From Wee Waa to Tamworth to Caboolture to the Sunshine Coast and finally Cronulla.
Sharks rookie Braydon Trindall was used to being the new kid growing up with plenty of detours on his road to the NRL.
The 21-year-old halfback, who made a winning debut against Brisbane last round, even lived with a Samoan family for about six years when he relocated to Queensland.
"I just had to get used to it really, moving around, looking for the best opportunity with footy," Trindall told NRL.com.
"My parents wanted the best for me, so they kind of moved me around looking for the best option."
Born in the northern NSW town of Wee Waa, where Sea Eagles legend Jamie Lyon calls home, Trindall started playing footy at age four.
"I moved through the grades there for two or three years and then I moved up to Tamworth, played a bit of footy out there," he said.
"Around 10 or 11 years old, I moved to Caboolture - kind of in between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane - and played a bit of footy at the Caboolture Snakes. My parents were still in Wee Waa at this point.
"I was living with a Samoan family. It kept me grounded. They were tough on me for my footy and my grades at school and stuff like that.
"From there, I stayed there the whole of high school and moved to the Sunshine Coast after that and was playing footy at the Falcons.
"I moved to heaps of schools when I was younger. I was always an outgoing kind of guy so it wasn't hard for me to make friends."
Trindall is still close with the Chankays, who he lived with in Caboolture, describing them as "definitely" like family.
"When I was staying there I think there was seven in the house. There was three of us boys," Trindall said.
"One was my age and [the other was] a year younger. We kind of had bunks in the room. It was pretty cool. We all played in the same team."
Trindall made his way into the under 20s with the Melbourne Storm, who are associated with the Sunshine Coast Falcons, and played alongside star Wests Tigers loanee Harry Grant.
"I got picked up in my second-last year of 20s by the Sharks and I've been here ever since," he said.
"I don't think I would want to move anywhere. To be honest. I'm comfortable here, all settled in, so I'm enjoying it."
The playmaker steered Cronulla to the Jersey Flegg premiership in 2018 and was part of Newtown's Canterbury Cup and Interstate Championship victories last season.
Sharks v Eels - Round 13
He was forced to bide his time but completed his long and winding journey to first-grade last Saturday in Chad Townsend's absence.
Matt Moylan's return from a hamstring issue pushed Trindall to the reserves for Sunday's clash with the Eels and was on standby in case the former NSW Origin star was a late scratching but was ultimately omitted from the squad on Saturday when Moylan was declared fit.
For Trindall, making his debut along with good mate Jackson Ferris at Suncorp Stadium and being able to represent his culture in Indigenous Round was a dream come true.
"I had all the family there to watch so it was unreal," Trindall told the man he replaced, Townsend, for Sharks Media after the match.
"Seeing the family out there, Mum's there crying and it gets me a bit emotional. Very special."
