Andrew Tuala, Phil Bradford, Tiueti Asi and Isaac Ulberg had to travel to Sydney to live their rugby dreams.
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Thousands of hours and even more kilometres on the road.
Rob Puli'uvea relocated to Brisbane for seven years
Now they are the driving force behind the Hunter Wildfires, playing in front of family and friends.
And they are winning.
The Wildfires claimed another major scalp, beating Norths 29-5 at No.2 Sportsground on Saturday.
The bonus-point win was their sixth triumph from seven starts, kept their unbeaten run at home intact and moved them six points clear at the top of the Shute Shield ladder.
"It is an eye-opener for everyone in the Shute Shield," said Tuala. who moved to Newcastle from Auckland a decade ago. "I started at Mayfield-Easts, then went to Wanderers and around the Shute Shield and now I'm here. It is great to be back home. Most of the boys are local or have been here two or three years. They see what we have here at the Wildfires. Players want to come up here now. We are building."
Tuala was again front and centre for the Wildfires against Norths.
The 32-year-old, who has played Super Rugby for the NSW Waratahs and professionally for the LA Giltinis rumbled over for two tries.
He started at loosehead prop, switched to hooker and finished the game anchoring the scrum after a knee injury to Isi Fukofuka.
"I don't mind if I'm at hooker or loosehead," he said. "We have the likes of Hamish Moore and Phil Bradford playing hooker. I'm here to help out."
Again it was the Wildfires pack which laid the platform for the victory.
Lock Ngaruhe Jones burrowed over from close range in the fifth minute.
Twenty minutes later Tuala peeled off the back of a driving maul to extend the gap to 12-0 at half-time.
The visitors hit back five minutes into the second half through winger Seb Cameron.
From there, the Wildfires held strong. Tuala repeated his first try for a 19-5 advantage. Connor Winchester added a penalty before Ulberg burst clear down the short side.
The win completed a clean sweep for the Wildfires after the won second grade 24-21 and colts 34-31. The women beat Warringah 7-3 in Sydney.
"We are not getting too carried away," coach Scott Coleman said. "We weren't clinical by any means. We probably left 20 points out there in the first half. The most pleasing thing was to hold them to five points. They had an off day, but that comes from our defence as well."