Rarely has a player risen through the ranks as quickly as giant Gold Coast Titans forward Tino Fa'asuamaleaui.
In 2020, the Melbourne Storm's rookie of the year played off the bench in the club's grand final win over the Penrith Panthers and was named in the Queensland State of Origin team.
Last season he joined the Titans where he played 23 games and was rewarded with a multi-million dollar contract extension until 2026.
Now the 22-year-old is the youngest captain in the National Rugby League (NRL) and he'll lead the Titans into their 16th season in the NRL against the Parramatta Eels on Sunday.
Fa'asuamaleaui said he was excited rather than daunted about being appointed the club's on-field leader.
"I can't wait to lead the boys out onto the field and lead with my actions."
Fa'asuamaleaui said Titans coach Justin Holbrook approached him about the captaincy role during the off season.
"I was lost for words to be honest, I was a little bit emotional," he said.
"I never thought I'd be an NRL player let alone an NRL captain.
"To be a captain of the Titans is massive for me and my family."
The Titans missed their final pre season trial against the New Zealand Warriors when the recent east coast flood event caused the postponement of their game in Brisbane and the cancellation of the rescheduled trial on the Gold Coast.
"We've got to move on.
"We've just got to train hard and make sure we're ready for the Parramatta Eels on Sunday."
The elevation of Fa'asuamaleaui to the captaincy role surprised some pundits but not those inside the Titans organisation.
Leadership void
Titans chief executive Steve Mitchell said the club was aware that they had a young team last season and there wasn't a natural leadership group.
"It was more instructive, it was more about the coaching staff talking directly to the players," he said.
"But across the back end of the year, through that finals period against the Chooks [Roosters] and through the preseason, we've seen a group of them that have done overs [extra training] and almost self-selected.
"It invariably came back to Tino over and over … the playing group love playing with him, they love the way he trains.
Mitchell credits the club's head of performance and culture, and Australian test coach, Mal Meninga, with signing Fa'asuamaleaui.
"He's an exceptional human being with a great moral compass … Mal's a thinker," said Mitchell.
"Culturally, he was the man that got the organisation to start to instil values and behaviours early.
"In all honestly, we probably wouldn't have landed Tino [Fa'asuamaleaui] and Mal put Justin [Holbrook] forward to coach."
Season expectations
Fa'asuamaleaui said he wants the Titans to exceed last year's results where they finished the regular season in eighth position on the NRL ladder, but were bundled out in the first week of the finals by the Sydney Roosters (25-24).
"To work so hard to get there and losing that … we just want to get past that first round and play good and consistent football all year."
The Titans play the Parramatta Eels at CommBank Stadium in Sydney at 3:05pm on Sunday.
The Titans NRLW team will play at the same stadium against the Eels at 12:45pm.
