Newcastle forward Cody Hopwood will face James Fisher-Harris and Mitch Barnett in Auckland on Sunday, only a year after debuting in the Knights' wooden-spoon season.
The 20-year-old has started just eight NRL matches, but he refuses to be intimidated by the finals challenge.
"Well it's my job. And it's something I've always dreamed of," Hopwood said.
His ambition began with Kade Snowden, who once handed him a football after a match.
"I doubt he'd remember it, but I thought it was pretty cool. That left a memory with me and I said I wanted to always play for the Knights."
A Maitland junior, Hopwood regularly watched Newcastle with his mother from a picnic rug at McDonald Jones Stadium.
He also experienced the club's 2023 finals campaign as a teenager, including its trip to New Zealand.
"I thought that would be pretty cool to do," Hopwood said. "And three years later, it's happening."
Hopwood is nine centimetres taller and about seven kilograms lighter than Snowden, who debuted in 2005 and represented NSW in 2010 and 2011.
After helping Tyson Frizell contain South Sydney in a 20-10 upset, Hopwood said, "It was probably one of the best moments of my life."
"That's my job, to go after Mitch Barnett and Fish on Sunday," he said.