On August 1, hooker Tom Gee was sinking back beers after scoring for Warringah's fourth grade against Sydney Uni. On Saturday, he'll suit up in a Shute Shield Grand Final against Easts at Leichhardt Oval.
Gee's rise is the stuff of fairytales for a front-rower following in his father's footsteps, with dad Michael the club record holder with 401 Grade games in the green and white stripes.
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The 27-year-old, who works for a tech company in real estate development, had played 137 grade games, all in the lower grades.
This included 14 games in fourth grade, skipping straight to a first grade debut against Gordon within a week.
"It's been a surreal few weeks," he told Rugby.com.au
"When there were a few injuries, I knew there was a good chance I'd go up the grades, but I had no expectation I'd be where I am right now.
"[Dad's] been my biggest supporter no matter what grade I've been playing so he was ecstatic when I gave him the call to let him know I was starting."
The catalyst for the sudden rise came on a disastrous day for the club against Sydney Uni at Pittwater Park at the start of August, where injuries decimated the side.
Superstar hooker Wes Thomas' neck injury was the most devastating, leaving him hospitalised with a central cord syndrome issue.
What many didn't realise is the club had already lost second-grade hookers Finn Hurd (meniscus) and Elijah Ti'a (torn rotator cuff), leaving them scrambling.
When Thomas went down, the second-grade coaches quickly contacted Gee, saying he could be needed to suit up, which led him to contact coach Josh Holmes.
One slight issue held Holmes back from throwing him straight in.
“Normally by the time first grade's gone on, he's had about 10 beers."
"He messaged me and said ‘you need me on the bench?’ I wrote back and said, ‘how many beers you had?’ and he said four and I was like ‘okay, you've had eight.’ I'm not going to go down that path but straight away [he was] thinking about how can I help out?" Holmes added.
"I'd had a few too many for his liking [laughs] but got the opportunity straight afterwards," Gee responded.
Warringah explored their options for a replacement but the late season nature of the crisis left options limited and the club fearing the worst.
Under the rules, a player must have four games for the club in a season to be eligible for finals. They'd drafted in former Fiji U20s and Drua squad member Joshua Uluibau for the final regular season game against Randwick, but the application for dispensation was rejected by Sydney Rugby Union.
“We lost three hookers and you’re expected to still have come on straight away. If you can’t it’s a forfeit so that was our big concern," Warringah GM Jake Letts explained.
“We had all four teams in the finals, we were kind of sitting there going ‘oh, Jesus, we're pretty strapped here.’ Luckily, one other hooker had to come back from injury a little early, but then he got injured again that week in the finals so it's just been a bit of a jigsaw puzzle.
“Definitely the coaching staff had to move a few people around and play people out of position just to ensure that we can't put our hand up and say we forfeit this because we don't have a replacement hooker to come on in the first instance."
This left Gee back in the starting side for their finals campaign, with Holmes backing him to succeed.
“We went down the path of obviously trying to get a replacement approved, and that didn't happen, but in the end, we didn't really have any other avenues. Tom Gee was the best man to step up for that job and we just had to put full belief in him," Holmes said.
“He's probably one of our best players at set-piece of the club when it comes to scrum and lineout so that was a reassuring thing to know that we've got a guy who scrums against the first graders a lot through the season and sometimes d**** them.
“He went from fourth grade to first grade so he jumped a lot of guys and in the end. It came down to a process of who's going to do the best job for us and first and foremost, who's going to do the best job around our set piece and he ticked all those boxes.”
Gee repaid the faith, scoring a double against Randwick in a tense semi-final as he backed up the effort in a big semi-final win over Gordon.
Meanwhile, his fourth grade teammates have been riding his high in the 'G-Army', with Gee even trying to return to fourths last weekend to help them qualify for their Grand Final, but he was denied.
"They've all been super supportive," Gee remarked.
"They keep saying, 'don't forget who we are', but yeah, I still identify with that group of boys. I had a great time with them over the last few years."
His pre-game routine have been tweaked slightly since his move up in grades.
"Nothing too drastic. I don't like to be dusty before the game; I previously would've maybe had a beer or two the night before, just at the end of the week, but I've put that on hold for the last four weeks," Gee responded when asked.
The hooker has the full backing in the club's hunt for their back-to-back titles for the first time ever.
“It’s a really good story. The Gees are installed into Rats folklore, and he’s playing fourth grade and always has been a big part of the club, and everyone loves him," captain Ben Marr believes. "All the fourth graders love him and so for him to come up and play ones and do a pretty good job, mate, is awesome…it’s one of those feel good stories.”
“I mean, in terms of his personality, Tom, he's always been the club man first. He's always here first. He always leaves last, and he's always watching all the games."
“We played away at Gordon [for his debut] and he was one of the first guys there. The lower grade group would all go out for lunch and then they'd come back and they were joking, is he going to go out for some Chinese with the boys and come back first grade for the warm-up," Letts added.
“That’s the type of guy he is. He’s a club man and everyone loves him down here.”
