the more likely understudies.
But a week training with the group in Cessnock has no doubt lit a fire in the young athlete, whose 190-centimetre, 100-kilogram frame, pace and defensive grunt has impressed the Queensland coaching staff and caught the eye of the Wallabies.
Petaia confessed he was happy to raincheck on the mates he'd lined up for his off-season downtime outside the Reds and join the Wallabies in the lead up to last week's trial at Leichhardt Oval.
Bolter: Reds teen Jordan Petaia has been named in the Wallabies squad.
"It's good to come in and keep working, get better. It's been a blessing," Petaia said. "It's a lot higher standards and the boys seem to lift that up and create that competitive atmosphere around training. I'm still learning and picking up a lot of new things, so it's good to be around."
Cheika's message was simple: "To just come down, have a run and get around it. Just train hard really. I haven't spoke too much to him about it but I suppose he wants me to just keep getting better and to try and pick up new things from the older boys."
The opportunity gave him his introduction to Genia and the pair combined to produce a 60th-minute try last Friday. Petaia took a cross-field kick from his hero, produced a Folau-esque leap in the air to take it and grounded it in the corner.
"It was a great kick, I wasn't too ready for it but when it came I was lucky to get up and catch it and get it down," he said.
It was the story of Petaia's year, really. Unexpected opportunity and a determination to make it count.
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