He's made an entire career out of ignoring his body, but Thirroul fullback Wayne Bremner can't argue anymore after carrying two bung knees through Saturday's epic grand final victory.
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Convinced he was in his final year of footy heading into the finals, the Butchers No. 1 had no doubt come fulltime in the decider, limping to the siren after a right knee injury suffered in the prelim final.
His distraught state and pronounced limp seemingly put him at astronomical odds to make it on to the field for the decider. In the end he did more than that, proving one of his side's best in 24-18 victory over Collegians, despite also requiring attention to his left knee on the run.
Having only overcome a serious hamstring injury suffered in round nine in time for the final round of the season, one of the league's great warriors knows it is time call it.
"My body was telling me out there today 'if you're really not sure this is definitely it, I'm just letting you now, not again mate'," Bremner said.
"I just got through that one so, yeah, this is it. That moment I hurt the knee (in the prelim) I said to myself 'just run it out', but once it hit me that it was a pretty bad injury, it got pretty emotional thinking that was how I was going to go out.
"I did a lot of work with a lot of people helping me to get to where I am right now. (Physios) Mick Baines and Pete McIntyre did a heap for me, Couchy (assistant coach Ben Couchman) as well.
"Heaps of people got together and we came up with a good game plan and it got me through the game. To get this moment with this unreal club with an unreal coach in Jacko (Jarrod Costello) who deserves it so much, with (wife) Sam and the kids here, I just can't describe it."
Bremner had been a nervous spectator after picking up that hamstring injury, one that coincided with a slump that almost left them collateral damage in Dapto fairytale.
While admittedly doubting whether there was enough time to right the ship, the former Paul McGregor Medalist's belief was unequivocal once the big dance arrived.
"To be fair, going through the season I knew we had the team, but there was times where I thought we just weren't going to get it together," Bremner said.
"It just wasn't clicking, we didn't have the right team on the park all together. Once we got that team together and we got into the semis, we just started rolling and I knew if we just put 80 minutes together there was no-one that could go with us.
"Even that second half, we were all over them and every opportunity they had, we gave to them. This team is just so good, the young forwards are just something special.
"Tarje Whitford's going to be here for a long time and I reckon he's going to deliver it a lot of premierships. This club's got a massive future with a lot of these young blokes, but for me to do it with [Jarrod] Boyle, my best mate who I started with at such a young age, is just a surreal feeling."
While the run from fourth with a losing record, to premiership glory was stunning for most observers, it was nothing more than a best-laid plan for Boyle.
"Through the whole stage we never lost belief," Boyle said.
"We knew that once once it clicked, which it did later in the year, that we could carry on to the semis. I honestly wasn't too worried the last three weeks.
"I knew that our best was better than anyone else's. If we played our best, we were sweet. We certainly didn't in the first half, but I thought that second half was one of the best halves of footy I've been involved with."
Boyle's fourth premiership with his third club comes in his first season back in the Illawarra since claiming the 2019 title - ironically one in which he was man of the match for Collegians.
Whether it is his last remains to be seen, he's far less firm in his plans than Bremner, but Boyle said it would be hard to top the feeling of the Butchers fairy tale run.
"It's definitely special, having a couple of years out of the comp and not knowing if I'd ever come back to this comp the way things were," Boyle said.
"Teaming up with Brem to come back and potentially finish off with one of my best mates, and now to get the premiership, it's definitely up there.
"You can't compare them. They're all different, they're all special for their own reasons, but this one will be at the top of my mind for a long time.
"The body was a bit sore this year, but I love this feeling and I wouldn't mind another one to be honest." I'll see how the body goes."
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
