NFL-bound Jarryd Hayne did not know it at the time but when he was pitted to wrestle against world champion boxer Danny Green as a kid of 17 it was to prove he had the right stuff to be a NRL first-grader.
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Green was one of the world's top cruiserweights when he grappled with Hayne – who arrived in the US on Monday to try his luck in the NFL – and he recalled a battle that said volumes about the NRL superstar's tenacity.
"The coach [Brian Smith] wanted this kid's mettle tested so I wrestled Jarryd and gave him a pretty thorough rinsing," Green said. "He handed it back; picked me up a few times and slammed me into the ground. It was classic, he had a go."
The match-maker was Parramatta's former physical performance manager Hayden Knowles, who chuckled at the notion before he left Sydney with Hayne that with friends like him the 26-year-old doesn't need enemies.
"Jarryd wasn't even in the senior squad and he was getting into his car when I asked if he'd help tire Danny out by wrestling him in between his runs," Knowles said.
"I told Greeny the head coach wanted this kid tested and to put it on him – and he did. When Greeny went on a run, I asked 'are you going to cop that?'.
"When Danny returned, Jarryd went that hard. At one stage he picked Greeny up and was going to dump him. I had to stop it, we were a few weeks from a fight. Danny grabbed me afterwards and said 'he's a winner' and Brian promoted Jarryd to the senior squad when he heard the story."
Knowles – who started training Hayne when he was a 16-year-old from a housing commission estate in Minto determined to buy his mum her own home – was a member of the entourage that accompanied Hayne to the US. As a trusted friend, he will help Hayne find his feet, establish a network of positive people to surround him and to shoot a documentary through his sports/production company Competitive Edge Sports.
However, Knowles, who had also established strong networks around the world that allowed Aussie sprinter Jarrod Geddes to train with Usain Bolt's squad in Jamaica, primarily boarded the plane as a "true believer" that Hayne would make the grade in America.
"Put him in a competitive situation and he'll win every time," Knowles said. "It's in him; a one in a million athlete."
Knowles went to great pains to stress he should not be mistaken for Haynes' manager. That, he said, was Wayne Beavis, guided Hayne since he was 14.
"I've teamed up with Wayne to help in any way from a management point of view, with a major focus on helping find the right team to support him," said Knowles before he left Sydney on Sunday.
Hayne and Knowles had worked together on projects before, including the nationwide search to find Australia's most promising sprinter because of their mutual dream to see an Aussie star at the Olympics, partnering and supporting numerous charity events and hosting coaching clinics where the aim was to simply leave children feeling inspired.
"For the profile he has, Jarryd has remained a very generous person who'll help people," Knowles said. "I think that is why so many people want for him to succeed in America."
