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Melbourne's Ryan Papenhuyzen says his history with Canberra hooker Tom Starling goes back to under nines, when the pair played together in Sydney.
Melbourne's Ryan Papenhuyzen will be on high alert for the "Tommy Gun" move from livewire Canberra hooker Tom Starling when the pair cross paths in Friday night's NRL preliminary final.
The history between the 22-year-old pair dates back to playing together in the under nines when they were both growing up in Sydney.
They also lined up in 2016 in the NSW under 18 State of Origin team, which was coached Brad Fittler, while Canberra centre Nic Cotric was also part of that side.
Papenhuyzen joked that diminutive Starling hadn't grown since those days, but he hadn't lost his speed either.
"I've actually played a bit of footy with Tommy," the Melbourne fullback said on Tuesday.
"We played junior footy with the Hills Bulls together, it was about under nines.
"It was a good little combination there - we used to have a specialist move called Tommy Gun and it was pretty much just him running so I will expecting that this week.
"He's had an outstanding year so I'm happy for him."
Starling has been named in the starting Canberra side while Siliva Havili is on the bench, with the duo stepping up to cover the loss of Josh Hodgson, which some predicted would end the Raiders' final hopes.
"They've adapted well to losing Hodgson - everyone else has just picked up a bit more load and they are just as dangerous as they were last year," Papenhuyzen said.
While the Storm fell to the title-winning Sydney Roosters in the preliminary final last year, the Raiders tasted defeat in the grand final.
Canberra got some revenge in ousting the Roosters last week, but Papenhuyzen said his own team had plenty to play for.
"We want to finish the job off now, that's the feeling around the group.
"Because we've come this far, we really are motivated to finish the job off now and go all the way."