Talent can be spotted in so many ways.
It is easy to just focus on the kids coming through who are making the junior representative teams but sometimes you need to dig a little deeper to find those diamonds in the rough.
Cameron Munster was one of those diamonds.
The search began with a phone call from Paul Grant, who’s son Harry captained the Under-20s Thunderbolts last year and is currently on the Melbourne Storm development list.
That phone call is one Storm fans can be quite grateful for.
“Paul said ‘mate, you better come and have a look at a kid called Cameron Munster’,” Storm Recruitment Manager Paul Bunn said.
“He said that one day this kid is going to play first grade and that he reckoned he was good enough to play for his state.
“He told me that Cameron has got something that we have been looking for but we always overlook guys like him because he does not make a lot of rep sides.”
Munster was only 16 years of age at the time and a year later he would be playing against men in the Queensland Cup for the Central Queensland Capras – the same Club that Tim Glasby would eventually emerge from.
“I watched him a few times and I just thought geez, Harry’s dad is right,” Bunn said.
“Then I started getting calls from my other scouts Paul Minto and Terry Hansen, they kept telling me that I’ve got to sign this Munster kid.
“His agent turned out to be a guy who I used to teach at St Brendan’s College, Yeppoon, a guy called Shaun Pine.”
Bunn contacted Pine and the ball starting rolling.
Before long Munster was on a plane down to Melbourne to meet Football Director Frank Ponissi, coach Craig Bellamy and the other coaching staff.
The Storm hierarchy did not take long to be convinced that Cameron Munster the person, as well as the player, would be a good fit down in Melbourne.
Munster signed on the dotted line but that did not mean his arrival at the Club saw the red carpet rolled out.
From the outset the teenager had to earn his stripes off the field and that came by working for a period of time in the membership department.
“We signed up on a trainee contract for minimum wage,” Bunn said.
“He had to work at the Club in membership, he might have drove them mad but he did do his time as a trainee.
“A lot of Clubs put a kid on a traineeship but he doesn’t do it, it was good that he took in on board.”
After answering phones in the front office, Munster progressed to the Under-20s program before earning his debut for Melbourne in Round 12, 2014.
Now the 23-year-old is a Premiership player, Origin player, Australian representative and one of the NRL’s most electrifying young talents.
Those early premonitions about him turned out to be spot on – now there is no telling just how much Munster can achieve in the purple jersey.
