Tom Briscoe has revealed how close he came to joining NRL club Cronulla Sharks instead of signing for Leeds Rhinos - but insists he holds no regrets over his decision to walk away from a dream move to Australia.
Briscoe will take on former club Hull FC this Sunday in his testimonial match, celebrating his time at both the Black and Whites and the Rhinos, the two clubs he has played for professionally throughout an illustrious playing career.
But the 31-year-old has admitted he almost signed for the Sharks in 2014 instead of Leeds - before the move collapsed. "At the time, I'd made the decision to leave Hull and I'd made it to go to Australia but that fell through," he revealed.
"I'd agreed the contracts and everything like that but a bit of stuff came out.. it was at the time when the drugs scandal emerged with Cronulla and nobody could give me a strong enough answer to justify going there, and the club said it was up to me.
"If I wanted to leave that and look elsewhere I could, and moving to the other side of the world on an unknown was a big risk."
Despite narrowly missing out on a move to Australia, Briscoe insists he couldn't be happier with the way things panned out at Leeds, who he instead signed for over the Sharks.
"The deal at Hull had already passed so they'd taken that away," he said. "I'd said I wanted to move on, so when the chance to come to Leeds came up after what they've achieved, it was quite an easy decision and I haven't regretted it.
"There's absolutely no regrets with it. It's been a crazy nine or ten seasons, and a crazy journey to this point."
Briscoe also hailed the impact of current Rhinos coach Richard Agar on his career. Agar was the man who convinced Briscoe to move to Hull as a teenager in the club's academy after watching him perform at junior level.
"It's been well-documented that he brought me to Hull at the time and sent the scouts to watch me in the under-16s," Briscoe said.
"I didn't have any other offers from clubs to make it to the academies and it was an easy decision, obviously. But to then progress so fast, in my first season I was playing in the under-18s and then the under-21s Grand Final at 17.
"I got promoted to the first-team with Rich there as the assistant coach and he's had a massive influence on the start of my career. He's still here coaching and he's been a massive person throughout my career."
