The Melbourne Storm have well and truly welcomed all codes into their facilities after All Blacks star Jordie Barrett was spotted training with the team through the week.
A utility back for the Hurricanes, New Zealand's World Cup rest policy has handed Barrett a fortnight off, electing to spend the first week of it alongside Storm players before heading to the Richmond Tigers next week.
The 26-year-old is looking to improve his kicking game through the process.
While Craig Bellamy would love to have Barrett's name on his team sheet for Friday's clash against the Wests Tigers, especially sans Jahrome Hughes, he's been impressed by the back's attitude around training.
"It would be nice to put him there somewhere - all the guys are a bit in awe of him," Bellamy told AAP.
"He's been great being here and he's been in our meetings as well and we've learned a couple of things off him too - just how they might do things different on the field for our players in a similar position that he plays in.
"Hughesy has been hanging off his hip for the last three days so hopefully he's got something out of it.
The Sydney Roosters attempted to sign the rugby union star last season, only to be knocked back by Barrett as he chose to throw his eggs into the 15-man code's basket.
He isn't the first player from a rival code that Melbourne have accepted into their domain, signing former AFL star Joel Selwood as a leadership coach in 2023.
If Hurricanes' coach Jason Holland was nervous about the star back making the switch to the 13-man code, he certainly wasn't showing it.
"There's always a danger, don't worry about that," Holland said at training on Thursday.
"Jordie's got a lot more to do in union in New Zealand yet. Those things are healthy.
"If we get too insular and just look inside our own sport and environment then you're not going forward, so I think it's a really positive thing."
The Melbourne Storm will face the Wests Tigers on Friday night, without the rival code star, as they look to bounce back from consecutive losses to the Gold Coast Titans and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
