A few of the Wanganui boys in the Heartland team gave Tofa a phone call at the Marist team's motel, and Hamlin said the prop is eager to play well against South Canterbury's Matt Fetu and Timaru Tafa - just to stay in front of the Heartland coaches should an injury occur in their squad.
Hamlin has also passed on a few tips to his players about the Wanganui representatives strengths and weaknesses.
"Telling them something about that and getting them to use it is another matter."
While the game kicks off at twilight time, Hamlin said it should be daylight for the full fixture, so his players having more experience with night rugby should not be a big factor.
At least 15 of the 23 Marist players come from clubs within the ITM Cup unions.
"It's good up and coming boys and a few in the ITM Cup sides," said Hamlin, promising they wanted to play an expansive style despite having only two days together before kickoff.
"I imagine there will be a fair bit of contact in it to start ... the first ten minutes.
"I don't see either forward pack giving an inch."
In the past six years, the two squads have met six times with the record standing at 3-3.
New Heartland coach Grant Keenan said form and familiarity between team mates from the Pink Batts Heartland Championship were factors in the selection of his first team, who will play Marist for the McCrea Cup as a warmup to the two big internationals next week against the Australian Barbarians.
"It's best having provincial connections for the first game.
"You've got five in there with No2, No6, No8-10 and with Peter [Rowe] he would have likely started more at No7, being the captain.
"And they played well I thought against us, Mid Canterbury, in the [Meads Cup] semifinal, and then even better in the final."
Rowe is sitting out a one-match suspension for an illegal tackle on South Canterbury's Nick Annear in the Meads Cup final victory on October 24. In his absence, Wairarapa-Bush flanker James Goodger will fill the coveted No7 jersey on his home ground, while Mid Canterbury lock Eric Duff will captain the team, having experience as the skipper of his Southern club.
The talking point will be Perofeta guiding New Zealand's No1 amateur team at the tender age of 18, but Keenan has confidence in the Collegiate bolter, who is the first ever schoolboy chosen for the squad.
"It's strategic placing Lindsay [Horrocks] inside him because that will assist him, then outside you've got Lemi Masoe from North Otago, 35 years old, very experienced and been with the team before.
"[Perofeta] needs some familiarity in the inside and experience outside him.
"We had a few little areas we wanted him to work on and he's picked that up."
Keenan said all 23 spots in the squad, including the bench players, will be of importance as they look ahead to the Australians.
"For us, it's just excellent preparation against a [Marist] side that will really want to get into it.
"Things will change on Tuesday, but we've made it clear today we got no problem pulling people off after 30 minutes if they're not performing."
The Australian Barbarians squad was also named this week, being selected from non-Super 15 contracted players who play in the fledgling National Rugby Championship (NRC).
While Keenan joked that he can't afford the Rugby Channel to have watched highlights footage of the players in the NRC, he does have some knowledge of their abilities.
The average age of the Barbarians squad is 23 - eight of them have played for the Australia Under-20s, while three more have been in the Australia Sevens team and a few have some Super Rugby experience.
"We've got two real quality tests and if you ask our guys, and in particular the Wanganui boys, they're really excited for it."
Kickoff for tonight's game is 6pm.
