Growing up in Toowoomba, Dan Stains had a dream: he would one day play under super-coach Jack Gibson, soak in his wisdom and eventually become a master mentor himself.
The hard-nosed forward achieved the first goal when he joined the Sharks in 1987, going on to play 135 first-grade games in black, white and blue across eight years. He also captained the club and earned four Origin caps for Queensland.
But his first impressions of Gibson's coaching left him underwhelmed. All these years later, having just written an autobiography where he examines a past mindset moulded by childhood trauma, Stains explains his expectations were misguided.
"I went there with all these preconceived ideas of what a coach should be and how they should fill me up with all this knowledge," Stains says.
"It was such a raw experience because Jack had none of that.
"As an outsider looking in, I thought, 'Jack has no defensive system, he's got no offensive structure, or a very vague one'.
"It wasn't until 10 years later, when I got into coaching and I got Jack to come and help me, that I started to see the genius in everything he did."
As he covers in the book, titled "What Now", Stains only spent one season being coached by Gibson - 1987 marked his final year holding the clipboard - but later received a profound wake-up call from the five-time premiership winner.
Stains lost his father and eldest sister in his youth, leading him to gravitate towards strong older role models. The 59-year-old has written of how he dealt with those tragedies, as well as two marriage breakdowns, on a path to "inner peace".
He hopes his story provides "signposts" that light the way for readers to make their own breakthroughs. He also wants to use his experiences to help NRL players, and those who don't reach the top, lead fulfilling post-football lives.
Glory years at the Sharks
Stains enjoyed a terrific playing career and reflects fondly on his Sharks memories.
Asked for his highlights, he says: "The '88 and '89 seasons – we were the minor premiers in '88 – and the friendships I had with Gavin Miller, Malcolm Wheeler, Barry Russell, Michael Speechley, Mark McGaw and ET (Andrew Ettingshausen), Dane Sorensen, Michael Porter and Glenn Coleman.
"Just the fun times we had back in '88 and '89, they were really magical."
He was coached by Allan Fitzgibbon, dad of current Sharks mentor Craig, from 1988-91. He recalls Craig being the team's ball-boy and a constant presence at training.
"I think he was probably 11 at the time," Stains says.
"He was bright-eyed, he loved life. He had his Sharks tracksuit on and he was probably not much shorter than a lot of us players!
"He was just a lovely kid from a lovely family. It's little wonder that Craig has grown into such a fine young man and a great coach for the Sharks."
Home truths from Jack
Conversely, Stains never quite scaled the heights he envisioned as a coach. He started with a bang, taking Balmain to a reserve-grade grand final in 1997, but struggled the next season. He then called on Gibson for guidance.
During a meeting at Gibson's house overlooking the Port Hacking, one comment alerted Stains to the realities of coaching and the bigger picture.
"He tapped me on the leg and said, 'Can't you see that your whole philosophy's flawed?' That was like a stake in my heart, mate," he says.
"Here I was, I'd gone to the grand final a year before, thinking I was a super-coach, doing everything that I thought Jack was doing and other coaches were doing.
"It didn't just wake me up towards football.
"It made me realise that everyone has a philosophy and you have to check in, look at yourself and think, 'Is it really working?'"
He moved on to coach at the London Broncos but was sacked in 1999.
Once a self-described "pig-headed, stubborn and, I suppose, egotistical" young footballer - necessary traits for playing such a combative sport in his estimation - Stains has now found the contentment he long craved.
"The book is a culmination of starting out from a young age and all the lessons I learnt," he says. "Hopefully, I'm an older head that's rediscovered that innocence and love of youth where you're simply doing the best you can each day."
