The signs are promising but give it 100 years, Mark Nicholls says as the Dolphins forward eyes his role in the NRL's newest rivalry.
The Redcliffe side will host Brisbane at a sold-out Suncorp Stadium on Friday night in the first NRL meeting - dubbed the Battle for Brisbane - between the unbeaten sides.
Powered by former Brisbane mentor Wayne Bennett, there are a host of ex-Broncos in the Dolphins' ranks to add spice.
And Anthony Milford could provide the chilli, with the former Broncos playmaker training with the main squad on Tuesday as teenage first-choice Isaiya Katoa nursed a sore elbow.
So hyped has the Brisbane battle been that Dolphins chief executive Terry Reader told AAP it will surpass that of the 115-year-old South Sydney-Sydney Roosters rivalry.
Nicholls played 100 games for the Rabbitohs and has relished the move to Redcliffe with his family, but baulked when the comparison was made.
"It's hard to beat 100 years of history," he said after Tuesday's training session.
"But in 100 years we'll be talking about this rivalry. The appetite is here, and from the day I got here Redcliffe have been excited to have a team in their backyard. All I've seen is Dolphins hats and jerseys.
"Suncorp, 50,000 people ... It's one you dream of and the whole town's talking about it."
Countless moments have made the Rabbitohs-Roosters rivalry what it is and Nicholls said it was the passion of the fans that helped produce those.
"Off the back of that the players feel it," he said.
"There's going to be big moments and hopefully we're the ones winning those moments.
"I've played a lot of those games and I know what happens when you play the man and not the ball.
"You lose focus. We need to turn up and play our footy."
Katoa has been named in the No.6 but Milford, relegated to Queensland Cup feeder team Central Queensland Capras, is ready to make a statement if called upon.
After seven years at the club, Milford wasn't offered a deal in Brisbane beyond 2021.
Bennett threw him a contract lifeline and then relegated Milford to the reserves, where he slotted a match-winning field goal for the Capras in the opening round.
If picked Milford would join fellow former Bronco Kodi Nikorima in a spine that includes another one-time Red Hill talent, in-form halfback Sean O'Sullivan.
"You talk about rugby league and headlines; sometimes they just create themselves," Nicholls said of the prospect of a Milford NRL return.
"Hopefully Issy's alright ... but Milf might be next man up, might get his chance and from all reports he's played really well the last few weeks so he'll go in confident."
The club's hopes of being at full strength for the inaugural derby took a further blow at Tuesday night's judiciary where back-row enforcer Felise Kaufusi was handed a four-game suspension.
