Teenage sensation Mac Grealy is still processing what just happened after his 'wild' Reds debut.
The 19-year-old was on stand-by and wasn't expected to play during Friday's loss to the Blues.
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Sat at home watching the NBA Playoffs, the call would soon come from coach Brad Thorn James O'Connor and Bryce Hegarty would be unavailable, thrusting him into the spotlight.
“I was just watching the NBA Playoffs with my roommate when Thorny (Brad Thorn) rang up and said ‘you’re on stand by for tonight Mac, are you over your job?’ I said yeah I know what I need to do and he said ‘good because you're playing tonight,” he told media on Monday.
“It’s a pretty crazy feeling and exciting one and it was a really good day for me so I’m still stoked about how it’s all gone down.
“It was a really special moment for my family. They’ve done a lot for me and I’ve always had the older brothers mucking around the backyard and they started my footy journey. For them to come down on late notice, they probably wouldn’t have done anything else, it was pretty special to have them down there.
“For them to have the opportunity to go into the change room, they were pretty impressed by the efforts and how nice the guys were to them.”
The Toowoomba teen didn't look out of place despite going up against the comp leaders, running for 77 metres from 7 carries.
He admits the feeling of pulling on the jersey 'was like nothing else' and something he is looking to replicate for years to come.
“It still very special, everyone talks about playing for Queensland and representing your state so to be able to pull it on is like nothing else,” he said.
“When that first one (kick) came, there was a bit of ‘oh I’ve got to get to this one’ and once I got a pretty good take on it, the confidence went through the roof and I was in the game. I suppose I wanted them to kick it to me more and more to get the opportunity to counter-attack.
“I’m really thankful for the job that the boys did to make sure the pressure was taken off me was which good.”
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Despite the emotions surrounding the debut still sinking in, Grealy is focused on locking down the spot for the future, starting with Friday's clash with the Hurricanes.
“It’s taken a while. It’s a pretty wild few hours how it happened and it was good to see the family and go back to Toowoomba. It’s still sinking in,” he admits
“It’s another week though so I have to move on and focus on the next job but I’m pretty happy with how it went.”
