Josh Kerr has a dolphin tattooed on his arm in honour of his Indigenous totem, so to now play for his old junior club the Dolphins is more than just a job for the dynamic prop.
It is an honour and a dream come true.
"My people are from North Stradbroke Island and the carpet snake, dolphin and quampi shell are my totems," Kerr said on Tuesday as he showed off his colourfully tattooed arm.
For a man who played his junior football at the Redcliffe Dolphins from U10s to colts, his mid-season switch from St George Illawarra to the Dolphins could not have been better scripted.
"All this stuff is literally just a movie and I am just a part of it. I can't believe it is all adding up," he said.
"The dolphin is my totem, I am back at the Dolphins. I am pinching myself every day just to be here. It is a dream come true.
"I grew up in Narangba, a little town down the road ... and I have always claimed Redcliffe because all my mates are here and I played my junior footy here and did all my schooling here."
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett selected Kerr in the Maroons' 2020 State of Origin squad, a selection that stunned and thrilled him.
"I remember his first words when I got in there. I went up to say gidday to him and I was absolutely starstruck," Kerr grinned.
"He looked straight at me and said, 'You better be thanking (former Dragon) Benny Hornby for mentioning your name to me'.
"Over the course of that camp I built a good relationship with Wayne and at the end I said to him that Redcliffe had got to be the next (NRL) team because they have great grassroots football here and do a lot for the community.
"When they got in I called him up and said, 'Just find a way to get me here' and I am glad it all came to fruition."
Kerr was in tears when he found out about his selection. In the Kerr household rugby league is a religion and State of Origin the Holy Grail.
He didn't play a game in the 2020 Origin series, won 2-1 by the Maroons, but won the prestigious Peter Jackson Memorial Award, named for the person in camp that represents the true Queensland spirit that late Maroons legend and great character Jackson epitomised.
"I was in the shops and Wayne rung me and told me I'd won the 'Peter Jackson' award and I thought he was taking the mickey and that it was a pack of Peter Jackson durries," he said.
"I rang my old man and he told the history of Peter Jackson and that he was a larrikin in camp. I thought it couldn't get any better in my life."
