Zane Tetevano remembers the day he saw a friendly face.
For the first time in a long time, Tetevano was content. Two years after pleading guilty to assaulting his former girlfriend, he had rebuilt his life on the central coast of NSW.
He had previously sworn he would never return to the "toxic environment" of the NRL, and found his love for the game playing reserve grade in the unheralded confounds of Wyong.
"That year of 2016 was one of my best years playing football, and I was working at the same time working on building frames and trusses," Tetevano tells AAP.
Then after a July win over a Warriors team came a visit from a former coach in the dressing sheds, a man who knew Tetevano when he first arrived in Australia as an 18-year-old.
Before his life hit rock bottom, Tetevano played under Trent Robinson.
"I remember I had a conversation with Robbo midway through 2016, he came up to me as we were walking into the changerooms in Wyong," Tetevano recalls.
"He had me when he was coach of the Newcastle under-20s team in 2008. And it was an unreal feeling seeing an old mate."
Then came the words he thought he'd never hear again.
Robinson wanted to give him a second chance. A shot at joining the Sydney Roosters NRL squad, and an opportunity to show he still had what it takes at first grade level.
"I didn't think I wanted it. I wasn't ready emotionally," Tetevano recalls.
"But to speak to him again and to have that feeling of being wanted, it was exciting and scary at the same time. I was extremely nervous about it."
The Cook Islands native then spoke to his partner about it, and two years later the once troubled forward is on the cusp of an unlikely premiership as a key part of their forward pack.
The 27-year-old remains so embarrassed about the mistakes he made that he refuses to consider himself an example of how to turn his life around.
But he credits Robinson for handing him another shot at a life he thought was over.
"It's funny, my partner always tells me that I need to relax, reflect on my journey and see how far I've come. Sometimes, sure, I need to," Tetevano says.
"But I'm always hard on myself about trying to find ways to improve both as a footballer and a person. I'm only 27. I want to live until I'm 100-plus so there's a lot of improvement to go.
"And Robbo's been a big part of that."
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