David Fifita remembers all the great Indigenous All Stars. They're part of what makes the team he'll play for on Saturday so special.
Just as Fifita grew up watching Greg Inglis, Johnathan Thurston and Justin Hodges play for the All Stars, now a new generation of Indigenous youth watch Josh Addo-Carr, Nicho Hynes and Fifita himself.
It's not a responsibility Fifita takes lightly. He's had to grow up very quickly since his NRL debut as a fresh 18-year-old back in 2018.
"It's a privilege to play in these type of games, to represent my mum's heritage and my nan and make them proud. To do it with a mad group of boys, I'm really looking forward to it," Fifita said.
"I've been in camp for a few years now. We're different to other cultures. We're a proud culture, both Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander. Our bond, our laughter, is what brings us together and we play a different kind of footy to other people.
""I hope people do look up to me, I try to be a good person on and off the field, and if there's any kids out there (who look up to me) I'll be amazed. I'm blessed to be in the position I'm in.
"(I'm looking forward to playing with) all of them , but especially the young lads, Hamiso (Tabuai-Fidow), Selwyn Cobbo, Nicho Hynes, young (Tyrell) Sloan — there's some great young talent there coming up."
It's a measure of how fast everything has happened to Fifita that he calls those guys "the young lads". Tabuai-Fidow is just over 12 months younger than Fifita. Hynes is almost four years older.
Fifita isn't feeling the ravages of age just yet – he's still 21 himself, turning 22 later this month – but he's had the speed and power of a grown man for a long time now.
"I'm pretty much in that category, I'm young, and hopefully we all stay together and build our own connection like JT, Inglis and Hodgo, they all stayed together," Fifita said.
"Training with this bunch of boys and playing on Saturday, it's so exciting. I can't wait to run out there. I know all our families will be watching all across the country."
Despite his already lofty status in the game's hierarchy, Fifita is still scratching the surface of his own talents. The criticism he wears can be heavy precisely because of that same talent.
When he shrugs off defenders like a father playing footy against his sons, or when he races 50 metres to score with speed that belies his size, it's easy to ask why he simply doesn't do those sorts of things all the time.
But following that logic creates a standard he can never reach. Not even Superman (or Tom Trbojevic) can do it every time.
His first season with the Titans was polarising as a result of his monster $1.2 million annual salary. On the one hand, 17 tries, 22 line breaks, 44 offloads, 155 tackle busts and selection in the Dally M team of the year, on paper, is a more than respectable return. It's more than some teams get from their fullbacks in a season, let alone from a backrower.
On the other hand, his critics say, Fifita just doesn't produce his attacking brilliance often enough, especially against top class opposition.
Running in hat-tricks in April is fine, sure, but where was it when the whips were cracking for the Titans at the back end of the year?
What good is a superstar who doesn't even crack the starting side, they ask, after Fifita spent much of the second half of the year on the bench? He's also yet to play his best football in the Origin arena.
The truth, as ever, is closer to the middle than either extreme. Fifita's salary makes him an easy target for Gold Coast's woes, and his season may not have been as consistent as he would have liked, but there is not another second rower in the game who can attack like he does.
If 17 tries from a backrower isn't worth a bit over a million dollars a year it begs the question, what possibly could be?
But it's also true that Fifita needs to do the spectacular stuff that he alone can do more often. There is no other forward in the league who can do the things he does and the more he supplies it the more the demand for his attacking power will increase.
That's where his status as the world's oldest 21-year old comes into play. He is being paid like an established star, but the peaks and valleys he experienced over his first year as a Titan are part and parcel of any player growing into first grade, even one as gifted as Fifita.
Technically, Fifita is used more like a centre than a backrower – give him early ball and plenty of it and he'll run any team in the game ragged. Keeping an eye on his metres-gained per week or demanding he solely run up the middle of the field against the other giants would be like entering a Ferrari in a demolition derby. Some cars are made for the open road.
Fifita is not going to be like a traditional, line-running edge forward in the Boyd Cordner or Ryan Hoffman mould because he doesn't need to hit gaps to be effective, he simply creates them.
His closest compatriot is Penrith's Viliame Kikau, another backrower of uncommon gifts. This more unorthodox style takes some getting used to, especially in co-ordination with Fifita's halves.
With the Titans planning for Toby Sexton (who has four NRL appearances to his name) and AJ Brimson (who hasn't played in the halves in almost three years) there's more of an onus on Fifita to dictate how and when he wants the footy.
It's early days yet, and a long way from the Gold Coast, but Fifita stood out at Indigenous All Stars training this week with his talk in team runs, leaving it in no uncertain terms with Braydon Trindall and Nicho Hynes just how he wanted the ball.
This season will mark Fifita's fifth year in first grade, and he seems ready to grow up. Indigenous All Stars camp is not the same as the NRL, but Fifita's willingness to accept the responsibility that comes with being a star in this side bodes well for his season with Gold Coast, as does his lack of injury or surgery over the off-season.
"My first year (in the All Stars) was 2019 down in Melbourne, I was fresh on the scene, I'd only played 11 first-grade games," Fifita said.
"I took a lot in from the older boys, they were so talented, I looked up to them when I watched them on TV. I'm looking forward to doing it again and slowly become that older person.
"It's been good (at the Titans), getting my body right and my weight down. We have good staff at the Titans, they really keep you accountable. I'm really enjoying my time on the coast.
"Training's been tough, for myself personally, the boys are tremendous blokes. It's a good staff, on and off the field, we connect together.
"We have mixed cultural backgrounds, everyone's different and hopefully my lungs are sweet on Saturday and I'm on my toes."
