Reuben Garrick admitted at the start of the NRL season there were times when he was having to fake positivity to keep himself and other Sea Eagles up.
Back then, Manly were closer to wooden spoon favouritism than top-four finishers, hanging onto the spark of hope Tom Trbojevic had provided in his first game back.
"When you're out of form, it's almost hard to get in form," Garrick told AAP in April.
"You've got to almost fake a lot of positivity and that sort of stuff."
By his own admission, Garrick endured a disappointing 2020 after being close to one of the rookies of year in 2019.
But five months on one thing is now certain, the Manly winger need no longer fake it until he makes it in the NRL: Garrick is the real deal.
On Saturday night in Townsville he is poised to enter the record books with the greatest points-scoring regular season by a player in history.
The Manly goalkicker needs just three points against North Queensland to overtake Hazem El Masri's record of 288 from 2004 as the greatest individual haul in history.
Another 14 points on Saturday will make him the first player to 300 in the regular season, while Manly also hunt a win to claim fourth spot.
And while such records are usually the result of high-scoring teams, Garrick is more than just a sharp shooter after becoming the first player in history to score 20 tries and kick 100 goals in the same season.
"I've tried to keep out of (the points-scoring record talk) as much as I can," Garrick said this week.
"I just play footy for a bit of fun and do my best job for my mates. That's what I'm about.
"If those sort of records come if it's off the back of a lot of hard work and my mates inside me."
The record also says a lot about Garrick, who grew up playing under Michael Cronin in Gerringong.
The 24-year-old kicked at just 68 per cent last year and at times lost the job to Daly Cherry-Evans. This year, he's above 80 per cent.
He also leads the competition for linebreaks with 40 compared to just seven last season, while he is also ranked fifth for tackle busts.
"Last year was a year where we were just absolutely decimated with injuries, you probably really can't put it in that light," coach Des Hasler said.
"But he's worked hard. He's a real intelligent kid and he works really hard at his craft and it's great to see him getting the rewards like that."
Meanwhile Hasler confirmed he would now go full strength at North Queensland in Townsville, resisting the urge to rest stars as they hunt a second chance in the finals.
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