The mystery rich-lister on stand-by to fly Matt Burton in for Origin duty
Not when the Bulldogs star was around for boots, mouthguard and a private plane owned by a 'good mate' worth a lazy $800 million just in case the Blues needed him for emergency duties once again.
Burton's bye week leading into Origin I was interrupted by clubmate Stephen Crichton's game one injury scare, when the Canterbury skipper was in doubt right up until game day.
Burton, who has taken the field twice for NSW since 2022 and been 18th man five times, was in his home town of Dubbo when the call came from Blues management.
If Crichton wasn't fit, South Sydney's Campbell Graham would be called in to debut. And if he could get to Brisbane, Burton would be 18th man with the chance to play if any further late dramas struck or a HIA was caused by foul play.
So he called Wes Maas – the Dubbo-raised one-time Rabbitoh, founder and majority owner of the Maas Group.
After two games with Souths in 2002, Maas took a $14,000 bank loan, a bobcat and a tip truck and started a $1.5 billion construction materials and equipment company – which has since seen the 45-year-old's estimated worth pegged at $814 million last year.
'There wasn't going to be a flight straight from Dubbo to Brisbane, they'd been booked up, and obviously you want to give Critta as much time as possible to be right,' Burton said after joining NSW camp, again as 18th man, for game two in Perth.
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