Dallin Watene-Zelezniak spent the day alone inside his hotel room repeatedly slapping himself in the face after fracturing his foot at the beach just days before his international debut last year.
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The Kiwi winger, who was set to play his first game for his native New Zealand against Australia at last year's Four Nations, is still yet to make his maiden Test appearance.
With Dragons winger Jason Nightingale likely to be ruled out of next Friday's Test against the Kangaroos with a foot injury, Watene-Zelezniak is in line to do what he should have done at the end of last season.
"There'll be no words to describe the feeling if I get picked," he said.
"I'd be wrapped in bubble wrap the whole week if I did get the opportunity. I won't be going to the beach that's for sure. I just went over a wave and went to go put my foot down and put too much weight on it and cracked the side of my foot.
"I could barely walk, I was limping and started hopping and went and saw the physio. I screamed and I was with Dean Whare at the time and he asked me what happened. I told him I rolled my foot but it ended up being a fracture."
Watene-Zelezniak hobbled back to the hotel and was taken for an x-ray, however it wasn't good news for the Penrith junior.
"As soon as I went and got the x-ray and they told me it was fractured, I put my head down," Watene-Zelezniak said.
"I literally spent the whole day in my hotel room slapping my head. I was shattered because he [coach Stephen Kearney] had just told me that day that I was playing on the Saturday against Australia.
"My family were probably more disappointed than me. All my family back in New Zealand, here and in Queensland, they were so proud. When they heard I did my foot, none of them believed it. I like to play pranks on my family so none of them believed me, they thought I was lying to them."
Kiwi forward and Panthers teammate Elijah Taylor, who is expected to return from a knee injury against the Sharks on Sunday, said he was gutted when Watene-Zelezniak was ruled out of last year's Four Nations but insists the winger has a long representative future ahead of him.
"I sent him a text straight away, I couldn't believe it," Taylor said.
"He's still young. It was very, very unlucky, but that's footy. I've got full confidence if he gets chosen that he can do the job. He's a great kid. His head's on his shoulders, he's very humble, he works hard at his craft and at what he does. If he gets the nod, he'll do his country real proud.
"Sometimes he does freakish things out on the field, he's just naturally gifted, just does things that I can't, or things that anyone else can't. And they work hard as well, they don't just rely on their talent. He puts in the hard yards and he's getting the rewards. If he gets the nod for the country."
Despite Watene-Zelezniak's disappointment, Kearney assured the teenager his time would come, and that time could well be next week at Suncorp Stadium.
However it won't be against close friend and Panthers teammate Josh Mansour, who is sidelined for up to six weeks after picking up a knee injury in Saturday's loss to the Gold Coast Titans.
"It was part of a goal of mine to obviously play rep footy this year," Mansour, the incumbent Kangaroos winger said.
"But in saying that I just have to keep my head up and hopefully that will come later in the year. For myself I'm confident. I thought I was finding form the last couple of games, but in saying that I want to get back as fast as I can and be in the frame again."
