Close mates Connor Watson and Kalyn Ponga share a house together and only a few weeks ago, were talking about the possibility of going head-to-head in tonight's All Stars clash in Melbourne.
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"That's what we were hoping," Watson said yesterday.
But a slight pec strain, picked up in the gym, put an end to Watson's hopes of playing for the Indigenous side against Ponga's New Zealand Maoris at AAMI Park with the club pulling him out of selection contention.
"I was a chance to make it this year but I had to pull out," he revealed.
"I had a little niggle injury come up that disrupted my preparation and obviously for me with how last year went, my first preference is to play here for the Knights.
"Next year, I'd like to play in the indigenous game and represent my family but it just wasn't to be this year.
"It should be a good contest. It will be good to see how Kalyn goes at six as well. I want him to do well but I'd like to see the Indigenous side win being Indigenous myself."
Watson says he has completely recovered from the minor injury setback and is raring to play in the trials starting with the Dragons in Sydney in just over a week.
"I just did it in the gym. It was just a bit tight and it put me behind training for a week or so which was a bit annoying," he said.
"I missed a few big sessions and that was sort of the reason the club pulled me out [of All Stars]. With those camps, you don't do too much training so I would have been even further behind where I needed to be.
"Physically, I'm good and mentally, I'm feeling fresh. I'm just excited to play.
"You get into the grind of pre-season and it feels like it's never ending and all you want to do is just go out and play and we get the opportunity to do that next weekend and I can't wait."
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While Ponga's shift to five-eighth has been the major talking point over the off-season, Watson's ability to be able to adapt to the fullback role could be just as important for the Knights and how they perform this season.
"After the trials, I'll get a sense of where I'm at but I feel comfortable there at the moment," he said.
"Once the games start and I can get in game mode and get into the flow of things, I'll feel comfortable straight away. I've played there a lot before and my sole focus at training is fullback so I think I'm ready to go.
"I'll just try and use my speed and strength to break tackles. I like competing and I like playing and I think that's my strongest asset - being in every play and supporting and hopefully you see me finishing off a fair few tries this year."
