Rabbitohs back-rower Chris McQueen will celebrate his 100th NRL game on a weekend which will commemorate the 100th year of the Gallipoli landing in his home state of Queensland when South Sydney take on the Raiders in Cairns.
The Kingaroy Red Ants junior will bring up a century of games on a special weekend on the NRL calendar.
With five games set for Anzac Day on Saturday, McQueen will have to wait until Sunday afternoon to play, but is happy to celebrate his milestone on a very special weekend in Australia's history.
"It's always great to play in big games like this and to obviously celebrate my 100th game at the same time is definitely special," McQueen told NRL.com.
"There was actually a bit of confusion about congratulating me for my 100th but it this weekend and it has worked out perfectly.
"The confusion came about because in like Round 13, 2012 I sat on the bench the whole game and didn't get on. But to now be up in Cairns playing, my whole family is going to be there so I'm definitely looking forward to it."
McQueen made his NRL debut back in Round 22, 2009. Initially making his way through the ranks as a winger, McQueen has slowly moved closer to the centre of the park to the back row, a move which he is more than grateful to coach Michael Maguire.
While McQueen had plenty of teething problems with his move to the forwards over the years, it has ultimately paid off with six Origin appearances for Queensland.
"It took a whole lot of work and I was pretty much a winger my life pretty much until Michael Maguire started here. I think even the first three games of 2012 I was still playing on the wing and Madge came up to me after the third game and said he was looking to change me to a back-rower," McQueen said.
"I wasn't sure how it was going to go and it was a lot of hard work and took a long time for me to become comfortable and learn the position as well as become fit enough to play there. It was a tough transition but now I look back and I'm glad that I made the transition and I'm very thankful for Madge for seeing something else in me.
"I can thank a lot of people for [my progression to Origin] too, obviously them being Madge and my teammates. When everyone is doing their job at club level it makes my job easy. It means those achievements aren't so much individual ones but one the whole team can take credit for."
With State of Origin just around the corner, McQueen wants to play his part in Queensland's redemption story this season, but is ultimately focused on snapping the Rabbitohs' two-game losing streak against Canberra.
"I'd certainly like to [play Origin]. It's always a goal every year but I try not to think about it too much. I guess I figure if I can do my job at Souths week-in, week-out then it goes a long way to being selected for those things," McQueen said.
"We obviously haven't been at our best at South Sydney which we're aware of. We are working extremely hard at training to get the little things right which we have been lacking the past month or so.
"Canberra has been playing great too. Their comeback win last weekend was amazing and they are on fire so we'll have to show up ready to play otherwise we'll cop another loss."
