The underdog label is seen as a bonus for a Kozzie whose spiritual home will always be New Zealand
If home really is where the heart is, then Jason Nightingale is Kiwi-as.
One of just two non-New Zealand born players in the 18-man Kiwis squad for tonight's Anzac Test, Nightingale replaces another Kozzie (Kiwi-Aussie) winger, Bryson Goodwin.
But where Goodwin - the son of a former Kangaroo - rather
put his foot in it by admitting he didn't think he was good enough to get picked by Australia anyway, Nightingale has no problem expressing his Kiwi credentials.
With a father born in Christchurch and a mother from the Bay of Plenty (no worries about a potential Grannygate here), Nightingale was born in Sydney but was taken to New Zealand shortly after. He spent the first five years of his life here and had another two-year spell from the age of 11. When resident in Australia, his entire Christmas school holidays were spent in NZ with family.
When the New South Wales City selectors came calling four years ago and it was time to put his hand on heart, Nightingale's decision was simple.
"I'd been thinking about it since I was a little kid," he said. "I'd always said I wanted to play for New Zealand."
Tonight he will do so for the fifth time. He couldn't really imagine running out with the other team.
"When you play for your country you are representing your family more than anything," he said. "You are not representing the place where you live. My family are who I run out there for and, if I ran out for Australia, it's not like they are Australian and can share that with me.
"Being a Kiwi and having my family all from New Zealand, they are proud of me. It is their roots as well."
His roots saw Nightingale turn out for NZ Maori against the All Golds in 2008. That year he made his international debut in a 28-12 Anzac test defeat, but he has typically been more out of the side than in it.
Added to the World Cup squad as a late replacement for Brent Webb, he played just the one match against England as the Kiwis marched to the title. On last year's Four Nations tour, Nightingale didn't play at all, with Goodwin getting the nod to join regular starters Lance Hohaia and Sam Perrett in the back three.
Being close but not quite close enough didn't bother him, he insisted.
"It is good to be part of the tours anyway, stay with the boys and get to know how things run. I've been lucky to be part of it even though I haven't been playing every game."
Until this year things had been much the same at club level, with Nightingale behind Wendell Sailor, Brett Morris and Darius Boyd in the Dragons' pecking order.
It said something about his ability that coaching supremo Wayne Bennett converted him into a prop just to keep him regularly in his match-day squad.
At 92kg, Nightingale is hardly a natural front rower. The shift allowed him to make 18 first-grade appearances in a season which otherwise might have been spent in reserve grade.
It also produced some positive spinoffs for a player who had never played in the forwards at any level.
"It was enjoyable," he said. "It was something that not everyone would be able to say that they did.
"I had a bit of a roving role. I couldn't really be out of position unless I was out on the wing. There was a lot more defence than I was used to, but I trained for a few weeks for that and it wasn't too bad. I enjoyed running around in the middle of the ruck with the big boys.
"Technique-wise in defence it definitely helped me. I probably did more tackling last year than in the previous years of my career [combined]. It doesn't make you any bigger playing in the front row, but I am definitely more confident going into contact."
Tonight will be Nightingale's third successive Anzac test. As the Kiwis are so badly depleted by injuries, the match appears more of a mismatch than usual. Nightingale, though, is a cup-half-full sort of bloke, seeing the lack of expectation as a bonus.
"We've just got to go out there and do our best, stick to our gameplan. We've got nothing to lose so [we will] just go out there and have some fun."
JASON NIGHTINGALE
Born: September 20, 1986
Height: 183cm
Weight: 91kg
Position: Wing/fullback
Club: St George Illawarra Dragons
Junior Club: Renown United (NSW)
Tests: 4 (2008-2009)
Test Debut: v Australia, 2008
Test Points: 12 (3 tries)
NRL Games: 66 (2007-2010)
