The Rugby League World Cup has reached the knockout stages as eight countries found their way through the group phase to compete in this week's quarter-finals.
Lebanon, Papua New Guinea and Fiji are bidding to spring surprises against Australia, England and New Zealand respectively, while Samoa and Tonga will do battle in a pick 'em battle of some gigantic human beings.
There have been no shortage of talking points both on and off the pitch to get to this stage, with the colour in the stands matching the action on the field.
Our man Nigel Wiskar has continued his road trip and here's what he's noticed in the last week.
Big Mick’s road trip
Mick is a big bloke, his Kangaroos jersey the size of a small tent.
It’s a couple of hours away from kick off in St Helens and he’s clutching a pint. It’s not his first.
He’s with a bunch of mates following Australia around the north of England - with diversions to Wales and Dublin.
Today they kicked off their drinking over five hours ago with the intention of having two pints in every pub they stumbled into before watching their team’s predictable romp against Italy.
Mick, a Manly fan, was a coal miner for 42 years and lives in the Hunter Valley has five weeks on the road following the Kangaroos.
He’s instantly great company and is a reminder of the days when scores of fans followed that great team, huge swathes of garish outfits forming a yellow blob in the stands.
We talk of Saints and Manly legends like Kevin Ward and Jamie Lyon and exchange numbers. He is in my phone as Aussie Pub Mick.
He insists I stay with him and his wife next time I can afford a holiday in Australia - no time soon then.
I ask how his wife feels about him going away.
“She told me to f*** off and not come back,” he says.
I think he is joking... but maybe not.
Kangaroos do it by halves
Cameron Munster is in deep chat with Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga as his side warm up before they take on Italy.
You wonder if he is limited to one sentence on repeat - ‘my turn next boss’ - as Meninga plumps for Nathan Cleary and Daly Cherry-Evans as his half-backs.
If it’s a shoot-out for who pairs with Munster for the quarter-finals then DCE wins hands down.
Cleary is off with the boot tonight and it’s the Manly star who dominates the game from his very first inch-perfect kick to set up a try on a plate for Valentine Holmes.
Cleary’s Penrith Panthers coach - and father - Ivan watches from the stand with a beer in his hand alongside one of his former charges, injured Samoan star Tyrone May.
Ivan later chats with the parents of winger Cameron Graham, who could not look more proud after embracing their sweating, shirtless and strapped-up son after victory.
Must be tough for Cleary senior watching his boy slightly underperform - if winning a game 66-6 can be viewed as underperforming.
A penny for his thoughts.
Josh the man for Lebanon fans
Mitchell Moses and Adam Doueihi have serious NRL pedigree and it’s way too much for Jamaica to handle.
Michael Lawrence and Ashton Golding give everything but the Lebanon playmakers can spot the slightest glimmer of daylight in the defensive line and consistently exploit.
Every try is greeted wildly by the throng of Cedars fans surrounding me, with a large drum blasting my eardrums and frying my senses.
I’d met some of the Lebanon team in one of the Pot Kettle Black coffee shops owned by former Super League stars Mark Flanagan and Jon Wilkin.
Flanagan played with Cedars assistant coach Robbie Farah and Moses was a junior coming through the ranks when he played with West Tigers in the NRL.
Moses is beaming but reserved. As captain and NRL grand finalist he’s had plenty of chat recently.
Winger Josh Mansour wants to talk. He speaks passionately of what this means for the country of his grandparents and wants to go to Beirut to help the amateur game there.
When he turns to the crowd after his second try against Jamaica, his smile could not be any wider.
In Arabic they chant ‘Come on, come on, play, play Mansour’. He’s doing just that.
Security in numbers for Cedars
There are scumbags and there are dumb scumbags.
Let’s put the clown who decided to steal from the Lebanon team hotel in the latter category.
It must have been a unique experience being chased down by a mob of rugby league players, one bare chested, and it’s one I hope to skip for the remainder of my life.
The offender was caught - wingers were after him too - and the haul of team kit recovered.
Coach Michael Chieka, as constantly impressive off the field as his players have been on it, laughed off the incident.
He said: “They say we are part-timers, I think the other part-time we are doing is security work.”
Now the Cedars have the small matter of Australia in their quarter-final.
They won’t just have their own fans behind them either. Unless you favour a hat with dangling corks and like a crappy Marmite substitute, for one night only everybody will be a Lebanon fan.
Samoa bring the power
There’s a real tingle in the air before Samoa take on France, one that is quickly reduced to silence when the Samoan team kneel in a circle.
Soon they rise to perform the Siva Tau, their version of the Haka, with squad members in tracksuits joining in too.
As ever, it serves its purpose to intimidate. This is war and tonight it’s France’s turn to be on the receiving end of a Polynesian onslaught.
Props Royce Hunt, Junior Paulo and Josh Papali’i are uncontainable, too big and too strong. Centres Tim Lafai and Stephen Crichton feed wingers simple-looking run-in tries.
France can’t handle it though Leeds look to have made a very smart signing in Justin Sangare from Toulouse. The giant Mali-born front-rower holds his own in such muscular mayhem company.
And so back to Warrington for potentially the game of the tournament when Samoa take on Tonga.
It’s near impossible to call with Samoa now over their opening game stupor and Tonga led by the unstoppable and talismanic Jason Taumalolo.
Maybe it will come down the coaches, one a serial winner and one less so.
Perhaps Kristian Woolf and Matt Parrish should duke it out before kick-off. I can see only one winner.
England’s dominant player
Dom Young continues to turn heads on and off the pitch.
When you have such a presence, it’s hard to hide and there were squeaks aplenty to give away the England star had been spotted in Leigh after watching his brother playing for Jamaica.
Kids were giddy to be snapped alongside him - my own lad included. The walk back to our car became a babbling, skip-a-long.
The tournament’s leading try scorer looked slightly shy and taken by surprise with all the attention. He better get used to it.
If those features survive a battle with PNG, there’s chat of a modelling contract ahead.
If it’s fashion, may have to be for the high and mighty range.
