'My way of surviving': Taking a Super Rugby shot pays off for ACT Brumbies Andy Muirhead, Folau Fainga'a and Connal McInerney

But the promising rugby union player who had quit his job as a Brisbane powerline technician to drive 13 hours south to take a chance wasn't dropping in for a beer.

He pulled up out the back, unloaded kegs and cartons of beer, got back in the driver's seat and raced to an aged care home to deliver nappies.

This is what he had to do after moving to Canberra, working as a courier while chasing a dream with the ACT Brumbies. Today he is contracted until the end of 2022 and has his sights set on Saturday's Super Rugby AU grand final against the Queensland Reds at Canberra Stadium.

"I did that before and after training, it was my way of surviving," winger Muirhead said.

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"It wasn't a very fun time in my life to be honest, it was pretty tough. For six months there, it was pretty tough going.

"There was a period of my adulthood before I came down here when I thought it was too far away, I wasn't getting opportunities in Queensland.

"I wasn't getting anything overseas, so I thought maybe this isn't for me. I always felt myself, through my teenage years, I could go to the next level. I thought I should take this chance, it was probably my last chance really to get a contract."

Like so many before when the club was built on interstate rejects and unsung local heroes, Muirhead is what coach Dan McKellar dubs "a classic Brumbies success story".

Scan through the list of names looking to deliver the ACT's first Super Rugby title in 16 years and there is no shortage of players that fit the misfit mould.

Like hooker Connal McInerney, who wondered if the elite level had passed him by as he drove around Sydney delivering business cars.

"Of course that went through my head, mate," McInerney said. "I guess at the time I was pretty happy playing first grade in Sydney, I didn't have too much of a plan going forward but I didn't think I'd be back here. I didn't know what the future held for me at the time, so I'm just excited to be here now.

"It was a pretty cruisey job, don't mind the pun. I got to see quite a bit of Sydney, I got a few country trips in there, to Orange, back to Canberra delivering cars.

"Mate, it was an absolute cracker job. I loved it so I was pretty lucky to do that pretty much full-time, with a little bit of study on the side, but not much."

Yet there is no place the Canberra product would rather be than throwing lineouts in the pressure cooker of a grand final environment on Saturday, deputising for Folau Fainga'a who was plucked off a construction site and soon thrown into a Wallabies camp.

"I was working on a construction site at the back end of 2017. I took a trip down to Canberra at the time and really liked the set up here. My whole goal at the time was to just get a pre-season under me," Fainga'a said.

"I ended up playing NRC here, and I managed to get a call-up into a training squad for the Wallabies. That set me up and set my goals much higher for the next year.

"It's not what I expected, at the time my goal was to play well for the Vikings and get the body right so I could come back ready for pre-season. That was just a confidence booster for me. I didn't expect it at all."

SUPER RUGBY AU GRAND FINAL

Saturday: ACT Brumbies v Queensland Reds at Canberra Stadium, 7.15pm.

Brumbies squad: 1. Scott Sio, 2. Folau Fainga'a, 3. Allan Alaalatoa (c), 4. Murray Douglas, 5. Cadeyrn Neville, 6. Lachlan McCaffrey, 7. Will Miller, 8. Pete Samu, 9. Joe Powell, 10. Noah Lolesio, 11. Tom Wright, 12. Irae Simone, 13. Tevita Kuridrani, 14. Andy Muirhead, 15. Tom Banks. Replacements: 16. Connal McInerney, 17. James Slipper, 18. Tom Ross, 19. Nick Frost, 20. Rob Valetini, 21. Nic White, 22. Bayley Kuenzle, 23. Solomone Kata.

Reds squad: 1. JP Smith, 2. Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 3. Taniela Tupou, 4. Angus Blyth, 5. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 6. Liam Wright (c), 7. Fraser McReight, 8. Harry Wilson, 9. Tate McDermott, 10. James O'Connor, 11. Filipo Daugunu, 12. Hamish Stewart, 13. Hunter Paisami, 14. Jordan Petaia, 15. Jock Campbell. Replacements: 16. Josh Nasser, 17. Harry Hoopert, 18. Ruan Smith, 19. Tuaina Taii Tualima, 20. Angus Scott-Young, 21. Moses Sorovi, 22. Bryce Hegarty, 23. Jack Hardy.