One is studying a double degree many would only dream of doing and the other is rising before the sun to fulfil his duties at the local council. Together fullback Tom Trbojevic and centre Addison Demetriou are bonded by the Sea Eagles' Holden Cup final hopes.
Trbojevic, besides making his NRL debut and scoring eight tries in his eventual nine games, studies a double degree of Applied Finance and Economics part-time at Macquarie University's Ryde Campus.
While Trbojevic is happy to spend a few afternoons studying, Demetriou is up at all hours of the morning to earn a living.
"I have do waste pickups and stuff like that. It's very difficult to balance especially because I wake up at 3am most mornings and finish at midday," Demetriou told NRL.com.
"It only really gives me a small opportunity to have a few hours sleep before I head to training."
Demetriou's hard work has paid off so far after being named in the NYC Team of the Year on Monday.
After being dumped by the Bulldogs and unwanted by the Roosters, Demetriou's last chance came when he was picked up Manly's recruitment manager David Warwick at a Pacific Sports Management players combine two-day camp – an opportunity he was grateful to take.
"I feel great about it," he said. "It's good to see all the players who have done it before you especially from Manly so it's good to be amongst that group now and it's a great privilege."
Trbojevic, who was also named in the Team of the Year, told NRL.com: "You look through these lists and there are international players and Origin representatives," he said.
"And in our sakes for Manly you have your Forans, Cherry-Evans [in past teams] and you realise how much of a privilege it is to make this team. We just have to continue playing well in the future though I guess because we're not at the stage as those before us just yet."
But it's not over yet for the Sea Eagles NYC side, the club's last remaining team across all three competitions, as they gear up to face the Wests Tigers in a semi final on Friday afternoon after the minor premiers Penrith gave them a hiding over the past weekend.
"Obviously to secure that fourth spot is a great achievement for the boys. We had a pretty disappointing loss on the weekend but Penrith were just too good for us," Trbojevic said.
"But we have another chance and hopefully we can turn it back on. They have a host of very good players so we're going to have to look out for them and be on our best game."
