Greatness awaits the halfback who embarks on the hero’s journey to Canberra

I’m curious as to why there aren’t more current and potential future NRL halfbacks booking in a pitch session phone call with Ricky Stuart.

Unless your name is Nathan Cleary, Jahrome Hughes or Adam Reynolds, you are currently not one of the top halfbacks in the NRL.

Do you want to be?

Well, to get from where you are now to be on that list, or to do the thinking behind your decision not to, a player only has so many pathways.

One of the main ways to try and be better is going to be by partnering up with someone as a mentor, who you can learn from, and you getting everything you can out of them.

The other option is to stay where you are and work harder within the same structure and that might be a good viable option. Daly Cherry-Evans fits in that group.

(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

But every other halfback in the NRL maybe could think about making a move. Think about embarking on a new challenge, and maybe the adventure of their lifetime. If they are ready to attempt their personal hero’s journey, I’m ready.

According to the hero’s journey, whoever this hero is, they are currently existing within their bubble, in a world that feels ordinary to them now.

If they listen, they hear the call to adventure. It probably sounds like Canberra blowing a big horn and the viking clap. Make of that way you will. But you can hear the call, but true to the hero’s journey, at this stage you’re refusing the call.

But then you meet the mentor, like Bilbo met Gandalf. There you are on the phone with one of the greatest halfbacks to have ever played the game.

You’ve taken the first step, crossing the threshold and starting on your journey. You’re leading the conversation, pitching what you will bring with you on the mission.

Money isn’t your priority but you make sure you get what you need to provide for your future and make the quest as worthwhile as required for you and those you love.

Along the way there will be tests, there are good allies, but there are enemies, doubts and cynics and as you get closer to the grand final each year, hopes and pressure go up equally.

This is what you trained for, you can do it. There will be good days, but also some bad days and ordeals – time spent away from people you care about. It shouldn’t be free so get a good contract in place. It’s a quest worth signing up for.

The reward on offer includes working with a good number one and six. Together as a unit, you hold the team’s maps and plans and keys.

In your phone call you’ll need to talk to Stuart about how you plus those two can form a weapon to bring down your enemies. Together you can make the wingers’ and centres’ jobs easier on their way to the leading point-scorer lists and the record books.

(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

The reward you’re seeking is a premiership. The fans and business of rugby league love premierships. You’re on your road home with a premiership – it’s the best possible feeling and outcome from your work.

Hopes, dreams, presents and futures are resurrected with premiership glory. A premiership is the elixir all fans, players and clubs need. It fixes everything.

That’s the potential outline for a NRL halfback’s autobiography that will be for sale in time for Christmas one year in the next five if they are only brave enough to decide they aren’t going to settle, and decide they are ready to climb the mountain, ready for their hero’s journey, and even if they fail, they won’t be able to say they didn’t try.

Either way, when you’re booked as the guest speaker at that accounting firm’s golf day, you’ll have a better story to tell.

When you approach the microphone, everyone is hoping it is going to be a really good story. Someone’s story will start with the day they picked up the phone and called Ricky Stuart.