Jacob Alick might be Titans teammates with David Fifita and Moeaki Fotuaika in Australia, but it's a whole new ball game whilst the trio are in the United Kingdom.
Representing Papua New Guinea at the Rugby League World Cup, the 23-year-old is preparing for his first tournament match against the Mate Ma'a, which features the hard-hitting Gold Coast duo who will be representing their Tongan family heritage.
Due to do battle at 4.30am (AEST) on Wednesday morning at St Helen's (the home of Titans coach Justin Holbrook's former Super League club), getting to opportunity to square off against familiar faces has made his campaign debut even sweeter when he runs out for the Kumuls.
"It's awesome and just another thing to add to the list (for this contest)," Alick said to titans.com.au ahead of his World Cup opener.
"You train with these boys everyday throughout the year and they've both had awesome seasons, so it's great to see those boys representing their families and countries as well.
"The Titans battle is going to be pretty cool. I hang out with those boys pretty much every day at training, so to see how they go will be awesome.
"Hopefully, we're on the better side of it. Obviously those boys are seasoned NRL players now and both Moe and Dave are two very strong, very fast, big boys.
"For me, I'll be trying to get in front of big Moey because I'll be playing in the middle... that's a tough gig in itself, but I'm really looking forward to the battle and trying to test myself."
Whilst the clash will be the back-rower's first game in a World Cup, it won't be his maiden appearance representing his home nation, anticipating the call-up again after a formidable first match for PNG in their Pacific Test earlier in the year.
The honour to represent his late grandmother in particular is something that is quite close to Alick's heart with him knowing how proud she'd be of his rising rugby league career.
"After the mid-year Pacific Test, I thought I did pretty well and after that, I was waiting for a phone call to be honest. Obviously being a World Cup year, I was pretty excited to be thought about for the tournament and I've never been a part of it before but had watched a lot of it," he recalled.
"To get that phone call was very emotional for me, just for my family because I'm representing my grandmother who died quite a while ago now and she never got to see me play.
"I learned pretty early that I was going to be in, probably about a month before we came together. It was pretty good to get some reassurance that I'd be making the side and to be able to tell my family was pretty pretty cool for me.
"It's just a really proud moment for me and my family because I know that I'm doing her [Papua New Guinean] family proud."
Before travelling to the Northern Hemisphere, the Gold Coast forward experienced the passion of Papua New Guinea fans for the first time by going into an initial camp in Port Moresby, linking up with the rest of the squad which includes the likes of experienced heads Alex Johnston and Justin Olam who have helped lead the rest of the squad.
"Those boys have all pretty much stood up in this camp, being a bigger voice for the whole group just to try and get a bit more professionalism into the camp. We have big plans for the World Cup and those boys have been a massive part of that," Alick said.
"It's been good for me just to see how they go about it and the way they speak, especially Juzzy (Justin Olam) ... he's been really good because he's obviously English speaking and then speaks Pidgin as well. He's sort of taking the reins and talking to all the boys and trying to get a unison.
"We're really building. We've been training for two weeks now in Port Moresby before arriving here (in the UK). It's been a really good build up to the game and now I'm just excited to get out there and play."
Having to face arguably their toughest opponent in Group D to open their affair, Alick isn't shying away from the task against Tonga, knowing how good of a test and challenge it will be.
"Knowing what happened the last World Cup and when they beat Australia, it really put them on the map and everyone since has been diverting to their family nations to try and replicate that. They've been massive for world sport and they've got another great squad," he said.
"They have a lot of young boys and a lot of big, mobile, fast, strong forwards. It's pretty much a nightmare when you think about it, but it'll be good to test ourselves against the best... as they say, if you want to be the best, you got to beat the best.
"We certainly haven't taken them lightly in this camp and we've spoken about them all week and how good they're going to be, but we're not going to take anyone for granted.
"We've also got Wales and the Cook Islands in our pool and they will be good in their own right, but we've definitely pencilled in Tonga as the massive game for us just to set off our World Cup."
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