Tyson Frizell has spent 16 years chasing the moment he will experience this weekend.
The Newcastle Knights veteran forward is preparing for the first NRL Grand Final of his career, with the Roosters standing between the 34-year-old and the premiership trophy he has waited his entire career to compete for.
For Frizell, the opportunity has arrived at a particularly significant time.
Off contract for 2027, the veteran has been linked with a move away from Newcastle and to Sydney, meaning Sunday's clash could potentially be his final game in the red and blue.
But rather than allowing the uncertainty to overshadow the occasion, Frizell is determined to embrace every moment.
“Yeah I absolutely (treasure these moments a bit more). I guess because of the uncertainty of what could happen next year, but also understanding that I'm coming towards the back end of my career too,” he told Zero Tackle.
“I don't know when my time is up and my years left to chase a premiership have shortened a lot. You don't want to let these opportunities slip and I waited a long time to get myself to this point.”
Although Frizell wasn't on the bus returning to Newcastle after the Knights' victory over the Panthers, instead travelling to his grandfather's funeral, the magnitude of what Newcastle had achieved was impossible to escape.
“To see social media and how much it meant to so many people, it's a privilege,” he smiled.
It was a moment that reinforced just how much the Knights' run has meant to a community that has waited 25 years to return to the games biggest stage.
And Frizell knows he has an opportunity to give the city the ending it has dreamed about.
“I've got to take it for what it is and enjoy it, but in the back of my mind, I am doing anything I can so I can come back to the city of Newcastle and bring that premiership,” he said.
“It would be life changing.”
The veteran's career has taken him through 165 games with the St George Illawarra Dragons before he joined Newcastle in 2021, but despite more than 300 NRL appearances, a Grand Final had remained elusive.
Now, after waiting 16 years, he is just days away.
With his future uncertain, Frizell was asked whether finally lifting the premiership trophy could lead to him sailing off into the sunset.
His answer was emphatic.
“Now that I am here, I don't think so. No, definitely not. Right now no way, I love the game too much,” Frizell told Zero Tackle.
“You know it is a cherry on top but I feel like I still have so much to give. It'd be great to come away with it but in terms of finishing after that, yeah definitely not.”
Before he was a Knights veteran, Frizell was a Wollongong kid who became a mainstay of the Dragons pack.
His time at the club also means Sunday's opponent carries an element of familiarity.
Frizell became accustomed to facing the Sydney Roosters during the annual Anzac Day clash, a fixture he remembers as one of the biggest games on the NRL calendar.
“When I was at the Dragons, Anzac Day was the best day of the year,” he recalled.
“You could say it was a lottery during that time, it didn't matter where you were sitting on the ladder, it was just always a massive game.”
This time, however, the stakes are considerably higher.
After 16 seasons, countless battles and years spent chasing the ultimate prize, Frizell finally has his Grand Final.
And with his future still uncertain, the Knights veteran knows exactly what is at stake.
One more win would not only deliver Newcastle its first premiership since 2001, but give Frizell the trophy he has spent his entire career chasing.
