By the time Wests Tigers had kicked off against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Thursday night, Asipeli Fine wasn't even sure if he was in the final team or not.
Only 24 hours earlier, he wasn't even sure if he was 18th man or not.
But after Mitchell Moses suffered a quad strain in the warmup and was scratched just seconds before Wests Tigers ran out to take on the Rabbitohs, it quickly began to dawn on Fine that he was indeed going to be needed to get the job done against South Sydney.
And for that, the 23-year-old says he owes a lot to Coach Jason Taylor.
"To be honest, I just showed up today thinking I would need to show my face," he said.
"But JT warned me before the game saying he's seen players go down in the warm-up plenty of times before, and then last second they ruled Mitch out and I got my shot."
Fine would have a few moments to consider how his night had changed, set to come off the interchange bench at some point in the match. However, as the Tongan international laughed afterwards, those moments were far from the most pleasant and calm he's endured.
"Ten minutes into the game, I actually had to come in and have a nervous spew," he said.
"I got a start in the second half and it was just quick.
"But I enjoyed it heaps."
Be there as Wests Tigers wear their first ever Indigenous Jersey against the Bulldogs!
