When Joel Thompson and NRL ambassador Andrew Ryan visited a school in Wilcannia to talk to the students about healthy lifestyles and pursuing their dreams, the St George Illawarra second-rower asked those who had eaten breakfast that morning to raise a hand.
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"There were three or four kids who had their hand up out of lots of kids at the school," Thompson said.
"It was a big eye-opener for Andrew because he had been to hundreds and hundreds of schools and I don't think he had seen anything like that before."
For Thompson, it was a situation he knew only too well from an upbringing that makes his rise to the verge of NSW Origin selection a remarkable story and one the Country representative is only too willing to share in the hope disadvantaged or troubled youth know they can rise above their problems.
"I knew what it was like to go to bed hungry, I knew what it was like to struggle and I knew what it was like not to have the nicest clothes so that makes me thankful for what I have got now," Thompson says.
"I come from pretty humble beginnings, I moved around a fair bit and I saw a lot of things that kids probably shouldn't see growing up - a lot of violence, a lot of drugs, a lot of issues to do with alcohol and domestic violence ... some things that scar me even today.
"I never had a stable home where I could say this is my home, I was always living on someone's lounge. My mum had her issues and her problems, and I didn't know my dad until I was 15 so I struggled a fair bit.
"The environment I grew up in was one with a lot of drugs, and a lot of family in and out of jails. It was an environment I could have easily stayed in so I am very thankful that I got out of that cycle and I have got a family now - a missus and kids - and that makes me appreciate the things I have."
While Thompson still requires help to deal with some of his childhood experiences, he is regarded as a leader and role model both on and off the field.
In his part-time role with Mission Australia the 26-year-old encourages indigenous youth to study or obtain a traineeship and he recently completed TAFE certificates in community services, drugs and alcohol and mental health with a view to working in the juvenile justice system after he retires.
"I have just got a real passion for it," Thompson said.
"There are about 30 kids in the Wollongong area we look after and mentor, and I can honestly say that it is more rewarding to see kids stay at school and do well than anything I have done in football. But footy has allowed me to do that so I know that I am very lucky to be a footballer."
Since resolving some family issues that last season prompted him to seek a release from the Dragons and return to Canberra, Thompson has been one of the joint competition leaders' best players and is proud to have earned a recall to the Country team.
"Nearly every country town is my home town," Thompson said. "I played footy on and off in whatever town I was living - Condobolin, Wagga, Gundagai. Griffith, Forbes, Ivanhoe and Sydney for a bit - but it was never a stable team.
"I would go and be somewhere for a year or six months and then just move on and go somewhere else. I was back and forth between those places because that is where I had aunties or other family."
Eventually, Thompson was taken in by his grandmother Gloria and grandfather Albert, and through their support he gained the opportunity to attend boarding school at Redbend Catholic College in Forbes, where Melbourne Storm recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan identified the 16-year-old's raw talent.
"I am very lucky that I was able to turn things around and that is why I want to help others," he said.
"My mentality is a lot different to when I was younger because I thought bashing people, drinking, fighting and crime was OK because that is what your grow up around and that is what you see.
"Before I went to live with my Nan I definitely had a me against the world attitude, I really had a problem with authority, I struggled at school and I had a lot of anger issues.
"I had a lot of problems so I went to my Nan's and she is a good person, she taught me to have respect and all of that sort of stuff that ended up helping me through Abstudy to go to boarding school at Redbend."
Thompson began volunteering for community work such as feeding the homeless or running programs through the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre while playing for the Raiders and continued to do so after joining the Dragons last season.
Given the opportunity to return to Canberra, he decided to stay and is now in the best form of his career.
"That is from me being happy," he said. "I was struggling early last season and it was hard for me to find my feet. I had some personal things going on and footy probably wasn't my priority at the time.
"I have got four brothers and sisters and they were having some problems back in Canberra so there was an option to go back there to try and help my mum a bit but it is all sorted out now and I am really glad that we stuck it out.
"I am really settled now and I love it. There is a really good feeling with Paul McGregor as coach and a belief among the players."
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