RARELY a week goes by without Scott Coleman and Nick Palmer "jumping on the blower" to each other.
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The conversation starts on family and work and invariably finishes with footy.
Palmer was still at school when he first walked into Coleman's Hamilton Hawks dressing room in 2009.
The string bean second-rower walked out five years later with two premierships, a NSW Country jumper and fierce determination to have a crack in Sydney.
On Saturday, Palmer will captain Northern Suburbs against Coleman's Hunter Wildfires at Bon Andrews Oval in Sydney.
"It will be weird playing against guys I played with in Newcastle, plus Bubba being coach," Palmer said. "I would have reconsidered my move had the Wildfires been around in 2014. As good as playing at the Country championships and representing the Cockatoos is, you are not going to get a professional contract out of it. You had to move to Sydney to get that competition."
Palmer and Coleman are the odd couple. Palmer, a 198cm lock, is organised and measured. Coleman is not.
While the coach may lack polish, he knows rugby and has instilled traits in Palmer that have stayed with him.
"In terms of life lessons, he is very loyal and stands by his club and what he believes in," Palmer said.
Unfortunately for Coleman, one of those "lessons" worked against him when trying to lure Palmer to the Wildfires two months ago.
"One of the big things Bubba taught me was that loyalty can't be bought," the 28-year-old said.
Norths are unbeaten and fresh from the bye but Palmer won't be underestimating the Wildfires, who opened their Shute Shield account with a 29-all draw with Manly.
"It put teams on notice not to take the Wildfires lightly," Palmer said. "We know they are capable of putting us under the pump. Steve Lamont brings a lot of line speed and physicality. They are solid all over the park really. We will try and play a fast, up-tempo game. That is where Newcastle may have struggled in previous games."
Palmer had a year with the NSW Waratahs in 2018 and Coleman admits to taking satisfaction from how far "Sticks" has progressed.
"If you had 15 of him in your side, you would be world-beaters," Coleman said. "He is a great kid and has obviously made a big impression at Norths. He is their club captain and first grade captain."
"He mainly played cricket at school (St Josephs College). He played four games for us when home for school holidays in 2009 and I said why don't you have a crack at rugby.
"He was definitely a late bloomer. As a coach you are chuffed. In saying that, he is one of those kids who works hard and gets it done. He is a sponge for knowledge and always aims to impress."
Not surprisingly, Coleman has directed plenty of banter Sticks' way this week.
"I have bagged him on our group messages this week, calling him a trader and saying he turned his back on us," Coleman said. "He rang me on Thursday and said that he wouldn't be saying hello before the game, so I am going to go into their dressing his sheds and cuddle him. I will be letting my guys know that he had the chance to come back and turned his back on that."
Coleman has made three changes from the Manly stalemate.
Dave Waller makes his debut at loosehead for Dave Puchert (calf), Melbourne recruit George Noa starts at No.8 and Taulolo Lalaga returns at inside centre in place of Hayden Cole (university commitments).
"Dave Waller has trained the house down going right back to the pre-season ahead of the Newcastle-Illawarra game in early March," Coleman said. "He is super fit compared to last year. We have two packs at training all the time and we do a lot of live scrums. He has improved out of sight."
"George brings a fair bit. He played with Warringah last year. He is only young but he is very big. He is a dynamic runner but can also mix it in tight."
