Nathan Rose has met Wayne Bennett once.
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On Saturday evening in Albury, he'll get the opportunity to show the supercoach that that 16-year-old in a St George junior rep team did know how to play.
The Southcity playmaker will represent the Riverina Invitational team in a trial against NRL club South Sydney at Albury Sportsground.
The Rabbitohs have named a young, inexperienced line-up. But Rose is well aware of the challenge.
"A handful of blokes out of the South Sydney side have played NRL but I'm sure they'll be really physical because they're blokes trying to crack the NRL. So they're going to want to come out and show what they're made of," Rose said.
Rose, 24, has won two Group Nine premierships with Southcity and twice represented NSW Country.
The chance to play against NRL opposition was unexpected and a little unnerving, if he's honest.
"When we first got invited to play it was a bit of mixed emotions but I guess this is where you test yourself, playing against players that are training at the top, or the elite level," Rose said.
"We'll keep it simple and go over our game plan before we play. But they've probably had two months training together before Christmas and we've had one session so, you know.
"We've got to turn up with a good attitude and just keep turning up for each other and hopefully we can give it a good shake."
The five-eighth is one of four Southcity players in the Riverina squad. Albury and Gundagai also have four players in the squad which should help the team gel. Rose said coach Josh Cale will allow them to back their instincts.
"We've got a bit of a game plan we'll stick to but hopefully we can play off the cuff a bit, play what's in front of us," Rose said.
"He's given us, not the freedom to do whatever we want, but to play what you see and if the opportunity's there, just have a crack at it because at the end of the day, we've got nothing to lose."
Rose never did get the chance to chase that NRL dream. After a serious knee injury put him out for a year, his brief glimpse of opportunity at the Dragons was gone just as Wayne Bennett was arriving.
So eight years on, he'll just be happy to help Riverina and Group Nine (which has 16 players in the squad) give a good account of themselves against Bennett's Bunnnies.
"Definitely. I think it's a strong comp (Group Nine) and as they've said before, there's a fair bit of NRL experience within our team," Rose said.
"I think our team on paper is a quality one across the park.
"But at the same time, these guys (Souths) are up there now getting the proper training and recoveries."
The main game starts at 6pm at Albury Sportsground.
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