HAVING spent eight weeks of pre-season training with the Penrith Panthers' NRL squad Adam Fearnley was primed for a big year, but now he finds himself in league limbo.
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The Bathurst Panthers graduate is one of a whole host of young, emerging talents who are unsure what 2020 will mean for their career after the coronavirus led to the cancellation of their competition.
After captaining the Panthers' Jersey Flegg side last season and shining in the halves, this season Fearnley was looking to make an impact in the Canterbury Cup.
The future isn't any clearer for his younger brother Brad either.
After being named the Panthers' SG Ball player of the year in 2019, a Jersey Flegg campaign was on the agenda for the talented back-rower. That competition has been cancelled as well.
"They're sort of in no man's land at the moment, both boys are off contract, so they are still wondering what is going to happen," John Fearnley, father of the talented siblings, said.
"All contract negotiations have stopped until the end of the virus apparently.
"We received a letter from Penrith stating they'd been stood down on forced leave for a month, then they're going to meet with them again and make a decision on the first of May.
"The other thing is, you might have been a good footballer in the past, but unless you're playing football it's really hard to sell yourself to a club."
Both Adam and Brad Fearnley had put plenty of effort into their pre-season training regimes with Panthers.
They were hungry to see what that hard work would mean in terms of on-field performances and while their competitions did commence before the shutdown, neither sibling got the start they wanted.
"Adam played 30 minutes in the trial Canterbury Cup game and popped his shoulder. He did his AC joint and they said he was going to miss two to three weeks before his comeback," John Fearnley said.
"Bradley got suspended in the last trial game, so he's actually still on suspension and hasn't played.
"He played really well in the two trial games but got done for a high tackle and took the early plea and got two weeks.
"So he missed the first two competition games and was picked in the side to go Melbourne for the third game, which would've been his first game back, but it all got shut down."
The brothers are hopeful that the Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield competitions will go ahead, give them the chance to compete for Penrith and build on what had been impressive 2019 campaigns.
John Fearnley said a return to Group 10 for Brad, who played in both the under 18s and premier league grand finals for Bathurst Panthers last season, does not look to be an option.
"I'm pretty sure they won't allow them to come back [to Group 10] plus the other thing is most of the clubs have got their players which makes it pretty hard to come back and play, especially with our [Bathurst] Panthers side, it's a pretty hot side," he said.
"It's a real mess at the moment, but we'll know more in the next fortnight or so.
"Bradley is at uni so he will probably come home for a couple of weeks, but Adam's got a job, he's working at as a teacher's aid at a behavioural school in Mount Druitt.
"I think a lot of the bush kids are coming home because it's pretty expensive to live in Sydney.
"They haven't made their careers yet, they are working part-time jobs and trying to cover their rent and it might not be viable for them to stay there full-time."
Should they be retained by Penrith, Brad will still be eligible for Jersey Flegg next season and Adam would no doubt again shape as a halves option in the Canterbury Cup.
That Adam got the experience of training with the club's NRL squad in the pre-season is certainly a good indication Panthers see his potential.
"He did eight weeks with the first grade, he trained with the full-time squad," John Fearnley said.
"He was pretty happy with that and was looking forward to playing in the season when it started, but all he's had is 30 minutes.
"He's really gained a lot out of that eight weeks too. He was in the top two in tests, only Dylan Edwards was beating him in the yo-yo test and all that sort of stuff.
"Adam has always been a really good trainer though."
The brothers are hoping they will have more clarity about what 2020 will bring in the next fortnight.
