Aged 19, the Welshman had just joined Liverpool from Chester City with a hefty pricetag around his neck and plenty to prove, and his first training session at Melwood left him in no doubt as to what was required.
That is largely because he had a certain first-team coach reminding him - very loudly - from the off of the incredibly high standards set at his new club.
Rush remembers: "I'd signed for Liverpool as a teenager, it was a world record [fee] for a teenager, and he just absolutely hammered me!
"It wasn't the good things I did, it was the bad things I did, he'd [concentrate] on that.