Coming of age: The ballad of ACT Brumbies' Super Rugby Pacific powerhouse Rob Valetini

Not lowered far, but enough to avoid the glances his mind would amplify into stares. Valetini knew this story all too well, because "you always look at those players".

The ones who don't live up to their potential, who fail to live up to the hype.

Valetini was a schoolboy prodigy. A powerfully-built back-rower lured to Canberra to join the ACT Brumbies when he was just 17, one destined to wear Wallaby gold.

But for some time he wondered if he was destined to be one of "those players".

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"I thought I was going to be something like that. I was always injured, I wasn't able to fulfil my potential," Valetini told The Canberra Times.

Valetini admits there were times his mind wandered into dark places as a spate of knee injuries threatened to derail his Super Rugby career before it even left the station.

But come Sunday he will be bashing his way into defensive lines in the Brumbies' Super Rugby Pacific season opener against the Western Force at Canberra Stadium.

Because Valetini is fulfilling his destiny as one of Australian rugby's shining lights.

An afroed sensation with bone-crunching power. A devastating line runner. A smiling assassin. He is exceptionally quick to reload at breakdowns, and so often grins as he bullies a ball-carrier. He is a player who is finally "backing myself whereas a couple of years ago I wasn't".

"It was hard hey, always watching the boys come in [while I was injured]," Valetini said.

"You always want to be out there on the field, instead of on the sideline doing running. That's probably the worst thing, when I had off-feet [conditioning], because I hate off-feet stuff like boxing, the bike or ropes. If I had that the next day, I would always dread it.

"It was tough but there were times when I knew if I put in the work, I could come back a better player, stronger and more confident."

So work he did. Home truths from Brumbies coach Dan McKellar and Wallabies mentor Dave Rennie made it clear Valetini had the potential but perhaps lacked the work ethic to unlock it.

"When I first got back and saw him, I said to him a few times 'I don't think you realise how good you are, and how big and physical you can be'," Brumbies scrumhalf Nic White said.

"It felt like he was just dipping his toes into Super Rugby and international level. Lenny Ikitau was a little bit the same last year, at the start of the year everyone here knew how good he was going to be but he was just dipping his toes in.

"For the both of them, they just took one really good game at Wallaby level and it just unlocked everything. It was almost like an affirmation of 'yes, I am good enough'.

"Sometimes it takes a little while for them to realise it, to get that confidence to know 'I can use my voice on the field and I can really have an impact on games'. They're two that stand out last year when they decided, 'you know what, I'm just going to take it'."

Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa heard everyone talking about Valetini's breakthrough year last season. But it was those midweek training sessions at club headquarters in the wake of conversations with McKellar that Valetini was "training like a beast".

That's when he could see Valetini, now 23, was finally coming of age en route to the Brumbies' highest individual accolade.

"Look, we brought him in as a 17-year-old, and at 17 you're pretty nervous and pretty stand-offish," McKellar said.

"One thing he has always had is really good knowledge and smarts around rugby. He was always confident talking about rugby. He'd get the giggles if you were talking to him about something else.

"He has certainly really grown and matured into a very good professional now through his training habits and how he approaches one day to the next. He's just a very happy, easygoing young bloke who is quickly becoming a very important player in Australian rugby.

"I've always said he has got the potential to be a world class player, and he's not there yet, but he has certainly made some huge strides over the last 18 months to achieve that potential."

Valetini says he wouldn't be here without McKellar. Nor would he be without the word of the "Lord" from Brumbies forwards mentor Laurie Fisher, or club physiotherapists who guided him during those long days spent rehabilitating injuries.

Or the brothers and cousins he used to play bullrush with as soon as church ended every Sunday, or his mum and dad who used to rush their boys to train stations every weekend to race across the city for junior rugby games.

They were there from day dot. They were there in those dark times when Valetini wondered if his rugby dreams were going to come true. Needless to say they'll be watching when he pulls on a Brumbies jersey for the first time this year, taking a moment to think about the livewire forward's rapid rugby ascension.

Because when Valetini laces up his boots in the bowels of Canberra Stadium this weekend, his mind will wander back to where it all began.

"When I first started out with my brothers, we actually didn't have a car. We used to catch the train," Valetini said.

"I remember when we used to play like under 8s, that would start at like 7am and we had games ages away, an hour train ride or something. You would have to walk to the train station, catch the train, and then a bus or a tram or something to the other side of the city.

"My dad was always keen for those trips. He would wake us up at like 5am, we'd be on the train at 6am. We'd get to the game just on time or just before warm-up. I was always grateful for that.

"When we ended up getting a car, it was the best thing. They sacrificed a lot."

SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC ROUND ONE

Sunday: ACT Brumbies v Western Force at Canberra Stadium, 2pm. Tickets from Ticketek. Broadcast live on Stan Sport.

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