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Two sleeps.
That's all it took Andrew McCullough to make the biggest decision of his career to quit the Brisbane Broncos - the only club he has ever known.
McCullough signed a scholarship with Brisbane when he was just 13 after catching the eye of legendary Broncos talent scout Cyril Connell at an Under 12's schoolboys carnival in Toowoomba. That was 17 years ago. He had been a Bronco ever since.
Until nine days ago.
Remarkably, in an era where players can sit on contract offers for months, the 260-game veteran took less than 48 hours to say yes to becoming a Knight.
A phone call out of the blue from his agent Isaac Moses two Saturday nights ago spelled out the opportunity on offer at the Knights with coach Adam O'Brien and recruitment boss Alex McKinnon searching for the right replacement for injured hooker Jayden Brailey, who is out for the season.
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Until then, McCullough hadn't even really contemplated a move.
"But when you get asked something like that, your gut feeling generally tells you straight away if it's a good or bad idea and it felt pretty good," McCullough said.
"It ticked a lot of boxes straight away. One was the team, two the coach, three the actual area itself. I was excited pretty much straight away to be honest about the opportunity.
"He [Moses] didn't really need to sell it to me, he was just giving me options. He never said I needed to do this - he knew it was going to be my decision in the end. All he did was outline where the club is at and what Adam's plans are. The easy thing to do was say I wasn't interested and stay where I was.
"But I had to decide pretty quickly obviously with the season coming back and the Broncos playing first up. I didn't want to selfishly hold things up by not making a call pretty quickly.
"I had a decision to make one way or the other and I basically only had a night or two to say yes or no."
McCullough said there was no pressure coming from the Broncos' end.
"They weren't pushing me out the door or anything like that," he said. "But I knew I also needed to get down here as quickly as possible and gel with the boys here at the Knights and learn the plays and just get on with it. I just thought for both sides, it was a case of the quicker the better.
"I got the initial call on the Saturday night I think and by Monday arvo, it was happening. We got all the paper work done and it was announced the last Thursday and a few days later, I was here."
McCullough's wife Carlie will follow in the next few weeks.
"She works for Auscare [before and after school care] and she's had to give two weeks notice before she comes down," he said.
"She was shocked at the start, a bit stunned that it was all happening so quickly. You go through a range of different emotions from being unsure about having to leave family and friends to excitement about a new adventure and getting out of the comfort zone.
"She's never been to Newcastle before so it's a big move for her as well. She's experiencing it all like I am because she is committed to it as much as me. For her to sacrifice giving up her job and packing her bags - it takes a pretty special partner to do that when you are moving away from family and friends so I'm pretty lucky.
"But I'm sure she is going to enjoy it. I wouldn't have taken her anywhere where I thought she wouldn't be comfortable with."
McCullough will sit out this Sunday's clash with Penrith just to settle in and ready himself for another full week of training and Canberra on Sunday week.
He has signed for the rest of this season at the Knights but has an option in his favour to go back up to Brisbane in 2021. But at 30, next season could not be further from his thoughts.
"I'm not worried about the future to be honest with you," he said.
"As much as I'm not looking back now, I'm not looking too far ahead either. All my energy is just 100 percent focused on being down here and pouring everything into the Knights and repaying Adam's faith in me.
"I feel like a kid again to be honest with you and I just want to really compete off the back of that and whatever happens down the track happens. It's a long way away and I wouldn't bring my wife down here and do all this for nothing just to cruise through the year."
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