Beau Fermor feels his return to the Prime Minister's XIII is the icing on the cake to cap a successful comeback season, opening the door for the Titans forward to dream big ahead of 2025.
One of five Gold Coast stars in action on Sunday against Papua New Guinea across both men's and women's clashes, the 26-year-old returns to representative duties for his second campaign after first pulling on the green and gold in 2022, this time venturing into unfamiliar territory in what will be his first trip to the the rugby league-mad country.
"I’ve never been over to PNG, so it’ll be awesome to experience that and to be back in this team is really exciting. I obviously was here in 2022 but to be back after having a year off is a nice feeling," Fermor said.
"I probably started the year a bit slow but had a strong finish to the year, so it’s probably the icing on top of the cake after coming back from a tough injury.
"It’s great to be alongside Freddy (Fittler) and a lot of the other boys that are in this team.
"There are some big names and some really experienced players so it’s awesome to be able to play alongside those boys and learn little bits from their game.
"Also just to experience what PNG has to offer... it’ll be awesome."
The experience among some of the game's best players has reaffirmed Fermor's desire to continue his representative journey past the Prime Minister's XIII in 2025, eyeing a call-up to the Queensland squad after being well and truly in the conversation for the most recent series.
"I’ve wanted to play for the Maroons forever," he revealed.
"That’s always been one of my goals and it’ll continue to be one of my goals until I can’t play footy anymore... but that’s a job for next year.
"I want to come back and have a really good pre-season and then put my best foot forward in my season next year."
That begins for the Titans in early November, with the Gold Coast set to field one of the best forward packs in the competition thanks to the acquisition of Origin and International prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard and captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui returning from his season-ending knee injury.
Their inclusions will hope to help turn the page on a tough 2024, which ended poorly after being in the mix to play finals after Round 22.
"We were disappointed with how we finished, especially the back end of the year in those four or five weeks," Fermor said.
"I think we really let ourselves down, but we have another pre-season coming up with Des [Hasler] and the system he wants to run.
"We get RCG up here and Tino's back and I think that's only going to help us have a really good year next year."
The Prime Minister's XIII double-header clash against Papua New Guinea kicks off at 1pm on Sunday; live on Channel 9, 9 Now, Fox League and Kayo Sports.
