Chris Lewis exited his future and re-entered his present.
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After spending part of the off-season on his parents' Wagyu cattle farm near Ashford, Lewis returned to the Melbourne Storm for preseason training.
The 30-year-old Ashford export - who expects to one day run the 1200-head farm with his two elder brothers - has not finalised his new one-year deal with Melbourne, as the 2023 salary cap is yet to be implemented due to wrangling over the new collective bargaining agreement.
However, his improbable NRL career will continue into a fourth season.
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The former high school teacher - who, at age 27 in 2020, became the Storms' oldest-ever debutant after rebounding from a series of serious injuries - said he "always wanted to stay with Melbourne".
"I really like it here," he said. "And I feel like they've brought me up when no one else would."
Lewis said the delay in signing his new contract had been "quite a stressful time". Not having the 2023 salary cap in place yet was "a pretty ridiculous situation, considering we've already started training", added the second-rower with utility value.
The CBA is a deal between the NRL, the players and the clubs that, among other financial arrangements, details the minimum terms and conditions of the players' employment.
Lewis landed a development deal with the Storm in 2019, when he was playing for their feeder club the Sunshine Coast Falcons, and has now played 40 NRL games including 15 games last season.
He believes the coming season could be his last. "I'll be 31 by the time that's finished," he said of his latest contract. "So I'll be lucky to get another one after that, I would imagine."
Luck had nothing to do with Lewis's late-arrival NRL career: it was, in part, the result of natural ability, modern medicine and generous parents (his two knee reconstructions, a shoulder reconstruction and an ankle reconstruction were paid for by his folks, Mick and Pauleen).
It was also the result of hard work and his refusal to listen to the doubts that surely whispered in his ear on occasion, and shouted at other times.
Lewis said his "perseverance has paid off in the end by getting to live this sort of lifestyle". "It's not often you get to do something that you really love for a living.
"So another year of being able to live that lifestyle ... and pretty much being able to go to work and being happy each day and play with your mates, is a privilege."
Waiting for Lewis when he leaves the NRL is another "dream" existence.
The former history and English teacher's stay on his family's farm, Tumbledown Wagyu, during the off-season was a chance to invest in the future. He was accompanied by his partner, Glasgow-raised doctor Jill McCann.
"It was really good to get back," he said. "Mum and Dad, with their Tumbledown Wagyu, are doing well at the moment. And I was trying to learn a bit about the breeding of the Wagyus and trying to keep track of all those sort of things."
Lewis and McCann met through friends last year. "She was out there [the farm] in her dungarees. She was working hard," he said.
Teaming with his brothers, Mat and Mark, to "build on something" that his parents started from scratch "would be a dream", he said.
As for the Storm's chances in 2023, Lewis said it would be "really tough" to replace Jesse and Ken Bromwich, Felise Kaufusi and Brandon Smith - the "club legends" who left Melbourne after the 2022 season.
"But also, it opens up a lot of opportunities for other blokes," he said. "For better or worse, it'll be their chance to have a go," he also said, adding "I hope so", in reference to him getting more game time.
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