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If it wasn't for a bunch of speeding tickets, game-breaking lock Greg Eastwood may never have arrived at Canterbury.
What started out as a chance signing for the Bulldogs has quickly turned into an example of how loyalty isn't completely dead in the NRL.
And Eastwood will be looking to repay the faith in his second shot at a grand final for Canterbury on Sunday against South Sydney.
Homesick in the north of England during 2010, Eastwood wanted out of his Leeds Rhinos contract, but there was only one NRL club he wanted to come back to.
The Bulldogs offered Eastwood a lifeline the year before when the UK Border Agency had originally knocked back his visa request due to a poor driving record.
Without a home having quit Brisbane but already committed to a Rhinos contract he now wasn't immediately allowed to take up, if it wasn't for the show of goodwill from the Bulldogs, the Kiwi international would have been forced to sit out the '09 season.
As it turned out, he went all the way to a preliminary final.
So when Eastwood was battling wrist injuries and loneliness during his eventual one-year stint with Leeds, he was prepared to do anything to come back to the Bulldogs - including a STG100,000 ($A182,500) transfer fee coming out of his contract.
"I told Todd (Greenberg, Bulldogs chief executive at the time) I'll do anything to get back," Eastwood told Rugby League Week back in 2011.
"I really missed the club.
"(I'm getting) enough to live on, that's all I can say. It's going to take three years (to repay)."
With his debt repaid, Eastwood last year committed to a new Bulldogs deal and at the age of 27, the one-time unsettled journeyman looks like set to be a Belmore boy for the rest of his career.
Eastwood was left out of the Broncos' 2006 premiership-winning team, but has blossomed into one of the NRL's quiet achievers.
He was arguably the most influential player on the field when the Bulldogs started their finals' giant killing run against Melbourne, and came up with the definitive try-assist last week to sink Penrith just when the Panthers looked like coming home on top.
Bulldogs and Kiwi teammate Sam Perrett described Eastwood as an "inspiration".
"He's a huge strength for our team and without him, we would have struggled last week and this whole season," said Perrett.
"He's made plenty of clutch plays and game-changing decisions.
"Just the way he's come back from his trials and tribulations ... he's inspirational and a real leader."
© AAP 2014
Source
What started out as a chance signing for the Bulldogs has quickly turned into an example of how loyalty isn't completely dead in the NRL.
And Eastwood will be looking to repay the faith in his second shot at a grand final for Canterbury on Sunday against South Sydney.
Homesick in the north of England during 2010, Eastwood wanted out of his Leeds Rhinos contract, but there was only one NRL club he wanted to come back to.
The Bulldogs offered Eastwood a lifeline the year before when the UK Border Agency had originally knocked back his visa request due to a poor driving record.
Without a home having quit Brisbane but already committed to a Rhinos contract he now wasn't immediately allowed to take up, if it wasn't for the show of goodwill from the Bulldogs, the Kiwi international would have been forced to sit out the '09 season.
As it turned out, he went all the way to a preliminary final.
So when Eastwood was battling wrist injuries and loneliness during his eventual one-year stint with Leeds, he was prepared to do anything to come back to the Bulldogs - including a STG100,000 ($A182,500) transfer fee coming out of his contract.
"I told Todd (Greenberg, Bulldogs chief executive at the time) I'll do anything to get back," Eastwood told Rugby League Week back in 2011.
"I really missed the club.
"(I'm getting) enough to live on, that's all I can say. It's going to take three years (to repay)."
With his debt repaid, Eastwood last year committed to a new Bulldogs deal and at the age of 27, the one-time unsettled journeyman looks like set to be a Belmore boy for the rest of his career.
Eastwood was left out of the Broncos' 2006 premiership-winning team, but has blossomed into one of the NRL's quiet achievers.
He was arguably the most influential player on the field when the Bulldogs started their finals' giant killing run against Melbourne, and came up with the definitive try-assist last week to sink Penrith just when the Panthers looked like coming home on top.
Bulldogs and Kiwi teammate Sam Perrett described Eastwood as an "inspiration".
"He's a huge strength for our team and without him, we would have struggled last week and this whole season," said Perrett.
"He's made plenty of clutch plays and game-changing decisions.
"Just the way he's come back from his trials and tribulations ... he's inspirational and a real leader."
© AAP 2014
Source
