One of the first of many phone calls which lit up Shannon Boyd's phone came from Raiders coach Ricky Stuart. In between the congratulations being peddled from the other end of the line came a message the Kangaroos rookie has heard all too often before.
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"He just said, 'do the club proud and do yourself proud' ... and also to look after myself and don't put on too much weight," Boyd joked. "Typical Sticky trying to make sure I stay fit."
Not that Stuart doesn't trust his former teammate and Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga.
But so keen is he for Boyd to return in top nick for pre-season training with the preliminary finalists – which will be delayed until January for Boyd and Raiders colleague Josh Papalii – Stuart wants the 122kg wrecking ball to use the Four Nations tour as a springboard for 2017.
Boyd and his brother were doing sheep work on the family farm at Cowra when he was told the news of his elevation into the green and gold before he has even got near the sky blue of NSW.
The first call came from his mother. Then his girlfriend.
"I think [mother Ann-Maree] was watching the news and it came up with the team," Boyd said. "It was exciting and I was quite nervous too. I've had a bit of time to settle down now and have a think of it. It's pretty crazy and I didn't think this would be possible three weeks ago. I'm just taking it all in at the moment and enjoying it.
"There's so much experience in this team and I just want to watch how they do things and learn new ways [of training]. I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open and take in as much as I can."
