Aussie sprinter Josh Azzopardi was once a target of eagle-eyed figures at Rugby Australia, so much so that he was guided through the hallways of the Moore Park headquarters and shown tape of Carlin Isles.
The speedster from western Sydney had a rugby sevens offer dangled in front of him in 2019, the same year in which Trae "Quadzilla" Williams was poached from athletics in the hope that he'd leave defenders labouring in his scorch marks at the Tokyo Olympics.
But Azzopardi shunned the path taken up by Williams and Isles, the USA rugby sevens speed demon with a background in elite sprinting, because of "unfinished business" on the track.
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After missing this year's Australian national championships because of a hamstring tear, the 23-year-old will make his comeback in a 100-metre race in Rhede, Germany on Monday morning (AEST).
His most treasured goal is to line up for Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the men's 100-metre dash.
The enormous size of the challenge is not lost on him; his personal best is 10.25 seconds, well outside the Olympic qualifying standard of 10.00, and he's placed 148th in the World Athletics rankings.
But it's a dream he's desperate to realise, especially as he knocked back a "very tempting" rugby sevens lure.
"They had me come into the headquarters and have a look around and they spoke to me about what it was they wanted out of me," Azzopardi told Wide World of Sports.
"They put up videos of Carlin Isles running around people and doing all that kind of stuff. They were like, 'This is what we have an imagination of you doing'.
"I didn't take it at the time because I felt there was a bit of unfinished business in track and field, so I wanted to see what else I could do.
"Off the back of the 2018 world juniors (in Tampere, Finland), I felt like there was unfinished business, and going to travel the world doing athletics and being in an Australian team kind of persuaded me to stay in athletics. I loved those camps and I loved going away and competing in athletics. So that's kind of what pushed me over the line to stay in athletics instead of going to sevens."
Azzopardi put himself on the radar of Rugby Australia scouts when he blitzed a race at the 2018 Oztag World Cup, held in Coffs Harbour.
He won World Cup gold with the Australian men's under-21 team, but perhaps his most impressive feat of the trip was winning a 70-metre dash.
"They did a 'fastest man' race at Oztag nationals and that was the first time I did it. I put my hand up and won it by a fair way," Azzopardi said.
"And then the World Cup was a year after that and they had the same kind of race and the crown was 'fastest Oztag player in the world'.
"So I was like, 'Shit, that'd be a pretty sick crown to have'. So I put my hand up, ran and cleaned the field up pretty nicely."
Azzopardi took up Little Athletics in Camden in the under-sixes.
He tried his hand at Aussie rules football for about eight years from the under-sixes, before giving rugby league a go with the Camden Rams — James Tedesco's junior club — and later having a crack at Oztag.
Athletics is the only sport that's never left Azzopardi, although as a kid he pictured himself running around in the NRL, which is a thought he admits he's still entertaining.
"I did have a bit of a dream to play in the NRL and I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't still in the back of my mind every now and then," said Azzopardi, a Cronulla Sharks diehard who grew up idolising Paul Gallen and Todd Carney.
"I feel like I was a pretty handy winger. Obviously playing Oztag as well helps. I feel like my ball skills are pretty solid. If I can build my frame up a bit I reckon I'd go all right.
"You never know what could happen in the future … That would be amazing. As you said, I'm only 23, so there's a few more years to build up, and I'm not tiny.
"I've got a bit of a good base to work with and I feel like my work ethic has really increased in the past couple of years.
"I don't shy away from the challenge."
Shortly after Azzopardi turned 17, one Little Athletics race gave his blossoming sprinting career a huge kick.
Juggling rugby league, Oztag and sprinting meant he wasn't giving athletics his absolute commitment, yet he stunned himself when he unleashed "a 10.80 or 10.70".
"That was kind of the moment where I was like, 'Shit, if I'm running 10.70 or 10.80 with bare minimum training and doing three different sports, who knows what I could do if I put my head down?'," Azzopardi said.
"So, yeah, it was when I was 17 that I switched it on.
"It was kind of curiosity that got me into it seriously. I was just like, 'Wow, imagine if I actually put my head down and did everything I could possibly do'."
Azzopardi, who's coached by Rob Marks and has a New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship, is drawn to the objectivity that comes with sprinting.
"The fact that the results you get out of track and field are the results of the hard work you've put in — that was a really satisfying feeling when I ran that 10.80 or 10.70," he said.
"Putting the work in and then seeing your results … It was such a big accomplishment and I kind of got addicted to that feeling and I still do to this day. That's what's kept me in this sport. Those high moments of when you've worked your arse off all winter and then you come into summer and you run a PB — it's what you love to see."
If Azzopardi is to qualify by time for the 100-metre dash at the Paris Olympics, he will have to reach roughly the current level of Australia's fastest man, 25-year-old sensation Rohan Browning.
"It's daunting in the fact that it's such a huge achievement, but because it's daunting it excites me and makes me push harder," said Azzopardi, who was a 4x100m relay runner at last year's Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
"It doesn't seem like the impossible but it seems very out of reach, which makes me want to push harder and want to get it even more.
"I like to set my goals high and reach for the stars."
Azzopardi has a tireless work ethic, high ambitions and a brilliant sense of humour.
He chuckled when asked about the rugby sevens exploits of Williams, who's nicknamed "Quadzilla" because of his gigantic quadriceps.
"Hopefully he doesn't come back to the track and smoke me," he said.
"He can stay over there."
Azzopardi believes sprinters are "underrated" in the code wars and is bemused that rugby league and union clubs don't put more effort into pinching speedsters from the track.
At the same time, he's happy to be quietly going about his business in a bid to live out his Olympic dream.
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