Friday night footy takes a whole new meaning this week as Cooper Cronk is set to face his former club, the Melbourne Storm, for the first time.
With the Sydney Roosters taking a home game to the Adelaide Oval, this highly anticipated match up means Cronk will come face-to-face against his old teammates in neutral territory.
Before making the move to Sydney to be with partner Tara Rushton, Cronk played 14 seasons in the purple jersey under the guidance of supercoach Craig Bellamy, which saw him form part of the 'Big 3' and become one of the game's greatest players.
Cronk told NRL.com despite the Storm knowing how he plays, he isn't going to change much to his game.
"They'll come and put some pressure on me, I'll get whacked in the back a couple of times and I'll get up," Cronk said.
"There's been different changes to my game since coming here but am I going to bring something out of the box? No. I'm going to still do what I do, every day for the last 14, 15 years, but I'm just going to try and do it for a little bit harder, a little bit longer than I normally do."
Having played over 1000 games at NRL and representative level combined, Cronk will also be coming up against his former 'Big 3' compatriots Billy Slater and Cameron Smith for the first time in their prestigious careers.
Not since their North Devils days have the three ever played a game against one another, but that is all about to change come Friday night.
Cronk explains that friendships will be put aside for the 80 minutes as both teams will be competing hard for the two points up for grabs.
"I've had a couple of texts and phone calls with Craig throughout the year. There's that strange awkwardness knowing the game's coming around." Cronk said.
"I really respect Craig as a person, as a footy mentor in terms of what he's done.
"Fortunately or unfortunately depending on the way you look at it, we've got to go out and play football on Friday night. I will do that, he will do that and we'll all be friends afterwards."
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