Nick Francis is staring down the ultimate double-header.
One final test will be in the exam hall. Another will follow on the football field.
On Saturday morning, Francis will sit the final exam of his law degree.
By afternoon, he'll trade his pen for his boots and head to The Canal, where archrival Coolangatta stands between the Bull Sharks a shot at a preliminary final.
For Francis, the work begins long before the first bounce. The 21-year-old has his own game-day manifesto, a written reminder of the player he wants to be when the moment arrives.
This week there’ll be just three words at the top of his page.
“A competitive beast,” he says.
The words may be simple, but the work behind them is anything but.
In a sense, the habits of a good lawyer are not so different from those of a good footballer.
Diligence, discipline, and a willingness to put in the hard yards comes long before a complex challenge is boiled down to something more precise.
For three years, the midfielder has balanced a law degree with the rigours of football, fitting study around training and recovery.
It is a juggle that has tested his time management, but never his resolve.
“I do everything to make sure that I give myself the best chance of reaching the highest level I can,” he says.
For this Bull Shark, that mindset extends well beyond the football field.
“There’s a lot of routine that you build throughout the season. It’s about sticking to it, and that gives me the best opportunity to contribute to my class and play well, whether that’s nutrition, gym, or recovery.”
That commitment has been made easier by an environment designed to let Bond’s student-athletes chase both sides of their ambitions.
“The Bond Sport office is really helpful. I’m very thankful for all they’ve done throughout my degree to help me manage both my studies and my sports.”
“That’s the great thing about Bond footy. it’s a great environment to play with people you study with, all great players, and more importantly, all great blokes around the club,” he says.
“Looking back, I couldn’t have expected life to be this good.”
Three years after arriving north from Melbourne, he is now on the brink of another grand-final.
But Francis’ confidence in this group did not arrive overnight. He traces it back to Round 3, when Bond secured a 24-point win over Burleigh.
“That flicked a switch in our brains,” he says. “We said yep - we can really contend this year.”
That belief has continued to build as the season has tightened.
“The last three weeks heading into finals, we’ve lifted as a group and everyone’s connecting more,” he says. “Were playing some really good footy.”
Last week, that connection translated into a 90-point demolition of competition newcomer Pacific Pines Power.
The Bull Sharks have started sluggishly in recent weeks, a habit they cannot afford to carry into a final.
“We’ve been slow out the gate and it’s put us behind the eight-ball early,’ Kennedy says. “The focus this weekend is getting a strong start.”
But this is what all that work has been building towards.
“You play footy to play finals,” he says. “This week is massive to book our spot in the grand-final.”
The margin for error will be slim against Coolangatta, the side Bond edged by 12-points in last year’s extra-time grand-final thriller. The two sides also played out a draw in Round 9, and only 8 points separated them in their most recent meeting a month back.
“That’s as high pressure as it gets,” Francis says. “They’ll be desperate to win, and we will too.”
Come Saturday morning, the law exam with ask Francis for what he knows.
Saturday’s final will ask him for everything he has.