Phoenix Crossland remembers a time when, as a promising teenage playmaker making his way through the grades at Newcastle, he was given rugby league's closest thing to a kiss of death.
"People compared me to Andrew Johns," Crossland told AAP.
"Which was ridiculous… I was like 16, and they were saying that sort of stuff and I was probably too young to really understand what was going on.
"Now I cringe at it when I look back. It's not a thing you should take lightly nor is it true in any way."
Crossland, who debuted in 2019, spent the first couple of seasons in and out of Newcastle's starting side and there was a point he could have considered leaving.
His billing as the second coming of the club's greatest hero weighed heavily but he remained at the Knights and found a home as a tough-as-teak hooker.
"It took me a few years to get used to it, 2023 is when I probably started to understand the game at this level," said Crossland, who crunched through 55 tackles in last week's semi-final win over the Warriors.
In the eyes of Knights chief executive Peter Parr, Crossland "epitomises Newcastle".
"He's a hard worker who gets on with the job, rolls up his sleeves and goes at it," Parr said.
On Sunday against Penrith, the 26-year-old Crossland will become the first Newcastle No. 9 to lead the club into a preliminary final since Danny Buderus in 2013.
Buderus remains on the Knights' staff and has been instrumental in Crossland's switch from the halves to hooker.
"Bedsy is someone I look up to massively... having Bedsy floating around is and being hands on with the team and myself, is great," Crosssland said.
"We can't think about it too much, we need no emotion going into this game, it's about trying to get a win for our town.
"Bedsy started as a halfback too who transitioned to playing nine and so we've had a similar career in that sense.
"Every day I'm sort of channelling him and doing actions with him - passing off the deck is a lot different to passing from your hips, same with the tackling, but I'm used to it now... I love playing hooker."
