Player agent Tyran Smith knows he's set himself a tough benchmark by brokering perhaps the NRL's most extraordinary contract – a two-year deal worth $1.7 million for a 19-year-old who had just announced he won't play again until 2014 to follow his religious calling.
For Smith, William Hopoate's jaw-dropping deal with Parramatta was a personal triumph. Over the last four years a big part of his pitch to players and their parents has been that he could teach young players the "system" they needed to follow for NRL success. He called it a code that emphasised training hard, listening, remaining humble and learning. It's the mantra Hopoate has followed under Smith's guidance since he was a youngster.
"What does it mean?" he said of the Hopoate deal. "With the stuff that has come out I'd like to think if anyone had doubts [about my capabilities] in the past they might think again. Very few people can fathom William's deal. It's unheard of, he's off for two years to do his Mormon missionary, but I also realise William is a very special talent in many ways."
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Smith wrote the handbook for his business based upon his experiences as a rugby league journeyman. While he represented his native New Zealand, the 37-year-old openly lamented that he never reached his potential despite numerous opportunities to shine for Souths, North Queensland, Super League's Hunter Mariners, Auckland, Balmain, the Wests Tigers and finally Canberra.
"No real direction," he said. "I could've been so much better as a player if I had've put more thought into the preparation and the consistency that is needed to succeed. Like a lot a lot of young blokes. I was arrogant for a little while, not over the top but enough to tell kids why it's a mistake to go down that path.
"I was talking to a young guy on the verge of first grade about the difference between being arrogant on the field and humble off it. He said he wanted to keep learning and I was happy, because when you're a player and your thoughts are elsewhere, you're getting to training a minute beforehand or thinking about the new car or the girls. There's a good chance you won't be playing first grade for long.
"William understands it. Before he played in the State of Origin he texted he was about to turn the phone off, and that allowed me to go through some last-minute things we needed to discus; he understands that ticking off the little things makes it easier to focus on the bigger things. He trains on his days off, drinks lemonade in the corner at the club's grand final celebrations and he doesn't feel the need to be anything but himself.
"I didn't have that direction. I played for New Zealand and it was the highlight, but that came very early to me – maybe too early. Had I made some different decisions it could've been better."
Smith is one of only a few ex-first-graders who had taken their lessons from league's school of hard knocks to help mould other playing careers and to consolidate their off-field futures as a manager. "I wanted to make sure they received the honest treatment I craved as a player," he said. "I make it a point to tell a potential client they have options . . . there is over a hundred other agents out there and I encourage them to talk to the others because I back myself.
"When a club offers a player 'x' and another one 'y', I show them both deals and after I have my say it is left to the player and his family to decide where he goes. My commitment to the player is to be straight-up, and all I expect the guys is to show me respect and loyalty as their manager."
Smith recalled how a number of officials thought he was joking when he demanded the type of cash that entrenched Hopoate among the code's elite. "It was about culture," he said. "What sort of a price can you put on a bloke who will set standards for his teammates with his morals, humility and ethics?
"You can have young players looking at that and wanting to follow that and not drinking .No one is forcing him to not drink – he can have a beer if he wants – but he chooses another path. He trains on his days off, he thinks about where is is going and what he wants to be."
Smith said "educating" and explaining what it took a player in their everyday life to make the grade was his point of difference.
"I do things like take my players who want to train with me running up the [steep] stairs at Tamarama, Bronte and Coogee and I take them to the limit to help them understand that the 'hurt' goes away. When they feel that hurt on the field they realise they'll get through it. I tell them things that while school mightn't be for everyone, it is an important part of understanding what life is about.
"School teaches structure. The English teacher then the maths teacher provide information they need to process and it is the same in rugby league – you have the coach, the fitness trainer, the CEO, a media officer telling you things and you must process what they say.
"They need to learn the routine school wants – turning up, wearing a uniform; being on time feeds becoming a first-grader."
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