One is fresh off an Origin blitz, and the other wasn't even in his club's best 17 at the start of the year, but come Round 16, both James Tedesco and Nicho Hynes are two of the most in-form players in the NRL.
As COVID rips through the country and changes the dynamic of the NRL season with virtually every passing day, the Roosters will face the Storm in a rather weird location of Newcastle this evening to kick off a round which will be played mostly without fans.
The Roosters and Storm don't have a heap between them, and even less at full strength.
Much has been made of the Roosters' injury crisis this year, and it is one of the worst in recent history, that there can be no doubt about. Luke Keary is gone for the season, Brett Morris has retired, back-up half Sam Walker is battling his shoulder, and they have spent time without dynamic forward duo Sio Siua Taueiaho and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
Their one constant, apart from somehow still winning matches under the excellent coaching of Trent Robinson, has been the impact of James Tedesco.
The Roosters' and New South Wales fullback has been in fine form throughout the first half of the season.
While that fine form may not be on par with the seasons where he was indisputably the best player in the game, he is still at the pointy end.
The man they call Teddy has racked up seven tries, eight try assists, 70 tackle busts, seven line breaks, ten offloads and 163 metres per game in his 12 appearances for the Roosters.
After being outplayed by fullbacks Latrell Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic (who were both in the centres) during Game 1 of the State of Origin series, he picked Suncorp Stadium as his theatre to go straight back to the top.
A man of the match performance which saw him run for over 200 metres, added four offloads and a pair of try assists to go with his two line breaks.
But this is a competition which is now flush with star fullbacks.
And amazingly, Melbourne's second-choice fullback is right up there with the best of them. After spending years trying to crack first-grade, he has been somewhat the beneficiary of Ryan Papenhuyzen's concussion, which is set to leave him on the shelf for at least another month.
The resulting month has seen him hold incredibly good form for the Storm, as well as being head-hunted by the Sharks, where he will play from 2022 onwards.
ยป See also: Nicho Hynes signed with the Sharks
Hynes may not score as often as Tedesco with four tries in 13 starts, but given a handful of them were off the bench, his opportunities have been slightly more limited.
His 14 try assists and 20 line break assists, to go with 15 offloads and 124 metres per game have made him one of the competition's hardest players to contain.
While he was excellent last time out against the Tigers as Melbourne ran up 66 points, the raw statistics won't show it.
His breakout performance stretches back to Round 12 against the Broncos when he scored a try, assisted another two, made three line breaks, six tackle busts and two offloads.
It was the complete fullback performance, and while he doesn't yet have the experience of Tedesco, or even the man he is replacing Papenhuyzen, Melbourne haven't missed a beat.
Sure, when compared to Tedesco, Hynes is something of a relative unknown, but his performances this year have proven he is up to the big time.
Sharks' fans must be overjoyed with excitement at their new signing, but he will get a proper workout against the tri-colours.
Trent Robinson is something of a master coach at this point, and it's safe to assume he has plans in place to stop the elusive Hynes.
However, no other club has managed to slow him down yet, and with both the Storm and Roosters attacking with pure excellence, it could be a shootout decided by the two fullbacks.
Tedesco has the edge, but don't be surprised to see the youngster, especially with Tedesco operating on a five-day turnaround, get one up on his more experienced opponent.
Whichever way you look at it, Thursday night footy this week is going to be a ripper.
And after ten days without a club game, it'll be one heck of a way to welcome back the season proper.
