Once his club descended into despair two hours after Matt Duffie was warned to prepare for a National Rugby League (NRL) debut, the teenager was determined to make every minute count against the New Zealand Warriors.
Duffie was one of the Melbourne Storm's barely recognisable heroes at Etihad Stadium here last night, the 19-year-old providing a rare feel-good factor as the club closed a disastrous week by steamrolling the Warriors 40-6.
Melbourne's salary cap shame was always destined to relegate Duffie's promotion to a pre-match afterthought but the strapping wing subsequently made an indelible impression with two tries against a club he idolised when growing up in Auckland and Christchurch.
"It's been a pretty insane week," Duffie admitted.
Duffie found out he was playing last Thursday "a couple of hours before the scandal broke" as the Storm surrendered their 2007 and 2009 premierships amid a raft of penalties.
"It was a weird feeling. I was happy to be in and then gutted, especially for the guys that had won those premierships. They were devastated."
Incredibly, Duffie was centimetres away from equalling his tryscoring exploits against the Warriors under-20 side on Anzac Day last year.
He trod on the touchline in the 20th minute as he stretched to score and in the final quarter he was denied a hat-trick when failing to ground Billy Slater's grubber to the on-goal.
"I should have got that first one," Duffie said, not that he beat himself up for long.
Three minutes later he crossed in the same right-hand corner and in the 48th minute he further justified his elevation at Luke MacDougall's expense when he used his 1.92m height advantage to reel in a floated Billy Slater pass as the Storm continued to terrorise rookie Warriors wing Bill Tupou.
Duffie was not alone in making giant strides on debut. Gareth Widdop was also making his first appearance while the first grade career of Auckland-born centre partner Willie Isa is also in its infancy.
The quality of their performances was encouraging for a club in crisis, given their determination to ride out the storm.
"There's a bunch of us from the under-20s that came up. We've stuck together and we really love this club, we want to keep it going," he said.
Duffie, a former schoolboy high jump champion and New Zealand age group volleyball representative, joined the Storm in 2008 after he was discovered by scout Darren Bell playing fullback for the St Kentigern College first 15.
Promptly offered a scholarship to switch codes, Duffie proved an instant success by scoring 25 tries for the Storm's Toyota Cup team last season.
He has had to bide his time behind Anthony Quinn and MacDougall, but after last night someone associated with the Storm might genuinely contemplate a positive future.
"I was really proud to be out there with the boys, I loved every minute of it."
