A decade after appearing in his first NRL grand final, Brisbane Broncos and Kiwis enforcer Adam Blair never imagined he would be preparing to play in his fourth decider for the club that denied him a premiership ring in his rookie season.
Blair's debut 2006 season with the Melbourne Storm finished with a grand final defeat to the Broncos. He went on to play in two more deciders with the Storm, losing to Manly in 2008, before eventually enjoying the 2009 title win over Parramatta.
The 29-year-old admits the lean years in between have made him appreciate the significance of the occasion, and days out from Sunday's all-Queensland grand final against the North Queensland Cowboys, says he never thought he would be playing in a decider for the Broncos.
"No, not ever. I never ever thought that I would even leave Melbourne," said Blair. "2006 was my first year of NRL, I played 16 games and I was still a kid and thought these things came around pretty easily.
"But the last time I played in one was 2009 and I haven't been back since. To get the opportunity to play for one now, at a club with such a rich history, and also having Wayne [Bennett] coaching as well, I'm really grateful."
Ten years on, with more than 200 NRL games under his belt, and the Broncos gunning for their seventh premiership win and first since 2006, Blair is as relaxed as he was as a happy-go-lucky teenager.
"In 2006 I wasn't nervous at all," he says. "Obviously I'm a little bit older and wiser and know how to control things like that.
"I'm just really excited and can't wait. You can feel the hype around Brisbane now and the fans are getting behind us, so it's an exciting time for the club."
After his early success at the Storm, Blair endured some tough times and produced some mixed form after joining Wests Tigers for three seasons from 2012 to 2014.
"I made the decision to go to the Tigers and you've got to live with the decisions you make and I really enjoyed my time there.
"I'm a competitive football player and I hate losing and the only thing that was more disappointing was falling out at round 26 every year."
The chance to head north this year to play under two long-term mentors in Bennett and his Broncos assistant and Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney was too good to pass up.
The seven-time premiership winning master coach has been a fan of Blair's uncompromising style of play ever since the pair met during his time assisting Kearney during the Kiwis' 2008 World Cup triumph.
"I've bumped into Wayne nearly every year since. He holidays in a place where my wife and her family holiday, so we'd always bump into each other at the gym.
"Having someone the stature of Wayne, who believes in your ability and believes in what you can do, it's humbling, and it gives me that sense of relief, that someone like Wayne really believes in how I play and what I can bring to a team."
His connection with Kearney is also strong and goes back to his earliest days at the Storm.
"I've had that bond with Stephen ever since I first started at Melbourne at 16, and then he moved into the coaching ranks.
"As a young kid growing up watching the Kiwis, I was playing back-row so he was a guy that I looked up to.
"I'm glad I've come full circle and back to Brisbane where I've met up with a lot of the staff that I started off with."
His focus now is on turning out another take-no-prisoners display at ANZ Stadium on Sunday, and working in tandem with Broncos front-row partner Sam Thaiday.
The Broncos' mix of young talent and experienced older heads has been gelling at the right time of the year, and Blair knows he needs to help lead the way when the going gets tough.
"We've got a lot of young boys in there and they ooze enthusiasm and they enjoy everything around football so a couple of big tackles or a big run and they seem to lift for us.
"They're going to look at the older guys to step up and it doesn't take much for these young kids to get excited."