Australian fullback James Tedesco says it was an easy decision to turn down Mal Meninga's offer of a well-deserved rest so he could captain his country against his ancestral nation of Italy.
Tedesco had played the opening two fixtures, with Meninga indicating that he would aim to give each player in his World Cup squad a rest in the group stages.
His captain, however, is a different case.
Tedesco had stressed how much it meant to him to play against the Azzurri in St Helens on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
Tedesco, whose family comes from Calabria, represented Italy at the 2013 and 2017 tournaments and the chance to captain the Kangaroos as an Australian-Italian was too good to turn down.
"It's pretty special for my family back home to see me play in the Australian colours against Italy," he said.
"I only played 45 minutes (against Scotland). There's only a limited number of times you can represent Australia and I've only done it a couple of times.
"I was keen to represent and build those combinations for the finals."
Tedesco credited his time with the Italian side in the 2013 tournament as a springboard for a career which is only missing a World Cup from his trophy-laden resume.
"I had played about 20 first grade games before that (tournament)," he said.
"In 2012 I had done my ACL and in 2013 I was still scrapping around and not that confident.
"After that World Cup campaign, I got my confidence. It was a great start to my international career.
"I was in the centres and Mini (Anthony Minichiello) was the captain and fullback and I learned a lot from being around him and how he conducted himself."
Tedesco knows the Italian anthem but politely declined to give a rendition after training in Manchester.
One person who will be singing is his nonna Marcela, who only became curious about his sporting career when he pulled on the Italian jersey.
"Nonna didn't really know much about footy but I think me playing for Italy definitely sparked her interest," he said.
"As the years went on, she has starting telling me why I was getting hit so late or hit too happy with the with the opposition on that.
"I think she watches every show and every game now."
