It would have been one of the biggest signings in Western rugby league.
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However, it never happened.
Now, former NSW and Australian halfback Brett Kimmorley has addressed the rumours he was going to feature in a match for Orange CYMS more than a decade ago.
The champion halfback was in Dubbo on Wednesday afternoon as part of the NRL Roads to the Region initiative and confirmed he had planned on making an appearance for the powerhouse Group 10 club.
"Mick Sullivan was the captain-coach out here and I played with him at Cronulla and the Northern Eagles," he said.
"I spent some time out there and did a few clinics a long time ago. We've got a bit of a run around at touch later today as well.
"It's a bit of fun."
Boasting 307 professional matches as well as 20 games for Australia and 10 for NSW, Kimmorley's cameo appearance was supposed to take place during the 2013 but didn't eventuate.
Orange CYMS went on to win the grand final that year, defeating the Orange Hawks in an all-time classic.
Then coach of Orange CYMS Mick Sullivan invited his great mate out to the west for the week.
"We beat Lithgow, I got Brett Kimmorley out to Orange for grand final week," Sullivan told ACM in May 2023.
"We had a dinner at Kelly's. We talked about CYMS' rivalry with Hawks, and we really got the Sydney guys to buy into it all. Not winning against Hawks throughout the year was our winning edge, for me.
"We wanted it so bad. And there was no way we were going to go a whole year without winning a derby.