Manly coach Des Hasler implored journalists to get off their arses and chase a story on Cade Cust after the 'secret' debutant played a leading role in the Sea Eagles' win over Cronulla.
"So isn't it great to see a young kid like Cade Cust step up. A Scone boy. A great story actually," the veteran coach said.
"I'm not going to tell you but you should investigate it. So you can get off your arse and do something."
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So we did.
Cust was told on Thursday he was to start against the Sharks but had to keep it quiet for four days under orders from Hasler.
At least, he thought he was set to debut.
"We were actually in video and Dessie kept saying ‘that’s your edge, Cade’ but he didn’t tell me it was going to be my debut," the young five-eighth said.
"I was thinking ‘what’s going on here?’ and after he told me ‘you’re debuting, mate. Good luck’.
"But I couldn't tell anyone."
Cust's call-up has been a fair while coming after he was identified as a youngster at Scone and slowly brought through the junior ranks at Manly.
Keen lower grade observers have been demanding his inclusion for over a year followed a string of stand-out performances, including a starring role in Manly's 2017 NYC win.
An unexpected rugby league education under Matty Johns helped put the final polish on.
"I’m good mates with Cooper and Jack, his two sons," Cust explained.
"I came down to play juniors at Manly and couldn’t find anywhere to stay and they said they’d take me until I found something.
"I stayed there for three months and it was footy, footy, footy.
"It was surreal. You’d see him (Matty) on the tele and then he’d be sitting on the lounge a couple of hours later.
"He is very smart. When we watched games he’d have everything down to a T.
"He knew everything. He is so footy smart, you take as much from him (as you can)."
Cust is obviously a quick learner.
He displayed great composure and game management to steer Manly to their sixth win of the season.
He now faces a long-term, three-way battle with Lachlan Croker and Kane Elgey to stay in first grade alongside returning skipper Daly Cherry-Evans.
