"I played 13 games - probably more than I deserved to play because we had a lot of injuries. I'd always backed my ability to play first grade but the learning curve at Melbourne was that you don't have two or three good games and then one off game. It doesn't work that way. The key to being a proper first grader is reducing the gap between your good and bad games."
The Storm have often been held up as a model for the Warriors to emulate. It seems far fetched, as comparisons between the two franchises are hard to make, especially at the moment — one is a poster child for professionalism and strong culture, the other unfulfilled potential — but Hoffman sees parallels.
"At times, I've felt this season has been similar to my first two years at the Storm. We had a new, young coach [Craig Bellamy], a group of senior players and quite a few youngsters. And we lost games we should have won."
However, Bellamy and the Storm were helped by the rise of Cameron Smith and Billy Slater. At the start of 2003, Smith had just 60 minutes of first grade behind him, while Slater was an unknown, uncapped rookie. By the end of the year, Slater was one of the best fullbacks in the competition and Smith had played State of Origin. What was the secret to their instant maturity?
"It's simple — they trained hard," says Hoffman. "They both worked incredibly hard in the pre-season, got their chance and kept improving. It's the same with Cooper [Cronk]. For me being close friends with Cameron, Bill and Coops at the same age set a great example. There was little difference between their good and bad games and they looked to improve with every training session, every game.
"These days with this generation ... you wonder are players playing league because they genuinely, flat-out love it or are they just good at it? To succeed in this sport, you have to be completely committed. It's not enough to just be good at it."
