On March 14, Jack Cameron scored a try in the Knights' 20-16 defeat of the Warriors in a round one Canterbury Cup clash at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle. It was an auspicious start to a huge year in the young front-rower's life. A strong season would have likely resulted in the 21-year-old being awarded a new contract by the Knights or another NRL club.
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But then the coronavirus hit like a head-on collision.
On March 18, the NSWRL suspended all its major competitions, including the Canterbury Cup. And on Friday, it cancelled those competitions.
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The following day, Cameron answered his phone for this interview while working on his family's Loomberah farm, having arrived home on Wednesday.
Like Australian society and the world at large, his future is uncertain. But he has his health, as does his family, and he remains optimistic his quest to be an NRL player will resume when the nation emerges from the pall into the light.
He draws comfort from the fact that all the other young NRL dreamers are in the same position as him. Still, the experience has left him feeling "gutted".
He had entered this season feeling fitter and stronger than ever before. He was "really keen to get into it" and explore his third year at the Knights, having been signed by the club after impressing at North Tamworth in 2017, his debut first-grade season.
For it all to get called off is pretty disappointing.
- Jack Cameron
"To come all the way through the preseason and have two trials but only get the one round game ... for it all to get called off is pretty disappointing," he said.
He added: "I was hoping to have a big year to figure out something for next year, but at least everyone's in the same boat ... So, I'm sure the club's gonna take that into consideration."
Naturally, Cameron would have preferred to be at the wheel controlling his own destiny instead of being a helpless passenger, exposed like never before to life's cruel nature. But we're all in the same boat, aren't we?
He admits to feeling strange, which is probably lurking behind fear and anxiety as the most common new default emotion. "I don't know what to do with myself now," he said.
That's not entirely true: his mum and dad, Mary-Ann and David, quickly gave him something to do when he returned home. "Love being home with the family and working on the family farm," he said. "But at the end of the day, I guess you sort of planned to be down there [Newcastle] and playing every weekend, and then it's a pretty big step back."
It's the first time since Cameron began playing rugby league at the sport's entry level that the whole season, pretty much, has been lost to him. But in a way, he considers himself lucky: he had two years to show Newcastle that their investment in him was worth it.
"I sort of got on my feet a little bit ... I've been down there and sort of know what happens. So at least I've got that to fall back on a little bit."
Cameron may, in fact, get another game this year. He is also signed to South Newcastle, and the Newcastle comp is suspended. Of course, that may change.
We are, after all, living in very strange times.
