YOU won’t see a rugby league player standing by the side of the road holding a ‘work wanted’ sign but just because you won’t see it, doesn’t mean they’re not out there.

In fact there’s going to be an influx of out of work footy players next season.

At least 50 top grade men will be left without a full-time deal, even more part-time players and the bulk of the 18 to 20-year-old’s running around in the NYC will be left without a club.

For any player caught in this limbo, facing the haunting reality that the NRL dream could be over, this is a story you have to read.

Round 20

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Just nine years ago, Antonio Winterstein was dealt the same harsh reality facing a fresh batch of players.

The North Queensland flyer had finished playing in the inaugural season of the 20s competition.

He moved to the Roosters in 2007 where he spent his first year playing against men in Premier League before turning out in the Toyota Cup (now known as the Holden Cup) in the final year of his deal.

Antonio Winterstein scores a try for Brisbane. Source: News Limited

When their season ended in the first week of September he was a free agent.

The Roosters hadn’t offered him a new deal. In fact, his management couldn’t secure him a contract with any NRL club.

“I didn’t have a contract so I came home,” Winterstein told foxsports.com.au.

“It was scary not knowing what I was going to do after 20s.”

Already missing his family in Brisbane, Winterstein decided to move home and try and link up with a team in the Queensland Cup.

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He signed with Easts, determine to make enough noise in reserve grade to try and kick start his career.

The dream wasn’t over.

In fact, it was only beginning.

At the time, Brisbane had a relationship with Easts and the Broncos would, and still do, invite two players from their feeder teams to train and trial for an NRL contact during the pre-season.

Winterstein was one of the lucky two.

Antonio Winterstein goes over the sideline. Source: News Limited

“I used it as one last chance to give it a crack,” he said.

“I was lucky enough to impress the coach.”

Under the watch of Ivan Henjak and recruitment chief Peter Nolan, the winger was signed on a deal worth just $10,000 with the promise of $3000 match payments for every NRL match he played that season.

He started on the wing in every game that year.

“When Antonio came out of that 20s system at the Roosters and was coming home, he was with SXF (Sports Management) who are great agents but there was just nothing for him,” Nolan told foxsports.com.au.

“At the time, in that positional group, he was just another Queensland kid coming home who didn’t have a whole lot in front of him. He was always a good kid but his form was solid. It wasn’t spectacular but solid.

“We took a gamble on him.

Antonio Winterstein of the Cowboys scores a try. Source: Getty Images

“Easts nominated him as the player they wanted to do the pre-season with us and he did it.

“He was a model student to do that with. He worked his arse off. Ivan Henjak was the coach and we were talking about a winger and he said ‘I think I have to pick him in the trial team on the way he’s trained’.

“He trialled, never put a foot wrong and it got to a point where we’re picking the team for round one and Ivan said ‘I just can’t leave him out’. He played for match payments that year.”

In his rookie season, Winterstein earned $91,000. He was the least paid man in the Broncos team but he couldn’t have been happier.

He spent two years at the Broncos being paid the bare minimum before snaring his most lucrative deal in 2011 when he moved to North Queensland.

Broncos players Antonio Winterstein and Jharal Yow Yeh. Source: News Limited

Now 29 with a wife and three children to provide for, Winterstein said the financial sacrifice was worth it.

“If you worry about money too much at that age, it could make you a bit complacent,” Winterstein said.

“Not being on that much financially, going through those tough times made me the person I am today.

“You can't go from playing kids your own age to the top. Those experiences in between are what makes you stay at the top.”

Winterstein’s tale is just one example of many that shows the dream isn’t dead just because you fall out of an NRL system.

Did you know the average age for a player to make his NRL debut is 24?

Antonio Winterstein scores a try. Source: News Corp Australia

Too often the game is mesmerised by the teen stars thrust into the spotlight but the reality is, the likes of Matt Moylan in 2013 and Latrell Mitchell in 2016 are the minority.

“There’s going to be so many of those NYC guys — there could be up to 600 of them — if they’re not in a top 30 or on a development list contract next year, they’re playing State Cup,” Nolan explained.

“They’ve got to see that as an opportunity to go onto their next contract. They shouldn’t see it as a penalty. That’s what Antonio Winterstein did way back.

“The NYC clouded that. Families, young players and agents think it’s got to happen now.

“Winterstein was a model student at the Roosters. He didn’t have one thing wrong with him. They just couldn’t fit him on their list at the time.

“All clubs go through that. That’s not terminal. It’s not a death sentence. That’s what life is going to look like for every player outside that top 30 every year.”

Antonio Winterstein scores during the indigenous All Stars V NRL All Stars game. Source: News Corp Australia

While Winterstein debuted in 2009, it was in 2013 he made his Test debut for Samoa after several dalliances with the New Zealand Test squad in the years prior.

From being unwanted after becoming ineligible for the NYC to winning a maiden premiership with the Cowboys in 2015, persistence has delivered a career most could only dream about.

So what advice does he have for any players facing a similar fate to what he went through after his 20s stint came to an end?

“Use it as extra motivation to achieve what you want,” Winterstein said.

“I know a lot of players who made their debut at 26 or 27. Age isn’t really a factor on if you’re going to make the NRL.

“It’s about working hard and doing the hard work no one sees. That’s what’s going to make you into the player that you want be.”