FOR years we've been telling these footballers to put down the PlayStation controls and get a real job.
Now it looks like they're listening.
Out Parramatta way, five players have swapped boots for toolbelts as part of a new NRL initiative that aims to provide them with a future when the game is over.
And heading the Beyond the Tryline apprenticeship program is Eels heavyweights Justin Poore and Johnny Mannah - who have joined young guns Peni Terepo, Trent Jennings and Jacob Gagan by going back to work
Poore spends his time away from the paddock learning to be a plumber, while Mannah wants to be an electrician. Terepo is learning to be a butcher, Jennings a builder and Gagan likes to work in the garden.
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While some of their on-field rivals might laugh at the prospect of having a real job, Poore reckons digging trenches is actually relaxing.
"I'm lucky, I've got a brother who's an engineer, another's a plumber, the other's a miner," he said. "So they all have respectful jobs and I'm just this football player.
"I sort of felt a bit of pressure to try and succeed in a trade and I was lucky enough to find a really good boss with flexible hours and I love it.
"I know exactly what I want to do after footy. I have done a whole year of my trade on sight and I am just about to start a drainage certificate at the Plumbers' Association.
NRL education and welfare manager Paul Heptonstall points out the average length of a player's career is just 43 games over three to four years - yet still so many continue to give themselves no Plan B.
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