MARK Geyer, the self-confessed “captain-coach of second chances”, says up to five NRL players have been unearthed by new reality TV series, The Rookie.

Created to give one player a second shot at first grade football, Geyer insists the new series — which wound up filming last Friday — has gone way beyond expectations.

While unable to give too much away, the Kangaroo great — who joins Brad Fittler and Adrian Lam on the coaching panel — also revealed the initial group of 30 players boasts an English bobsledder, the son of an Origin star plus athletes from the US, New Zealand and PNG.

After an initial trial game, a top squad is then selected; with the group spending 10 weeks living, training and playing together, while also competing in knockout-style challenges.

“And of that group, three are genuine NRL players,’’ Geyer says. “Although I wouldn’t be surprised if we finish up with five or six.

“The talent in this group, it’s so far beyond what anyone ever expected.”

Indeed, so intense has the training regimen been, most players have added five kilos of muscle to their frames during the 12 weeks of filming.

“These guys, they’ve been given every reason to quit,’’ Geyer continues. “We’ve had them doing physical challenges, running sand hills before games, the lot.

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“But they all hang in. They all know this is the last shot they’ve got to change everything.

“As you know, when it comes to second chances in rugby league, I’m the captain-coach.

“Which is exactly what I love so much about this show. This is for guys who have slipped through the cracks.

“Footballers who were good enough to play grade, but have gone and had kids, got jobs, whatever.

“But now, thanks to The Rookie, they’re getting that second chance. And for some of them, that means overcoming real demons.

“When those initial 30 guys get together to play the first trial, Freddy tells them ‘okay, you’ve got one game to change the rest of your life’.”

The Rookie will be aired in the 2016 NRL season, with the winner still to be announced during a live screening.

Over 1200 players applied for the spot on the show, including a Fijian named Jimmy Hendrix, a Northern Territory bull rider and Russian circus acrobat.

Other applications came from a PNG sevens rugby player, a Canadian international and a gym junkie whose statistics read: Bench 220kg, Squat 270kg, Deadlift 340kg.

“There are so many stories here,’’ Geyer says. “And that’s what makes it so moving, these are real people, real lives being changed as the show goes along.

“I know the idea is to give one player an NRL contract. But I think it’s going to go way beyond that.”