IT appeared a stroke of genius but Dragons fullback Matt Dufty revealed the long ball he threw for Mikaele Ravalawa's first-half try on Sunday could well have got him - pardon the pun - hooked by coach Anthony Griffin.
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Dufty was outstanding in a 26-12 win over the previously unbeaten Eels, scoring a double and laying on two other tries.
The cut-out pass for Ravalawa's try eight minutes before the break really twisted the knife in what undoubtedly the Dragons best 40 minutes this season - and possibly the last couple.
It was the type of ball-playing the 25-year-old pulled out of his kitbag last season, but he said post-game it hasn't necessarily been the highest priority for Griffin.
"I was hoping Hook wasn't gonna drop me this week because he [had] said f... the long balls off and just play through the middle," Dufty said.
"It's been given a success this year playing through the middle and playing those short passes but I'm not a black and white kind kind of player. I play in the grey. That's just the next evolution of my game, trying to mix last year's ball playing with this year's around the ruck.
"I did a lot of videos this week, probably the most I've ever done in my preparation and I knew that I got that two pass on Moses who was gonna try and shut it down and the rest of them follow.
"It was just more preparation, knowing what they were going to do more than anything. It was just about execution. I know if I didn't get it right, I probably would have heard Hook from the box. I'll have to apologise to him during the week."
It may be an apt description but Dufty says he spends less time in "they grey" these days, tending to play with his head and not merely off the top of it.
"I'm not doing the the low percentage plays, I'd say I don't do that as much," he said.
"The way the game is going there's a lot of space around the ruck. It's so fast out there, it's actually kind of ridiculous even for me. I don't know how the big boys do it, it's a credit to them that they play there for 80 minutes because it's a tough gig.
"I just wait to them opportunities present themselves. When Normy's playing around the ruck or Cluney's there I'm always hanging around begging for that little inside ball, that half break. I was just in the right spot and the boys gave me the ball in the right opportunities.
"It's, it's not about those big plays for me this year it's about doing those little things get the numbers right [defensively], being in position to save tries. I'd rather do that than then score 20 tries this year."
It's a timely run of form for the livewire No. 1, who is off-contract this season and has opened dialogue with the club about a contract extension.
His head is not in the sand over it but, like his on-field game, he's approaching it with growing maturity.
"I just haven't thought about it," he said.
"Good things come in time and if I'm worried about that then it's affecting me on the field. I talk to a manager every day and it's building slowly. There's no updates, we're going back and forth a bit and that's where it is at the moment.
"I think if I flip my mindset and just worry about how I'm playing on the field, and that's all I'm worried about, then those contract things will come."