Penrith's Frank Pritchard maintains he was surprised at his debut selection - but he would be the only one.
Pritchard's form in filling in for the injured Tony Puletua has been outstanding. He and others in the side, including Tigers' centre Paul Whatuira and Warriors' second-rower Wairangi Koopu, had previouslybeen introduced by being attached to the squad, as have Tigers' second-rower Bronson Harrison and Storm prop Alex Chan this time.
Pritchard was born in Randwick, Sydney. His family went back to Auckland when he was four, then shifted over the Tasman again four years later.
He lives with his parents, Vai and Ben, who are New Zealand-born Samoans, and has three brothers and four sisters, all in Aussie but not all at home.
"We go back every Christmas, I've got thousands of relatives all over the country. I never considered playing for Australia," he said.
Pritchard has never played union, but loves the All Blacks.
On Friday he has a licence to roam the field looking for work, taking the passes from the halves and the off-loads from the big forwards, and continuing the busts.
Puletua has helped him tremendously with attitude and training, and he rings regularly to provide a critique of Pritchard's game. There are a group of New Zealand-Island players at Penrith and they have their own gym and training routine that concentrates on upper-body strength and aerobics to get them through 80 minutes.
They're mostly committed Christians. "A strong belief keeps me out of trouble," the 21-year-old said.
