When Ben Berger went into the change rooms to get ready for Saturday's clash against the Tamworth Kangaroos he had no idea about what was about to transpire.
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With regular captain Damien Thom picking up an injury in their loss to the Inverell Saints the previous week, the Tamworth Swans needed someone to lead them.
Unbeknownst to Berger, Thom and coach Lachlan Bennetts-Inkster had decided he was the man.
"They told me in front of all the team just before the game that they wanted me to step up and be captain in his absence," he said.
The first time he's carried the 'c' after his name in over 25 years of playing sport, the 33-year-old said it was "unexpected" and confessed to getting "a little bit emotional" as they shared some "nice words" about how much he has grown over the past few years.
Leading the Swans to a 5.10-100 to 9.11-65 win, Berger replied "100 per cent" when asked if it was the biggest honour of his sporting life.
"Coming here five years ago to the club, where I didn't know anyone.
"To then having those same people go we want you to be a leader in our team at the start of the year (the leadership group and captain were voted on by the players), and then step up as captain, it's a big honour," he said.
It's testament to the great team man that he is, and how far he has come.
He arrived at the club relatively green.
While he had been watching the game since he was two or three, he didn't have a full understanding of it to play it.
Growing up in Forbes, AFL was pretty non-existent.
It was only when he moved to Bathurst that he started playing, and that ended up being only the one season, with he and fiancee-now-wife Andrea deciding to relocate to Tamworth to be closer to her family.
These days regularly featuring among the Swans' best, Berger paid credit to the previous and current coaches that pushed him to improve "instead of just being someone sitting back and not really participating".
Another game-changer - both in his life in general and AFL evolution - was his ADHD diagnosis about two-and-a-half years ago.
"That's helped me focus and just realise that sometimes my lack of concentration wasn't just me being lazy or me being flightful, it was actually that," Berger said.
On Saturday playing half-back, he has become a bit of a 'Mr Versatile'.
Happy to play wherever he's needed to, in the Swans' five games so far, he's played "everywhere except the wings".
This weekend hosting Gunnedah in a catch-up from their washed out Round 4 clash, he said Saturday was a "nice team effort", and "nice improvement" from the Saints.
"We've still got plenty of things to work on but we ground out the win and made sure that even though they were there within five goals at the end, we were still pushing and the backline kept shutting down any opportunities ," he said.
The women also had a good win, both sides taking a big step towards claiming the respective Abbott-George (women) and Billy Holder (men) Cups.
They are 2-nil up with two more match-ups to come with the Roos.
